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The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

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  • beanielou
    beanielou Posts: 95,401 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Academoney Grad Mortgage-free Glee!
    Jamie. An awesome amount to pay off in less than a year. Well done. 
    I am a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Mortgage Free Wannabe & Local Money Saving Scotland & Disability Money Matters. If you need any help on those boards, do let me know.Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any post you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button , or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own & not the official line of Money Saving Expert.

    Lou~ Debt free Wanabe No 55 DF 03/14.**Credit card debt free 30/06/10~** MFW. Finally mortgage free O2/ 2021****
    "A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of" Jane Austen in Mansfield Park.

    ***Fall down seven times,stand up eight*** ~~Japanese proverb.
    ***Keep plodding*** Out of debt, out of danger. ***Be the difference.***
    One debt remaining. Home improvement loan.
  • jamie130 said:
    Hi everyone! 

    So even the fact I am writing this post brings me an enormous amount of joy and pride. I'm 31 years old. I've been in progressive debt since I was 20 there or there abouts. 

    It all started when I became a homeowner. This in itself was excellent but I didn't plan well for legal fees, surveys and then the single lad lifestyle thereafter. 

    So here I am now nearly 12 years on, debt free and able to share my story. 
    The date of your lightbulb moment: July 2019 - Whilst driving home from a day at the beach with my wife in passenger seat. 
    Debts at their highest: £22,000
    Debt-free date: (will be) 20th May 2020
    Your one pearl of wisdom: DO NOT BOTTLE IT UP - My biggest mistake throughout this entire debt journey was keeping it to myself. During the build up of the debt, I met my now wife and had a baby. Both events which didn't come cheap and actually added to the stress (although wouldn't change those parts for the world). What I found was that you can ignore it and ignore it but the stress will always be there and the worse it gets, the more it drags you down. It got to a point for me where I physically couldn't go on. My debt was mainly built up of credit cards which all had interest sky high on them. Every month, I would get paid from my job, pay off the minimum payments and then as the month went on and I ran out of money, I'd end up spending on them again. A vicious circle. 
    Anyway, in July of last year, the weight on my shoulders became too heavy to cope anymore. I turned to the internet to see if anyone else was in my position. I was so scared to tell my wife. I honestly thought she would turn on me. Turns out though, I wasn't alone. There were hundreds of people in my position. The only answer though was to tell my wife. 
    I remember the day well. We'd gone to the beach with my wife's family and had a really nice day out. By this point I'd been trying to find the right moment to tell her but it just never seemed to be. 
    On the journey home, my son fell asleep in the back and we were travelling through countryside roads. A nice scenery. It was now, for some reason not known to me, I decided to tell her. Anyway, it just kind of fell out in the end. I started by saying "babe, I have something to tell you". This was quite tactical as it turned out because she instantly knew it was serious and assumed the worst like I was over the side or something. So when I told her I had a large debt and couldn't cope, she surprised me no end. She instantly got into supportive mode and could clearly see how much this had been dragging me down. 
    Long story short, since that day, we have managed to put both of our wages into clearing the credit cards (which began by my wife taking out interest-free balance transfer credit cards knowing that by the time our debt was cleared, the cards would still be in their interest-free period. These paid off the high interest credit cards. We then began a finance spreadsheet so we could work out exactly how much we needed for bills, social events and living expenses and then everything else went into the debt. Less than a year later, the debt is completely cleared. 

    This whole journey has been a real wake up call to me regarding money management and how you shouldn't bottle things up. Your better halves are called that for a reason. My wife was extremely supportive and there's no way I could've done this without her. I can never thank her enough for this and believe me, when the time is right and the money is there, she will get a nice holiday as a thank you! 

    I hope this story has been a little inspiration for anyone struggling out there. Just know, you're not alone and support it out there. Do not let debt drag you down. 




    Reading this actually brought a tear to my eye. Lovely to hear that your Wife was supportive and you have worked together as a team to resolve this problem. Enjoy your official debt free date tomorrow, I think a bottle of fizz is in order 🥂
  • These stories are so inspirational!
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