The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

Hovel_lady

Well done Clare_B that's fantastic news :j
Enjoy New York and the rest of your debt free life

AlyBaly

At last I can officially post I am debt free :j Letter of final discharge from the trust deed arrived today. What a relief :beer:


a. The date of your lightbulb moment May 2008
b. Debts at their highest £55000 :eek:
c. Debt-Free Date 09/02/2012
d. Your one perl of wisdom. When you are in a financial mess do not sit and wait for things to get magically better, I used to say , when we win the lottery we will be ok or If we can get through this month, year etc things will be ok, it just does not happen until you finally sit up and have your true LBM.
We wish we had tackled things earlier but I think fear comes into it, please believe me the fear of making that first phone call for help is nothing compared the the fear you feel wondering how you will pay your bills, have food on the table or wondering who will phone next chasing the debt. Make the call, it is the start of a new journey, not an easy journey by any manner of means but you start to feel that possibly there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Hovel_lady

Congratulations AlyBaly :beer:
That's fantastic news

sparky0107

AlyBaly
Congratulations on becoming "Debt free" all your hard work has paid off, so now you can start to enjoy your money and have some fun without worrying. Once more kid, well done and keep up the good work, everyone who reads the posts from people who've made it gets inspiration, I remember 5 years ago thinking will that ever be me.

DebtFree2012

Congratulations everyone!!!!!
March 2014 I will be here - will that every happen?!?!?!

xxx

Clare_B_4

Thanks everyone, I don't think it's quite sunk in just yet!
sparky0107 - enjoy your trip! :j

Well done AlyBaly:T

Kayfabe

a. The date of your lightbulb moment: Honestly can't say I had one; more a growing recognition over the last few years that I'd been in some degree of debt or other since uni which wasn't really going down, and now in my early 30s, it was time to get rid.
b. Debts at their highest: £6,000 credit cards, three years of student loan £9,000
c. Debt-Free Date: Today!!
d. Your one pearl of wisdom: Education and learning is everything - I read Martin's books, lurked here for years without posting, and kept telling myself about pizza. You get a nice pizza in your paycheck, and a slice has to go to rent, to your bills, another to your pension, and to your debt repayments. Work out your outgoings, and be absolutely clinical!

---

Today is my DFD! It's a lovely feeling to know that I owe absolutely nothing to anybody. No credit cards, no student loans, no anything.

I've always been lucky enough to have good jobs, but those wages, until a couple of years ago, were always mismanaged where I was living ever-so-slightly beyond my means. Not enough to be in 'trouble', but enough for a chunk of debt (that £6k) to sit, tarting from card to card to card, not going down. And nothing POSITIVE was happening with my money.

At the the exact time I was getting serious about MoneySaving - budgeting, planning, and thinking about pizza, I received a promotion at work. I used all but every penny of my pay rise towards repayments, and really "went for it". And today is payday where the slices going towards the repayments are the last ones.

The best part - I can now actually use my money for positive, constructive means without having slices go to repayments. Fantastic.

I've got a wedding to save for, my pension in the UK to really bolster (I'm currently on a work placement overseas, hence wanting to rid of the UK student loan, which were being paid from my post-tax overseas income), and an emergency fund to build up for piece of mind. Me and my Mrs are now reguarly paying a small amount, standing order, each payday, for that purpose.

Thank you to everyone who posts good advice and support on this board - it's really appreciated, even by those who don't post but just read. Also, my absolute best wishes to everyone out there who are a little behind me or just starting to MoneySave. It's well worth it! :beer:

gothrockchic1

Congratulations AlyBaly and Kayfabe :beer:

Enjoy your new Debt Free life!

sparky0107

Kayfabe
Well done on your achievement, enjoy your debt free status and good luck saving for your up coming wedding.

Congratulations

jamja

Long time lurker here....

a. The date of your lightbulb moment - there have been a few! Oct 2008 the proper one where I consolidated debt and made a concerted effort to stick to paying it off.
b. Debts at their highest - £15000 plus 5 years worth of student loans
c. Debt-Free Date - Feb 2012. Would have been a month earlier but i decided to start saving!
d. Your one pearl of wisdom - Keep track of everything.

I have been a long time reader on this site albeit I don't say much, but I would like to thank people for the advise I have read along the way. Now, off to sort out my savings spreadsheet - 2012 is the year of SAVE!