The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

Claw_back_money

Like others before me, I can't believe that we can finally post on the roll of honour, :j it still seems like a dream.

My lightbulb moment was in January 2008, when threatened with redundancy. I did the sums - we owed £15,211 at that point in overdraft and credit card - and in addition had a loan on a car which I never added in.

Debt free date was 30th April 2010, (which was especially pleasing as the snowballing calculator had estimated end of September 2010 at the beginning).

My pearl of wisdom would be to concentrate on one debt at a time, only paying minimum payments on the others, using the snowball calculator to help work out the order. When we were faced with years of paying money back it felt a bit overwhelming, so divide and conquering helped a lot!

I have a diary of the second half (the last year) on MSE here.

Good luck all other DFWs!:beer:

mummum2

Well done CBM, what a great amount to shift after less than 2 years. Good luck with your debt free life, can't wait for mine :beer::beer::T:T:T

MM2 x

tazzy2010_2

As of yesterday I am now completely debt free!! :T :T :T

LBM March 2009

Debt at highest 10k +

Any advice - For me it was taking on a part-time job in addition to my full-time job that allowed me to take home an extra £500/month.
Secondly I decreased my outgoings by meal planning and getting things that I needed from ebay and freegle.

Although, I only have £300 in the bank- at least its MY £300!
:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

mummum2

Well done on being DF, so happy for you. :beer::beer::beer::beer: Enjoy on us!:T:T:T:T

JillyOJolly

OOh didnt know this existed and I am eligible to post!

LBM: March 2005
Debt at highest: 13K
Pearl of wisdom: Dont give up, pay your roof over your head and people will always feed you.
Debt free Date: 6th August, 2009

Karmacat

Please report

a. The date of your lightbulb moment Oh dear, I'm in difficulties straight away. Never one moment for me - just many, many gradual realisations. When I joined the forum (Nov 2006). When I started my first online diary in 2007. When I got rid of Sky (summer 2009). When I realised that because of my business going downhill and my own getting-on-a-bit, I'd best downsize the house (October 2009).
b. Debts at their highest Mortgage of £43k and a loan of £11.5k, plus a euro mortgage of E76k.
c. Debt-Free Date Of non-mortgage debt, today Mortgage debt is decreasing too: £34.5k on the English mortgage (£8.5k paid off), E59.5k on the euro mortgage (E16.5k paid off).
d. Your one pearl of wisdom. Erm. Trust the force, Luke. Alternatively, trust Martin and the DFWs. And take action on the basis of that trust.
e. And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it Okay - back in a minute!
Here it is:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1937603

And huge congratulations

Thanks Martin!

Martin

And a huge, huge thank you to Martin and his team, and the DFWs and the team that they (we!) are. I can't think what it would have been like over the last three years or so without this site. :kisses3:

mummum2

Well done Karmacat :beer::beer::beer::beer::j:j:j:T:T:T:T.

churchrat

Yesterday I paid the last of our non-mortgage debt. We have lived this life for so long now that I can't really appreciate that it is now finished.
Anyway......

LBM--sometime in late 2002. It was not a great realisation, more of a dawning knowledge that we couldn't go on like this.

Highest debt (in 2002)--61k non-mortgage debt and 55k mortgage.

Debt free date--25/05/2010. Eight years. It probably could have been sooner but the children did insist on things like food, shoes and going to university.
Mortgage is down too, about 22k left to pay, and if all goes well we will have paid that it the next 2 years.

Pearl of wisdom---I have two for anyone that is interested.
1--aim to see living without credit as a positive life style choice that you have decided to implement, not something that the world has forced you to take.

2--remember that this is just money and you are far more important than that. Even tho at times it can get very dark.

This is a great site and I wish I had known even some of this stuff when we started out, I know I would have made far fewer mistakes.
Good luck all.:)

skintscotslass

I've so been looking forward to doing this

LBM: 27/09/07
Debt at highest: around 13K
Debt free Date: 28/05/10
Pearl of wisdom: Write down all your spends. It so easy to forget the odd thing here and there. Also re-thinking grocery shopping. The Grocery Challenge was a huge help to me.

:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

mummum2

churchrat wrote: »

Yesterday I paid the last of our non-mortgage debt. We have lived this life for so long now that I can't really appreciate that it is now finished.
Anyway......

LBM--sometime in late 2002. It was not a great realisation, more of a dawning knowledge that we couldn't go on like this.

Highest debt (in 2002)--61k non-mortgage debt and 55k mortgage.

Debt free date--25/05/2010. Eight years. It probably could have been sooner but the children did insist on things like food, shoes and going to university.
Mortgage is down too, about 22k left to pay, and if all goes well we will have paid that it the next 2 years.

Pearl of wisdom---I have two for anyone that is interested.
1--aim to see living without credit as a positive life style choice that you have decided to implement, not something that the world has forced you to take.

2--remember that this is just money and you are far more important than that. Even tho at times it can get very dark.

This is a great site and I wish I had known even some of this stuff when we started out, I know I would have made far fewer mistakes.
Good luck all.:)

Impressive, impresive, so green with envy, mine was just a touch more 2 years ago, now into year 3 just under 39K, looking at another 4 years to finish. Love how your amount was almost identical to mine and how far you have come......thanks for a great insight on how to bet this. Well done, Blessings for a happy and fulfilled DF life.:beer::T:T:T:beer:

MM2