The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

jmf76

Can I come in?

A few times I thought I'd never see this day and I still can't quite believe I'm here!

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
September 2006
b. Debts at their highest
£18,039.83
c. Debt-Free Date
19th December 2009 :A
d. Your one perl of wisdom.
Got 2 actually...
1. SoA!! Improving your awareness of where your money is spent is vital - when I first started I was so surprised at how much money I wasted on things I didn't really need, use, or want anymore. Ask me 3 or 4 years ago what I spend on bills each month I wouldn't have had a clue, now I could tell you roughly how much I spend straight away.
2. Keep going - review periodically, be it your budget, apr's on credt cards/loans, or even your progress via your diary etc. A few times I felt that my battle was never-ending and would get really down about my debt. Then I'd look at my diary on here and see how far I'd come since the beginning of my journey which would always pick me up. Also finding a cheaper solution, be it for a bill or an APR on a credit card always gave me a boost as I knew it would get me even closer to my DFD.
e. And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it
Time to ditch the debt!

To all those before me that have reached their DFD - Congratulations and well done!!
To all those DFWs still on their journey - well done so far, keep going, you'll get here soon enough! If I can do it, anyone can!!

bundly

a. The date of your lightbulb moment

20th June 1995

b. Debts at their highest

£47k

c. Debt-Free Date

2006

I went into property development with my b/f of 18 months and because I was working 7 days a week I let him run and control everything because that was the easiest thing to do. By the time I took back control I had lost my home and was living in a dosser's hostel while he occupied a property for which the mortgage was in my name, and I owed £47k. He'd been running up bills in my name, forging my signature, lying to me about how much materials cost him, using my credit cards without permission to buy things mail-order, reselling materials bought on my credit cards and pocketing the cash; he invented a burglary at one property we were renovating, in which all my power tools and materials were "stolen" when in fact he'd sold them all and pocketed the cash, and when I gave him £3,000 to buy everything again (not insured) he pretended he'd bought it all when he hadn't... the story could take me all day to tell....

d. Your one perl PEARL of wisdom.

Never trust anyone implicitly, not even a man who says he loves you dearly.

Never lose control of a project that you are financing.

(Probably) never go into business with a boyfriend.

hattiefats

Lightbulb moment:June 2006

Debts at their highest:£9000

Debt free date: November 2009

Pearl of wisdom:Keep tabs on what you are spending. It's amazing how quick it adds up. Get cheapest deals on everything...gas,leccy,food etc. Budgeting can get quite addictive especially if you motivate yourself reading these boards like I did!

TMoose

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
Dec '08, although I'd been slowly dealing with debts from late '04, Dec '08 was when I actually started putting effort into actually clearing everything as quickly as possible.
b. Debts at their highest
Approx 15K not including Student Loans
c. Debt-Free Date
19th December 2009
d. Your one perl of wisdom.
Have patience! Once you get into a routine with DCA's they're usually pretty OK. Oh, and just because you're paying your debt off, doesn't mean you have to live like a monk. I could have been DF earlier, but I also enjoyed myself, and kept myself sane. The key is balancing the DCA demands vs your budget vs your own personal timeline. Oh, and always try to keep your payments to a DCA at about 75% of what you can afford, therefore making it easier to increase if you need to...Sorry, that's 3...
e. And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it
I did this quietly, so no diary I'm afraid...

Reggie256

The date of your lightbulb moment: Admittedly, my lightbulb moment was prompted by my girlfriend, when I admitted to her that I had debts, so I can't put an exact date on it but would have been just over two years ago.

Debts at their highest: approximately £7500

Debt-Free Date: 12th December 2009 - just in time for Christmas! It was actually probably about a month prior to this date, but Barclaycard attempted to chase me, via 1st Credit, for an account for someone with the same name as me, but sent me a letter on 12/12/09 admitting their error, confirming that I wasn't the debtor, and closing their files.

Your one pearl of wisdom: Afraid nothing more complicated then checking your bank account frequently. I was terrible for not budgeting, and all too often assumed that I had covered everything. And I hadn't, which led to my account being overdrawn and the associated charges that come with this. This, obviously, resulted in my account having insufficient funds to cover everything the following month and created a vicious circle which was near impossible to break.
So, simple as it may be, check your account - frequently.

moomin82

Cannot believe this day has come !! YES!

