The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

ChrissieS_2

Lightbulb moment: 1 August 2016

Debts at highest: £8500

Debt-Free Date: 26 February 2017

Pearls of wisdom: Challenge yourself to live within budgets for food, toiletries etc. If you're looking like you're going to exceed those budgets - improvise. Source free food via giveaways, ask friends for things they're gonna throw out, let friends know to ask you round to their fridge if they're going on holiday, get free samples from shops, use coconut oil & olive oil as moisturiser etc.

Pay money into your bank as soon as it's in your hot little hand. Even if it's less than £5. Get it off your person.

Reduce everything. Cancel gym membership and do circuits with friends. If you're on a meter, don't run taps. Shower at work if you can.

If you're able to take on other work, make it radically different to your usual job, even if lower paid. Make sure it's vaguely enjoyable or teaching you a new skill with training. Work in a shop one day maybe to get discounted or free food if that's not what you do in your normal job. My second job is lifeguarding at a lake and during the week I'm a desk jockey.

moogfoot

Light-bulb moment - sometime in 2009

Dept at highest - £28000

Dept free Date - 28 February 2017

Pearls of wisdom.
Its not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got.

Don't give up. You will get there. When I look back over the last 8 years of paying back and some of the problems I faced I can't believe I have done this. The hardest part was not being able to tell or talk to anyone about it, eventually I told a couple of my closest friends when I was three years into my IVA. Not told my family and don't intend to.

JSBach_2

Please add me to the Roll of Honour; I'm a 'wannabe' no more!
It is a great feeling to be debt free :j
Proud of myself for achieving it; it seemed an impossible task when I first had that lightbulb moment.

Date of your lightbulb moment: 2011

Debts at their highest: c.£29,000

Debt-Free Date: 6th March 2017

Pearl of wisdom: Stay focused but don't deprive yourself of all 'treats' all of the time. Also, if you are tech-minded, a budgeting app (like YNAB or Moneywell) can really help.

TimTheBear

For me Reality kicked in after doing an excel - 2010
Total debt 160k

Debt free - Dec 2015 (sorry i'm late lol)

Present - debt free, with savings, extremely frugal with money

I guess 2010 was an extreme low point for me... (please see my past posts!)

MrsTinks

Ladies and Smellies,

Apologies for my absence of late - I've been round I promise!

Anyway... I'm stupidly excited to say that as of this morning other than my mortgage and the car finance (which for long complicated reasons I don't count - same as I don't count the car as an asset) I am now officially 100% debt free

And it feels gooooooooooooooooooooooooood!!!!

Former_MSE_Andrea

So many debt-free no mores! Well done everyone from all of us at MSE Towers!!!

vintagebrighton

Lightbulb moment middle of 2006

Debt at highest Initially £38,000 but added to later

Debt free date Yesterday when I finally paid the last of the £10,000 my sister lent me

It's been a long, long time coming - I went bankrupt in 2008 but my mental health really suffered. I kept going (I had children to support) went self employed then diagnosed with cancer then retrained started a business then diagnosed again :eek: Lost my business and spent my savings trying to live on ESA. But, here I am, debt free 11 years since my lightbulb moment :j

Pearl of Wisdom Keep going. It's like dieting, if you fall down, pick yourself up, learn from it and get right back on it. There's nothing as good as that feeling of freedom not having debt gives you

VB x

doingitanyway

Bravo Vintage Brighton :T

Enjoy your DF life.

LionessInWinter

Congratulations!!! You must feel great to have this burden lifted :T

lumpyspaceprincess

Lightbulb moment:April 2014

Debt at highest: DMP plus overdraft etc £27,500

Debt free date: Today, as I just made the lastpayment on my DMP this morning!

Pearl of wisdom: Don’t run headfirst into a DMP until you’ve read the forums properly! I had to take 2 months off very early into my plan, as I didn’t do token payments / I didn’t have an emergency fund to cover something I couldn’t avoid. Also – if you can face it - keep checking your balance / credit files. Seeing things improve month on month really bolstered me when things were hard, being able to look back at the %age I’d paid off and seeing it accumulating.

I can’t wait now to start saving for a house deposit so we can have our own home, however being the main breadwinner and seeing the benefit of that for a few months first will be nice!