The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

dolly84

I am Debt Free as of today and am over the moon.

a. The date of your lightbulb moment

January 1st 2014

b. Debts at their highest

Just over £13k

c. Debt-Free Date

18 July 2016

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.

Step away from the consumerism bandwagon, no one needs as much stuff as we are told we do.

f. Which forum threads helped you

NSK Debt Free Wannabee challenges and later the NST challenges.

We did slip off the straight and narrow a couple of times on the journey but I am so glad we got it under control once and for all, it is a horrible trap to be in and we had to accept that we would have to make big changes to get out of it.

Fender4

a. The date of your lightbulb moment 10th April 2015
b. Debts at their highest 11.5K
c. Debt-Free Date 19th July 2016
d. Your one perl of wisdom. Dont give up and if you slide try again.
e. Links to the MSE guides that helped you
Geeks money saying tips!!!
f. Which forum threads helped you
all of them i spent hours on here every night.
g. And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it n/a

:beer::money::beer:

Bubsie

Hello all - what an inspiring thread!

I became debt free in Oct 2015.

Lightbulb moment - summer 2011. I had lots of debt on credit cards, store cards & an overdraft. I had to take a substantial pay cut at work (or redundancy) & it hit me what a pickle I was in. I was only making minimum monthly payments & barely keeping my head above water, I was very materialistic & it all came crashing down.

Debt amount - approx £14k

Debt free date - Oct 2015

After my lightbulb moment I realised I needed help. I got free advice and set up a Debt Management Plan (with Payplan). It was when I had to detail my income & expenditure for them that I realised things needed to change. It was a tough time.

After a few months, I realised that I could make a big life change & move to London. I managed to secure a job with a much better salary & start really chipping away at my DMP. Every spare penny I had went to them and got distributed to my creditors; overtime, bonuses, the lot!

When I started the DMP - Payplan told me it would take 8 years to clear all debt. I managed to do it in 4 years

I'm so proud of myself & it's completely changed my outlook on money & budgeting. I won't say I never 'treat myself' as I do, but all with a lot of thought now!!

Tips - budget & plan your finances. Write everything down (or use one of the apps). Think before you buy anything. Don't give up!

Another thing which is simple is to set up a separate account for bills. When I get paid each month I transfer enough to cover all rent & bills to my 'bills account', then it's much easier to see what's left as 'disposable' income.

I'm now saving & hoping to be able to get a mortgage & buy my own place next year

Fingers crossed

Carviscocker

I am debt free woo hoo! I had been in debt since I was 18 years old and first went to uni so 16 (?!) years. I had been trying to pay it off for sometime and would say I had about 3 lightbulb moments until it finally clicked. I'll be honest I was lucky in the respect that I managed to sell my previous property this year for a profit (bought it is a repossession) but I certainly wouldn't have been able to reduce the debt as much as I did had it not been for this forum and the various challenges. I became debt free in May this year.

The best challenges for me included taking my lunch to work every day, having as many NSD's as possible and making a payment a day (no matter how small).

I am now lucky enough to have some savings but I am so conscious that I don't want to slip back in to bad habits so I've researched bank accounts and savings options as best I can and am back on the forum because lets face it.. nothing compares to the support and tips that can be found on here!

Things I'm doing/plan to do:
Overpay my mortgage
lunch to work everyday
as many NSD's as possible
I've set up a separate account and transfer money for food, going out and days out which I top up once a month
use Top cash back and quidco where I can.

Good luck everyone!

starnac

So pleased to say I am officially debt free :j

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
Sometime back in 2008
b. Debts at their highest
Approx £13k
c. Debt-Free Date
July 2016
d. Your one pearl of wisdom.
Budget and stick to it. It's hard but worth it in the end
f. Which forum threads helped you
Various years of this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5381907 and also other DFW diaries
g. And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2880

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Kerfuffle

starnac wrote: »

So pleased to say I am officially debt free :j

:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j yay congratulations :T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T

e4rub

Hi everybody!!

Lightbulb moment - April 2010

Debt at their highest - £39,000.....eek!!

Debt free date - Today....1st August 2016

Pearl of wisdom - Don't ever take money for granted. One day you have it but the next day it could be gone, destroying life as you know it. However, do get help, Stepchange debt charity literally saved my life and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Thread that has helped - Sealed pot challenge, a great bunch of people, who offer support when needed and pick you up when you are down.

Emily x

sourcrates

e4rub wrote: »

Hi everybody!!

Lightbulb moment - April 2010

Debt at their highest - £39,000.....eek!!

Debt free date - Today....1st August 2016

Pearl of wisdom - Don't ever take money for granted. One day you have it but the next day it could be gone, destroying life as you know it. However, do get help, Stepchange debt charity literally saved my life and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Thread that has helped - Sealed pot challenge, a great bunch of people, who offer support when needed and pick you up when you are down.

Emily x

Well done, many congratulations, hard slog, but worth it in the end !!!!

dangerpowers

Finally made it! From starting to pay back £40k of debt many years ago, till I received my congratulations letter from Stepchange just yesterday, I am debt free at last. Daunting at the beginning but reading from people that had become debt free on this forum is what spurred me on.


Lightbulb moment: March 2011

Debts at highest: £40,000

Debt-Free Date: 2nd August 2016

Pearl of wisdon: Call Stepchange, they gave me my life back.


To anyone reading this who is snowed under with debt and waking up every morning with that sick feeling of dread in your stomach. You will get there with perseverance. Even when it seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel, which is where I was.


Good luck!

Ellieseleven

Well done everyone:j

You are all my inspiration and spur me on...it will be my turn soon:T

Take care
Ellie x