The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

BuddyBonthenet

avstar wrote: »

Lightbulb Moment - piddled around for a few years trying to deal with debts, finally woke up Aug 2005

Debts at Highest - £6,500 2 credit cards, flexiloan and overdraft

Pearls of Wisdom - do not carry credit cards around with you, I have just one now locked in the safe at home, truly for emergencies. Take a deep breath before buying anything new...do I really need it?

Check out my signature - I wanna shout it from the rooftops. Thank you MSE for changing my life.

Congratulations!

cherryblossom_3

a) the date of your lightbulb moment
Jan 08, but due to emotional trauma (see below), probably didn't start proper money saving until a couple of months later

b) debts at their highest
circa 7k (credit cards and car loan)

c) debt-free date
26 February 2009!!!! (paid off in 14 months)

d) Your one pearl of wisdom
Sorry, I'm going to cheat and put two:
1) The same as many people on here - write it all down!!! I kept a simple spreadsheet and added an entry every time I paid something off, no matter how small.
2) I also keep close tabs on every penny using microsoft money - for those of you who are familiar with the programme, I update it manually, I do not link it to my online banking. This way I am aware of all transactions and I can clearly see what disposable income I have rather than the amount the cash machine says.

e) And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it
No DFW diary - I wish I'd seen it sooner as I really think it would have been useful

I feel the need to share my story - hope no-one minds:

My story is entwined with a marriage split. I was good with money before I met my husband, his parents said he was bad, but it was ok as I sorted the bills and we both paid the same towards them as we earned the same. to cut a long story short(er) he always borrowed out of the joint account, I bought a lot of things for our home & him and life always seemed a bit of a struggle from one payday to the next. To be fair, it wasn't a real struggle compared with people who can't afford the bills and food, but we always seemed to want something we didn't have.

My (ex) husband left after 2 years and I think our joint debts were circa 21k (excluding mortgage). I was always keeping an eye on the bills, but I don't think I ever totalled up all the debt. Luckily I ended up with only my credit cards and car to finish paying for (see figures above). I have worked hard to pay it off for the last 14 months and am delighted to announce that I am now debt-free!!! The feeling is fantastic and I encourage you to keep going so you can know the feeling for yourself. It's amazing what you can do when you try - I lost half my household income and yet managed to remain in the same house (I didn't have to pay him anything in relation to the property), pay off all my debts , and still have a life. I struggled when he was there.

I never wanted my marriage to end, but strangely my finances have helped my emotional recovery (taking control is empowering) and the split has helped my finances! I know if he was still here we wouldn't be any further ahead with paying things off. My next step is to start building some savings. Although the primary focus of this post is about money and not my relationship, I can't resist mentioning that he had a bit of a mad spending spree when he left and is probably still only paying the basic payments as he is saving for his next wedding! I now have a home, car, no debt and best of all I don't seem to want as much now I can have it.

Good luck with your journey - YOU CAN DO IT!!!

kimdegsidash

OMG - I am brimming with tears reading these posts! Well done everyone:T :T :T :T

Can't wait for that feeling myself. This site is truly inspirational and I am deeply grateful that I found it....together we will regain control of our lives and our spending.

Ps. If Martin hasn't yet got an MBE, why not?

lilian1977

Edited post - I did it! This morning! As of 9.20am today I have paid off my loan! :T

Lightbulb Moment: Not sure but probably the time I had to take out this loan to pay yet another DCA. Also around the time I met my fiance as I didn't want my past mistakes to hinder our future. Lets say Jan 2008.

Debt at highest: Again, not sure as had been receiving DCA letters for ages and getting them paid off. Lets say £5000.

Debt free date: 9th April 2009

Pearl of Wisdsom: Set up an online savings account that you can't see when you log into your daily bank account, even better if it takes 3 days to transfer back. Round down your bank account to the nearest £10 on a daily basis, even if this means transferring £9.99. The pennies and pounds soon add up! Also, Ebay, Amazon and Greenmetropolis everything that would normally go to a charity shop.

I had a DF diary but hardly ever updated. Credit does go to the people on the daily Small Things DFW thread though for giving me the constant impetus to get this done.

Can't wait till Thursday!

Oh and I am definitely going to start the "Martin Lewis for an MBE" Facebook campaign

Good luck everyone xxx

saver03

The date of your lightbulb moment
14th December 2006

Debts at their highest
£21,947.17

Debt-Free Date
12th April 2009

Your one perl of wisdom
Simple as it may sound, "Don't spend what you don't have"

And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it
I had a few so here are the links for them all, with the 1st one being the earliest

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=328237
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=387518
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=998771
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?t=1171039
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1386111

Dinah93

The date of your lightbulb moment
17th August 2008

Debts at their highest
£16,456

Debt-Free Date
24th April 2009 (£65.82 cleared per day!)

Your one pearl of wisdom
You don't 'deserve' things that you can't afford, it takes work to get out of debt, but it's a very rewarding feeling to be facing your finances for yourself.

