The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

longtimelurker2020

One-step-at-a-time said:

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.

Wow that’s amazing, I *had* to log in to congratulate you. That’s no small amount of money, and no small amount of determination. Well done. 

peteuk

The date of your lightbulb moment - Jul 2005

Debts at their highest  - £65K in unsecured debt

Debt-Free Date 14 Sep 2021

Your one pearl of wisdom. The grass is no greener - your debt is your debt and may be massive compared to some but tiny to others.  If your not copping then seek help regardless. 

Which forum threads helped you Debt free wannabe's

mark55man

wow well done that's a fabulous job @peteuk

I know this board is for announcements really, but if your achievement doesn't deserve a pat on the back I don't know what does 

ftbwannabe

Lightbulb moment: August 2018
Debts at highest: £18k
Debt free date: about 5 minutes ago, 27th September 2021

Feeling too emotional for a pearl of wisdom right now but will add one later. Good luck, everyone. 😁

beanielou

ftbwannabe said:

Lightbulb moment: August 2018
Debts at highest: £18k
Debt free date: about 5 minutes ago, 27th September 2021

Feeling too emotional for a pearl of wisdom right now but will add one later. Good luck, everyone. 😁

Fantastic result 

The_Eye_Of_Sauron

Have been on site for a long time, but almost entirely as a lurker. Hope that is ok.

Anyway……

A The date of lightbulb moment 31/12/2008

B Debts at their highest £167,000 (of which £105,000 was an overdrawn directors’ loan in a company badly hit by the financial crash of 2008 of which I was a director). I repaid £80k of the £105k company debt via an inheritance rather than have to remortgage my house, so what I have repaid is £87k from income.
C Debt free date 05/10/2021
D Your one Pearl of wisdom. Appreciate the difference between WANT and NEED. Before my lightbulb moment if I needed a pizza I would take my family and loads of friends out for one, with starters, puds and wine, hitting my credit card as though there was no tomorrow.  All the time- not just as an occasional treat. I realised I didn’t need a pizza, I only wanted a pizza, still less a £200 blow out at Luigi’s.

I have regularly read the posts on here- they are so inspiring. Thank you all. When I decided to grab myself by the scruff of my neck and create a spreadsheet, I named it DFWB in honour of this forum. Thanks all again. Best wishes and good fortune to those still travelling but yet to finish their journey. Keep the faith, stay strong and you will get there.

All good wishes. I’m staying here to help others.

Cheers

sarahmcniece

A) 20 March 2017
£29,230.23
C) 10 September 2021
D) it may seem like a long road ahead when you start out, and I'm not through it just yet with having to rebuild credit rating etc., but I've come through the other side and I'm so proud of myself for paying it back in 4.5 years. I'll never go back there again. Don't give up no matter how hard it seems. With the invaluable help of Stepchange, a tightened purse string, pure determination and a good budget, debt-free CAN be achieved. I'm ready to put the whole thing behind me and look forward to a bright, debt-free future ☺️

Aspiration

sarahmcniece said:

A) 20 March 2017
£29,230.23
C) 10 September 2021
D) it may seem like a long road ahead when you start out, and I'm not through it just yet with having to rebuild credit rating etc., but I've come through the other side and I'm so proud of myself for paying it back in 4.5 years. I'll never go back there again. Don't give up no matter how hard it seems. With the invaluable help of Stepchange, a tightened purse string, pure determination and a good budget, debt-free CAN be achieved. I'm ready to put the whole thing behind me and look forward to a bright, debt-free future ☺️

Congratulations, it must have required an incredible amount of self discipline over those years!

Poppy1984

I'm DEBT FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! 🎉🎊🥳🍾🥂🎉😁🎉😁🎉😁🎉🎉🎉🎉

I can not believe I am writing this, it doesn't feel real, when I first started my debt busting I used to read the roll of honour from start to finish and hope one day I will be writing on that too, I can't believe that day has finally come! 

The date of your lightbulb moment

17th February 2018 it had flickered a few times before where I had attempted to pay back bits the built debt back up again, I never truly had it until then. 

Debts at their highest

£30,322 

Debt-Free Date

17th December 2021 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Your one pearl of wisdom

Set a budget and stick to it, it's not sexy, it's not glamorous, it's not exciting but it works! I accounted for every penny in and out, I used spending tracker app on my phone and recorded every penny of income and every bill and every penny spent, I set myself budgets for food shopping and other spends and once it was gone it was gone I had to get creative! 

I cancelled all direct debits for subscriptions had the basic tv, broadband etc, told all family and close friends that I had gotten myself into debt and I needed to get out so I wouldn't be gift giving and not to give to me either. This was the hardest but I felt so ashamed and I loved giving gifts but when I worked out I was spending £400 a year just on friends and their children for gifts and I didn't have £400 a year spare anywhere it had to go. 

I sold everything I possibly could and did lots of little things along the way to earn extra pennies, some examples are surveys on prolific, scanning receipts on shoppix, switching banks for the switch bonus, all extra got paid off the debt. 

I read this forum religiously, and followed Dave Ramsay on YouTube, his podcast and read his book, in his words I was sick and tired of being sick and tired! 

The forums that helped me the most 

Debt free wannabe, debt free diary's and the old style saving money 

My debt diary

Debt Free Before August 2023

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78835511#Comment_78835511

I am so grateful to this website and forum 

Poppy ❤️

savingholmes

So proud of you Poppy. You have done the hard work and it's good that you are taking a moment to celebrate