The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

Saiyen25

The date of my lightbulb moment – June 2011
Debts at their highest - About 4 thousand!
Debt-Free Date - 18/10/2011 !
My pearl of wisdom- you do not have savings if you are in debt, wise words
I found on here! Here is too a debt free life!:A

Memory_Girl

Finally done it - although the end came all of a sudden when I made a huge sale of some old books that have been hanging around for years.


The date of my lightbulb moment – Nov 09 when the bank offset a business guarantee against my personal account and left we standing with 71p and three nappies, no access to any funds and two kids to feed. Later they served repossession papers on me (failed as I never missed a payment but worrying nevertheless)

Debts at their highest - £10,000 business guarantee and £200 DSS loan to get me out of the above pickle.

Debt-Free Date - 19 October 2011

My pearl of wisdom- Set up automatic payments for your debt for what you can afford and then concentrate on finding other little bits of money to throw over to them by getting organised. Remember "there are few ways of saving a thousand pounds but thousands of ways to save a pound"

Budget properly for everything you need.

Build a decent stock cupboard (during my time I have had emergencies of Tax Credits stopping, payments not being received and you need a fall back position)

Think of food on a longer scale than just today - we love pitta and hummus for lunch and have it every week, so I know how much dried chick peas I need to have for a year and how much flour. Buy these on offer and I know I have one meal bought and paid for for a whole year. So get your meal planning head on.

Make Do and Mend - seriously, don't throw of you can fix. Recycle what you can and learn how to create what you need. (My three year old now has his 4 year wardrobe of trousers, shorts, shirts, jerseys and cardigans made from a pile of Grandad's cast off clothes and a sack of wool from Freecycle) - Get creative and remember that Google can be your friend to finding out how to do anything.

MY BEST TIP

Surround yourself with a group of people who will support what you are doing, cheer you along when you have a success, kick your bahookie when you are down. Negative people have their own problems that don't need to be yours when you are dealing with this.

Good Luck

Memorygirl

DebtFree2012

Well done Memory girl!!! A huge congratualtions and may you never see bad times like before. Long may it last xxx

findingmyownway

Can't believe I'm posting here!!! :j

It has been a long and convoluted path to get here. I confess, it should have all been done much sooner I started in 2006/7 with student debts (from undergrad and PhD studies) plus a car loan... I made good dents into them and was doing well, but then became single and had a couple of years in an extreme spending phase!! Second light bulb moment came in 2010 when I realised that despite being on a very good wage, my debts were still increasing.

For the last 9 months my only debt has been a personal loan and I have been saving additional money in an ISA. Today I bit the bullet and phoned to pay off the balance of the loan (£4600), saving circa £800 in interest :j and I can truly say I am DEBT FREE !!!

The date of my lightbulb moment – Number 1 = circa 2007. Number 2 = Oct 2010

Debts at their highest - £4,000 on CCs & £15,000 loans.

Debt-Free Date - 20 October 2011

My pearl of wisdom-

Try to stay focussed. Life doesn't come to a halt to enable you to pay off your debts, you have to manage as best you can in the situations you find yourself in. I could have done this better, but I got there in the end!

Allocate your money on pay day. I know how much I need to transfer to each account to cover bills / spending money / savings etc. Once this is done, you can relax knowing that everything is covered.

mummum2

findingmyownway wrote: »

Can't believe I'm posting here!!! :j

It has been a long and convoluted path to get here. I confess, it should have all been done much sooner I started in 2006/7 with student debts (from undergrad and PhD studies) plus a car loan... I made good dents into them and was doing well, but then became single and had a couple of years in an extreme spending phase!! Second light bulb moment came in 2010 when I realised that despite being on a very good wage, my debts were still increasing.

For the last 9 months my only debt has been a personal loan and I have been saving additional money in an ISA. Today I bit the bullet and phoned to pay off the balance of the loan (£4600), saving circa £800 in interest :j and I can truly say I am DEBT FREE !!!

The date of my lightbulb moment – Number 1 = circa 2007. Number 2 = Oct 2010

Debts at their highest - £4,000 on CCs & £15,000 loans.

Debt-Free Date - 20 October 2011

My pearl of wisdom-

Try to stay focussed. Life doesn't come to a halt to enable you to pay off your debts, you have to manage as best you can in the situations you find yourself in. I could have done this better, but I got there in the end!

Allocate your money on pay day. I know how much I need to transfer to each account to cover bills / spending money / savings etc. Once this is done, you can relax knowing that everything is covered.

That's fantastic, well done and happy DF life! mm2 :beer::T

mummum2

Memory_Girl wrote: »

Finally done it - although the end came all of a sudden when I made a huge sale of some old books that have been hanging around for years.


The date of my lightbulb moment – Nov 09 when the bank offset a business guarantee against my personal account and left we standing with 71p and three nappies, no access to any funds and two kids to feed. Later they served repossession papers on me (failed as I never missed a payment but worrying nevertheless)

Debts at their highest - £10,000 business guarantee and £200 DSS loan to get me out of the above pickle.

Debt-Free Date - 19 October 2011

My pearl of wisdom- Set up automatic payments for your debt for what you can afford and then concentrate on finding other little bits of money to throw over to them by getting organised. Remember "there are few ways of saving a thousand pounds but thousands of ways to save a pound"

Budget properly for everything you need.

Build a decent stock cupboard (during my time I have had emergencies of Tax Credits stopping, payments not being received and you need a fall back position)

Think of food on a longer scale than just today - we love pitta and hummus for lunch and have it every week, so I know how much dried chick peas I need to have for a year and how much flour. Buy these on offer and I know I have one meal bought and paid for for a whole year. So get your meal planning head on.

Make Do and Mend - seriously, don't throw of you can fix. Recycle what you can and learn how to create what you need. (My three year old now has his 4 year wardrobe of trousers, shorts, shirts, jerseys and cardigans made from a pile of Grandad's cast off clothes and a sack of wool from Freecycle) - Get creative and remember that Google can be your friend to finding out how to do anything.

MY BEST TIP

Surround yourself with a group of people who will support what you are doing, cheer you along when you have a success, kick your bahookie when you are down. Negative people have their own problems that don't need to be yours when you are dealing with this.

Good Luck

Memorygirl

Well done Memorygirl! congrats and happy DF life! :T:beer:

mummum2

:T:beer::T:jWhoop! whoop to all the debt frees, go forth and continue in your new found DF life! :j:T:j:beer:

MM2

LexieLou

I came on here tonight as I suddenly feel consumed with guilt and debt...(guilt about the debt), and you have all made me feel a little, tiny, ickle bit better. Enjoy your new found freedom, some day I want my name in lights here too!

LL xx

gothrockchic1

LexieLou wrote: »

I came on here tonight as I suddenly feel consumed with guilt and debt...(guilt about the debt), and you have all made me feel a little, tiny, ickle bit better. Enjoy your new found freedom, some day I want my name in lights here too!

LL xx

Hi LexieLou I find this post inspiring. Its really important to have goals things to do after you are debt free and it keeps me going. Good Luck x

needingaccountability

Lightbulb moment April 2011

Debts at their highest Around £8000 a few years ago but at the LBM was £4906

Debt-Free Date :j 4th November 2011 :j

Pearl of Wisdom Budget, budget, budget. And stick to it. Use a money planner so you can keep a track of every penny.

Debt Free Diary https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3301102