The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

kiote

a. The date of your lightbulb moment - Christmas 2010 - found out a £4000 credit card only goes so far
b. Debts at their highest -£8,500
c. Debt-Free Date - 24/11/2011 :j
d. Your one perl of wisdom - rounding down! If I got paid £259.99 or £250.01 then the £9.99 or £0.01 would go straight into my savings account (ontop of a £25 weekly DD) those few extra bits soon add together
e. And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it - wasn't brave / interesting enough to have one!

gothrockchic1

kiote wrote: »

a. The date of your lightbulb moment - Christmas 2010 - found out a £4000 credit card only goes so far
b. Debts at their highest -£8,500
c. Debt-Free Date - 24/11/2011 :j
d. Your one perl of wisdom - rounding down! If I got paid £259.99 or £250.01 then the £9.99 or £0.01 would go straight into my savings account (ontop of a £25 weekly DD) those few extra bits soon add together
e. And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it - wasn't brave / interesting enough to have one!

Well Done :beer:

Debt_free_by_2012

A. My lightbulb moment was christmas eve 2010 sitting in the pub with my friends and realising I really wasn't happy.
B. The debt I dealt with was £7212 but it did reach £10k at one point.
C. My debt free date 28/11/2011!:j
D. My one perl of wisdom is communication. When you have support it is easier to get through it. Be it on a forum like this or family and friends.

samo8076

Congrats again everybody.

buffster_2

Yesterday (30 Nov 2011) was 24 years to the day that I started full-time work, and it's also my debt free day!

I still have a mortgage to pay but I'm fortunate that it's a relatively small mortgage, although I do need to convert it from endowment to part/full repayment.

I'd had several attempts at repaying debt, but as the payments came down, my disposable income went up and I started spending again. I took out a £16k loan to consolidate debt and tried to pay it off in as short a time as possible. I then ran up a similar amount on cards again

In August last year I paid off the loan and was determined to out the £390 payment towards paying off the cards and I sorted out some 0% cards. I had to spread the debt across the cards as no-one would give me a card for the amount I owed.

Then in Dec 2011 my office was closed and we were relocated to another office 80 miles away. We were given relocation money for 12 months, so that was my real LBM. I HAD to pay my debt by the end of this year or I couldn't afford to pay for my petrol to work (public transport isn't an option but would still cost a fortune anyway).

I paid off around £16k this year, which was also the amount of the loan I took to consolidate original card debt. I'm not sure how much I owed at the peak of my debt when I had some of the loan remaining plus the card debt.

A few pearls of wisdom:
1. Write it down! It might look scary when you see the number, but it certainly focuses the mind!
2. Budget. Work out what you can spend, and review regularly. I reviewed weekly, worked out what I was likely to spend and paid some cash to my debt, although not so much that I'd risk going into my O/D.
3. Pay when you can - a tip I learned from here. Instead of saving up and paying at the end of the month, I paid when I had the cash. The temptation to spend it was removed and I had the satisfaction of seeing the debt go down.
4. Every penny counts. As above, even a few pennies paid in when you can helps reduce your debt, as they mount up over the course of your payback period.
5. If you fall off the wagon, pick yourself up and get back on. It's done, forget about it and get back on the debt free trail. It's better than the alternative of giving up and going back to your old ways. You might not be debt free as soon as you like, but you will get there. We're all human and occasionally we may lose the plot a bit and not rigorously stick to our debt free plans.
6. Snowball - so simple yet so effective!

The real shocker for me is that the amount I paid off this year is equivalent to half my mortgage! Yet I have nothing to show for having shelled out £16k this year.

I think I've rambled on long enough, so I'll just say to those still on the debt free journey that the end is worth it. So worth it. And along the way you develop the skills to help you manage your money better. It was an incredible feeling to see that money leave my account later last night, knowing it was the last payment. I kept checking my online banking last night till it eventually left my account. I'm still walking on air today.

Hard as the journey may be, you'll love it when you get to your destination. Best of luck to those still on your debt free journey. Enjoy the feeling when (not if) it arrives.

gothrockchic1

Debt_free_by_2012 wrote: »

A. My lightbulb moment was christmas eve 2010 sitting in the pub with my friends and realising I really wasn't happy.
B. The debt I dealt with was £7212 but it did reach £10k at one point.
C. My debt free date 28/11/2011!:j
D. My one perl of wisdom is communication. When you have support it is easier to get through it. Be it on a forum like this or family and friends.

Congratulations!!! :beer:

gothrockchic1

Well Done Bufster :beer:

DebtFree2012

Great post - congratulations. Roll on March 2014 for me! Despite my user name!!!

x

mustbemad68

I have been lucky enough to get back pay from work which has allowed me to pay off the last of my debt today and still have a little left over. Now it's time to start saving for what I want instead of getting it and paying later.

Lightbulb moment: June 2009

Debt at highest: approx £15000

Debt-Free Date: Today!!! 22/12/11

Pearls of wisdom: do a spending diary - it's amazing where your money dribbles away to! Also, admit when you can't afford something and keep coming on here for support - I couldn't have done it without this place.:)

camuk81

Loving this thread!