The date of your lightbulb moment: Cannot remember but around 2 years ago.

Debts at their highest: £7000 credit card + overdraft

Debt Free Date: 23 December 2009 ! Best Christmas ever!

Your one pearl of wisdom: I have a few:

STOP spending more then you earn. Check your bank statements religiously. Work out how much you are spending and BUDGET religiously (sounds obvious). It's not obsessive, you are taking the necessary steps to take control. Keep lots of tabs, lists, diaries. It's catharctic! Find other ways to reward yourself and create happiness that doesnt involve large shopping sprees. Exercise is my saviour!! Look after your mind as well. I have taken up Yoga to help me get in shape, but also to help me cope with stress, the benefits are amazing...It's fairly cheap to practise, get a couple of good DVDs. Money worries have been a major cause of stress this year. Please look after yourself and do not let it defeat you. As long as you are doing something every day to help yourself, you will beat your debt. Try not to compare yourself with other people, it just brings you down. We're all on our own path and yours is now a positive one, as you've had your lightbulb moment. Ask your friends to meet up in less expensive places. If they're good friends they will understand. Change your shopping habits - buy the supermarket own brands instead of premium brands. Or go to markets - food is fresher as well! Learn to cook well, cook your own meals - don't buy ready meals. Avoid designer coffee shops. Read or watch DVDs for cheaper entertainment. Rent them from Lovefilm.com. If clothes shopping is a weakness don't go! Or buy new clothes much less often. Sell used books, DVDs etc. Use vouchers to go out (restaurants etc). Read this forum! Please keep positive and just take it one day at a time.

katsu

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
I had low wattages over the 12 or so years since I left uni. We did some 0% consolidation in late summer 08, which was my OH's lightbulb I think. I however convinced him we should put uni fees for me into the mix, without really considering how long they would take to clear, so I added £2.4k to around the £4.5k we had then.
This summer we really went for it, and by september were 100W.

b. Debts at their highest
Probably around £8k. Our not knowing shows how well I used to manage money :eek:
c. Debt-Free Date
31/12/2009

d. Your one perl of wisdom.
*regular overpayments. No matter how small (but the bigger the better) I've been in debt since I was a student, but I set up CC payments that were more than the minimums so even though I had some debt on a CC for around 6yrs, I was reducing the balance by X hundred pounds a year each year for the majority of that time
*when a debt finishes put up your other repayments by that amount.
*if you get a payrise and are not scraping to eat, add the extra to your overpayments.
*Snowball.

Thrifty_Pixie

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
15/9/9

b. Debts at their highest
£14,000

c. Debt-Free Date
29/12/9

d. Your one pe(a)rl of wisdom.
ALWAYS PAY MORE THAN THE MINIMUM ON ANY DEBT.

lovintheblues

Lightbulb moment: December 2008
Debt at Highest: 1st January 2009 £14,082.15
Debt free date: 1st January 2010:j
Pearl of Wisdom: as the saying goes...EVERY LITTLE HELPS

When I actually sat down and added up ALL our debts (including the 2 overdrafts, which I never normally considered as debts ) I was shocked on 2 counts.

1: Well over half of my wages were spent on debt repayments (minimum repayments only)

2: This was the biggest shock...I couldn't even remember what we had spent the money on to get the debt in the first place.:mad:

So we decided that we would stick to our normal budget, but would use every UNEXPECTED penny to repay a debt.

So when the rate on our tracker mortgage tumbled, we used the spare money to repay a debt. Over the last year our mortgage repayments have gone down £400 a month and we used ALL of this to pay something off a debt. We also used the 'spare' money from months when we didn't have to pay the council tax and water rates.

It would have been so easy over the last 12 months to fritter away this 'spare' money, but the need to be debt free was stonger than the need to spend (well on most days anyway!!!)

I visited this site daily, as I found it inspired me and motivated me. So for that... I salute you all :A

I wish everyone the best of luck on their own journey x

lovintheblues

By the way we are still overpaying the mortgage by £400 a month, and the mortgage is next on my hit list!!!

Also, don't forget to reward youself if you can. My treat to myself for becoming debt free is a shiny new winter coat, that is costing more money that I have ever spent on a coat in my entire lifetime :eek:

But it will 'go very nicely thank you' with the lovely jumper that I brought for £1 in the charity shop yesterday :T