The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

tuongtrante1

a. The date of your lightbulb moment - November 2006
b. Debts at their highest - £6000

Tony_

a. 2010
b. £28,000
c. 20 June 2016
d. Don't bury your head in the sand, it only makes things worse.
f. Too many to list

mrsbee17

Today marks a significant day in my financial history... hopefully I will tell my children about this one day (providing I have some!)

Not only have I paid of my CC finally, I also have £1050 in an emergency fund and £10,000 in a house deposit fund which we started January 2015. I never in a million years thought I'd have money in the bank like that!!

a. Decided Jan 2015 enough was enough and I needed to get my act together if I wanted to save for a house.
b. Around 7k
c. 23rd June 2016
d. YNAB was a god-send for me and Martin's Money Mantras are big part of my day.
e. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help#piggybank PiggyBanking really helps; I have a Christmas Saving Pot and a Birthday's Saving Pot; even when I've used all my budgeted money for my general spending an a birthday is coming up, I'm not worried about it any more as I know I'm covered! Specially in August where EVERYONE seems to have a birthday!
f. I frequent the DFW forums and there are too many to list here however, everyone who has ever posted has been an inspiration.
g. No diary but I do read others and that keeps me going too.


I feel over the moon! Edit: Forgot to add that I paid off my student loan in March too with means more money in my paypacket!

loutus_flower

LBM: 2009
Debt at it's highest: £9,000
Debt-free date: 3 December 2014

Pearls of wisdom:

- I work as a freelancer and my first and only priorty when I was working a contract was to make large lump sum payments on my debt first.

- I would always make sure my rent and other bills were covered but over payments were the key for me.

- I would track what debt I could pay in full each month or if it made sense to pay it in a MAX of 3 installments but regardless I was crossing that debt off my list either way.

- I would keep a track of my spending in a book and an excel spreadsheet.

- I know this is a little 'out there' but I would visualise what my life would be like 'debt free' and options that would be made 'available to me' once I achieved that.

- I learned to negotiate so when I went to a new contract I would make sure I would earn similar or more money than my previous role.

- I believed I do could it. So I did it. No secret just extreme focus and hard work.

devon-tony

lightbulb moment, or the moment I took my head out of the sand... january 2008

debt at its highest, a very shaming £42k

debt free 16th May 2016

years of being an idiot and trying to keep up the lifestyle of mates and friends that were far more well off left me in misery and depressed for 8 years, debt management plan, then an IVA got things back on track and I could see some light at the end of the tunnel

dont bury your head in the sand, the problems dont go away, take head out of the sand, face the problems, get plans in place and then count down every week or month, it soon goes by

Bored

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
2009 - 2010. This was the year I maxed out my overdraft as a student.

b. Debts at their highest
Just over £10,000

c. Debt-Free Date
24th June 2016

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.

Keep going. Even if you feel like you are not making any progress, or you have to take on more debt due to unforeseen circumstances. Keep budgeting, keep tracking your expenses, and keep plodding on. Eventually you will get there!

motivated

Bored wrote: »

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
2009 - 2010. This was the year I maxed out my overdraft as a student.

b. Debts at their highest
Just over £10,000

c. Debt-Free Date
24th June 2016

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.

Keep going. Even if you feel like you are not making any progress, or you have to take on more debt due to unforeseen circumstances. Keep budgeting, keep tracking your expenses, and keep plodding on. Eventually you will get there!

well done to you :T

Stories like this are a real inspiration for us that are still plodding along.

Enjoy your debt freedom

hoglet121

I've been waiting for years to make this post! Can't believe the day is finally here.

a. The date of your lightbulb moment - I had many but only truely in Oct 2011. I've been in debt for 15 years, sometimes cripplingly so and manageable for the last few years.

b. Debts at their highest - don't know exactly but estimate approx 40 000 pounds

c. Debt-Free Date - 1 July 2016. I cried when I saw the last payment for my loan had been taken from my bank account.

d. Your one pearl of wisdom - stop buying stuff. Just stop. Unless it's bills, food and debt repayment, you actually don't need it. Delete yourself from any email subscriptions which list special offers and flash sales.

f. Which forum threads helped you - old style money saving

However high your debt it, you can beat it. But you do have to change how you view money and your lifestyle. It's so worth it.

Mortgagefreeby50

Hello,

We became debt free after a long slog in 2006.

I have always been interested in money matters but having a decent income and not much clue meant I had saddled myself with a lot of repayments per month since graduation.
I could always manage the payments but when I moved in with my boyfriend I felt responsible for looking after our money, and conscious that my debt shouldn't become his problem.
Stupid decisions I made: taking on the graduate mortgage which had 3 years interest only for the first 3 years. And thinking that was a bargain! Buying a mini convertible with loan. Hated it, sold it 18 months later and was still paying for the damn thing even when I didn't own it any more.

I got a lot of ideas from Alvin Hall's books, such as the idea of snowballing. I discovered MSE and used the budget planner to itemise every single thing and save for yearly expenses.

So in the last 10 years, we have been able to:

Clear debt of approx £15k??, save to get married in Vegas, save £25k for house deposit and have a baby. That year off was very tough for us financially but you can't put a price on the baby years. I have recently gone back to working full time so looking forward to really chucking money at the mortgage to become mortgage free by 50. I loved the statement someone made earlier- life doesn't begin at 40, it begins when you pay off your mortgage.

Well, I've got 5 years til 40 so I'm up for the challenge!

By the way, I have spent the last couple of weeks reading this thread in it's entirely. Fantastic!

:money::money::money::money::money::money:

Brightspark87

Good afternoon all

I a SO excited to tell you all I am finally DEBT FREE!!!

(well a cc with cash back certain things go on every month but paid off on a monthly basis in full)

Oh and I am NOT mortgage free - still 33 years (gulp!) left on that....

Couldn't have done it without you all xx

The date of your lightbulb moment

18th January 2014

Debts at their highest

around £20,000 (when I was more serious £15,978)

Debt-Free Date

04/07/2016
d. Your one pearl of wisdom.

No matter how much you love material things, its only once we lose something we cant buy that we know how little they mean.

f. Which forum threads helped you

Diaries. My diary is my solace - makes me accountable but also an outlet.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4969235