The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

t2rry

Well this feels like a long time coming:

Lightbulb Moment - The original one way back in 2014.  A lot of ups and downs (and a lot of living!) since then.
Debts at their Highest - circa. £30,000 
Debt-Free Date - 28th May 2021
Pearl of Wisdom - There is no one-size fits all approach, figure out what's the most motivating and effective for you.  Also, work hard on those standard outgoings.  It is far easier to save money that you have than it is to make money that you don't.  Mobile phones, utilities, insurances, never pay a penny more than you need to! For things you do need to spend - Budget budget budget!
MSE guides that helped - Too many, I've been an avid subscriber for years now, I read the MSE email every week and also seek out other ideas from podcasts/Dave Ramsey etc.  Soak it up and one day it will be second nature.  I'm not sure when that happened for me but it has been a long while and only bodes well for moving forwards as I save in the place of pay off.
Which forum threads helped - I must have read hundreds over the years.  Honestly the best thing has been keeping my own diary.  It's kept me pushing on and holding myself accountable.  It got easier and easier with time, too.  Funny that!
Debt-Free Diary - It's the final countdown...£10k to go - Page 24 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Next - 6 Months Emergency Fund

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

Congratulations t2rry!

Fletch0311

The date of your lightbulb moment Mid 2013.
Debts at their highest £28k and ended up on a DMP.
Debt-Free Date Feb 2021.
Your one pearl of wisdom. SO MANY, hard to pick one. But overall YOU control it, pay on time and no matter how hard it appears with the debt always looming over you, each and every payment is a step closer. Also I 'snowballed' smaller debts (details on this below) and always tried to increase payments at reviews, even if it was only a few pound. 

My Son was born in 2010, nearly 2 years after my wife and I bought a house together. She was working part-time in the NHS and my salary paid for the mortgage and bills etc. After maxing out some credit cards I got in to the debt spiral by having to borrow more to pay off more, and over a period of around 3 years ended up missing payments to pay one debt one month then missing payments on another to pay that one back....the dreaded debt spiral.

My light bulb moment came in 2013 when we found out we were expecting another child, and not just one but twins! At this point I did the best thing I could have done.....I spoke up, I sought advice and formulated a plan. If I was to support my family I needed out of this debt.

I turned to Stepchange, organised a DMP and the rest is history. I was embarrassed by it and I wouldn't speak to other people about it for a long while - but you know what?......I've found that speaking about it actually helped me deal with it. Don't be afraid to admit you need help, and don't be afraid to talk openly about debt issues....it can and does affect us all.

Snowballing. Despite the advice from Stepchange who try and organise the payments on the debts to be equal and fair, I would clear smaller debts in full, say if there was £100 or £200 left on a credit card or catalogue, pay it off completely and then tell Stepchange it's gone and NOT to decrease your payment amount. The plan is then reorganised with increased payments to all creditors. I did this 4 or 5 times and found it does reduce the time of the plan.

The last thing I did was clear what I owed a year before the plan was supposed to end by taking out a loan. Now this seams counter-intuituve as it was debt that got me in to that mess but I replaced BAD debt with GOOD debt (providing you control in properly). My repayment on the loan was the same as my monthly Stepchange payment, so on paper my bad debts were 'settled' over a year ago. It also meant a year of paying for a loan on time every month which has impacted my credit report in a positive way.

I have learned so much about debt and credit but have had to learn them the hard way. If you're struggling.....ask for help, there is no shame in it and although it may seem a long road once you're at the end you'll look back and be proud you conquered it. 

Best wishes to one and all 😁👍🏼

LexieLou

Fletch0311 said:

The date of your lightbulb moment Mid 2013.
Debts at their highest £28k and ended up on a DMP.
Debt-Free Date Feb 2021.


Snowballing. Despite the advice from Stepchange who try and organise the payments on the debts to be equal and fair, I would clear smaller debts in full, say if there was £100 or £200 left on a credit card or catalogue, pay it off completely and then tell Stepchange it's gone and NOT to decrease your payment amount. The plan is then reorganised with increased payments to all creditors. I did this 4 or 5 times and found it does reduce the time of the plan.

I often wondered about snowballing your smaller debts on a DMP - thank you for sharing this.  

I wish you well, you deserve it. 

LL xx

A_Random_Man

Been waiting a long time to post this but I am finally debt free:

Lightbulb Moment: Around mid 2019

Debts at their highest: £7,500

Debt-Free Date: 26th June 2021

Your one pearl of wisdom: It's difficult to just choose the one but;

• Budget, budget, budget - Take a couple of hours to have a real good look through your statements and make a realistic budget. However don't deprive yourself of a few luxuries for time to time, there is nothing wrong with spending money on a luxury item provided it is budgeted for. 

Which forum threads helped you: Debt free wannabe mainly

ApricotPluto

My Lightbulb Moment: Too many times from like 2015 onwards. But the main one was April 2020. 

Debts at their highest: £8180

Debt-Free Date: 31st July 2021

Your one pearl of wisdom: I set up a spreadsheet. Wrote everything down that goes out monthly. And then totaled it up. Minus'd it against my monthly pay and saw how much I should have left to pay off debts. I upped my credit card payments and had a separate 'spend' card which was my fun money each month. I also went through each area to see if I really needed it. Scary how much I cut out in the first few weeks and even now I've been getting better deals. 

Which forum threads helped you: Debt Free Wannabe mostly. 

FootyFanDan

My Lightbulb Moment: a few little flickers of light over many years and cleared some debt but not enough. Official Light Bulb moment June 2019

Debts at their highest: £9000, Debt at the time of proper light bulb was £7000

Debt-Free Date: 02nd August 2021

one pearl of wisdom : There is probably a fair few I could chose from but I think being realistic with budget helped me a lot, in the early stages there were a fair few easy wins that made budgeting fun. As the journey became more enduring I found myself struggling to stick to a strict budget and felt if I didn't adjust things I would fail again!. I made room in the budget for little treats every so often and this made things easier to focus on the end goal. Also speak to your partner (if applicable) this journey would have been impossible without the support from my partner, whilst I did all the finances to have her on board and backing/trusting decisions I was making was a relief and such an help. 

Which forum threads helped you: Debt Free Diaries - I mean this place is literally like heaven! There are so many knowledgeable people, who also support you so much when you are struggling. I could not have completed this journey without the constant encouragement. The diary also made me very accountable and although my journey has been more than just a debt free journey, I have found myself changing my whole approach.

Anyone that is just starting out on this journey, believe in yourself and be honest and accountable and it can be done. I found sometimes I would fall and find it hard to pick myself up but it was so worth it. I never ever thought I would get to this stage, here is to the next challenge!

mark55man

yay @FootyFanDan - well done.  onwards and upwards.

MattyBizzle

a. The date of your lightbulb moment- August 2016
b. Debts at their highest- £28,000
c. Debt-Free Date -Today!!!
d. Your one perl of wisdom.- Stick with it, justify every little spend no matter how minor. Block any and all gambling sites (self exclusion) and be strict, because a DMP isn’t legally binding it’s very easy to just miss a payment, don’t!

This is me five years on, finally finally debt free and I can’t explain the feeling, it’s not been easy but 100% worth it.

One-step-at-a-time

The date of your lightbulb moment - December 2016
Debts at their highest - There were bumps, but in total we have paid off £50241.41 (more than our gross household income)
Debt-Free Date - 27/08/21. No DMP, no windfalls, just kept chipping away at it (for 1707 days!).
Your one pearl of wisdom - Stay the course! It may seem overwhelming at times, but don't give up.