And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it
DFW diary
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1162561

DF diary http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1646411

My story (hope you don't mind)
Last year I was in a very different place to where I am now. In January I faced up to the fact I had debt when I realised I had spent over £3200 in a month, yet only had £1520 coming in. I lived with my boyfriend at the time, who didn’t work, in fact had walked out of around 10 jobs in the 2 years we’d been together. I had a LBM flicker, I started trying to clear the debts, and found this site, but without him working our basic outgoings were higher than the income anyway, so I was getting more into debt each month (all in my name as he couldn’t get credit, and just ignored the situation). Some of my debt came from when I was a student, a chunk was money borrowed off my granddad to do my MSc and buy a car for the subsequent job, but most came from supporting my ex for nearly 3 years.

Then last June everything changed. The rows with my boyfriend were worse than ever, he’d gone from being scary and intimidating when angry to actually violent, and my debt was claustrophobic. So when I saw Martin mentioning Ryanair’s sale in the weekly email, I decided to go visit my best friend in Ireland for a cheap weeks break. My best friend was quite unusual as I had never actually met him! We met in an online game (bit of a secret geek girl!) in October 2007, and had spoken everyday since on gmail chat, text, phone and skype (not a cheap friendship!).

In Ireland my friend turned out to be a real knight in shinning armour, he was honest, protective, noble, funny, and good looking. When my boyfriend called and left messages on my answer phone telling me how I was ruining his life and he was going to hurt me when I got home, he took my phone away and showed me I deserved better. When I left Ireland I cried like a baby at having to go home and broke up with my boyfriend that night, and after a horrible few weeks involving the police and being very scared, I finally came out the other side.

My best friend became my boyfriend, and last August he told me that when I cleared all my debts he would move from Ireland to England to be with me. How much more of an incentive does a girl need?! So I laid into the debts with a vengeance, doing every extra income earner I could find. I also moved out of my rented house and back into my parents, cutting my essential outgoings per month from £1060 a month to £240 (with a lot of extra petrol). Despite my salaried wage bringing in £52 a day after tax, I worked out this morning I have cleared an average of £65.82 a day, every day for 250 days! Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could do it in so little time.

As a treat now I'm debt free I'm going to meet some of my regular posters who live in the North East next Saturday, and hoping to meet some more later in the year. As thankful as I am for clearing the debt, I am equally thankful for making some wonderful friends here.

In January, despite not being debt free yet, NIM announced he was ready to move over, which was a great 24th birthday present. He now lives with me, my parents, my brother and my brother's friend whose parents work in Dubai, oh and two rabbits and a cat. Thankfully my brother and his friend go to uni in September, so there will be a bit more breathing room! NIM was offered an evening job in a call centre within a week of moving over, which helped to pay the bills but at only £95 a week before tax it wasn’t going to pay them for long. He used his savings to buy a car, insurance etc, and we were just getting to the point of worrying he was going to have to use the rest of the savings to live, he got a second job working days doing tours for school kids on a farm. At the moment he is working 26-46 hours a week depending on how much they need him on the farm.

As well as being 250 days since I laid into the debt, today is also 10 months since I got together with NIM. If you had told me a year ago I would be in such a good place today, I would never have believed you.
Thanks for reading x

clearing_out_my_pockets

a. The date of your lightbulb moment

8th July 2008. I was presented with an engagement ring.

b. Debts at their highest

Not sure, but in January 2008 they were £6598. I have no doubt that they were higher

c. Debt-Free Date

28th April 2009

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.

Don't deny yourself little treats. Take things one step at a time. There is no shame in saying "no". And remember that a payment to your debt - no matter how small - is a payment nonetheless.

e. And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it

My debt diary was flimsy, pointless and didn't make for entertaining reading! :rotfl:

mrdre

Finally debt free today!

Lightbulb moment - sometime in late 2003, when I realised how much longer it takes to pay off debt than to accumulate it.

Highest debt - just over 17000.

Debt free date - 30/04/2009

Pearl of wisdom - create a spreadsheet with a graph of your total debt over time. Watching the line go down is a great motivator!

I've been in debt for over ten years now, and I've been loooking forward to this day for a long time, but my joy is marred by the fact that I was made redundant two weeks ago. Now, instead of cracking open a bottle of champagne, I'm using all my money-saving to stop getting back into debt whilst I find another job.
It still feels great to be debt free though...

elsie52

Well done mrdre.....and well done everybody.

This is my inspiration thread, and I can't wait to get on here. When things get a bit tight and I get very fed up, I have a read through these posts, and it fills me with inspiration. So thanks everyone for that.

Silverbird

elsie52 wrote: »

Well done mrdre.....and well done everybody.

This is my inspiration thread, and I can't wait to get on here. When things get a bit tight and I get very fed up, I have a read through these posts, and it fills me with inspiration. So thanks everyone for that.

I do the same thing, elsie. I am subscribed to this thread and get an instant message every time somebody posts. I love clicking on the link that brings me here and reading the posts. It's just such a pleasure to read and it brings me lots of hope and really keeps me going, especially when things are more of a struggle than usual.

I too cannot wait to post here myself. I know one thing for sure - I'll be grinning like a cheshire cat when I do finally get to post my 'debt-free' message here.

Congratulations to all of those who have managed to get debt-free. You are all an inspiration and your messages are just what keeps some of us trying as hard as we do.