The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

gothrockchic1

thrifty_fifty wrote: »

Wow! Never thought this day would come, but I've been dreaming about it for a very long time. Today I have become debt free. Wahoo!

Date of Lightbulb moment: I think there were several flickers but joined here in 2010 and got down to things so feb 2010

Debts at their highest: £18,000

Debt Free Date: 24.2.2012

Pearl of Wisdom: Erm..... Not a lot to say really. Don't put it off, grab the bull by the horns, and never give in. Never!

Debt Free Diary: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3694979

Well Done, great advice. Enjoy your new life! :T

rubywhatashmoo

Joined as a DFW nerd on 23/04/2007 - didn't actually have my lightbulb moment until three and a half years later though!

October 2010 my debt was £4344.51 (never forget the pennies!)

DFD: 24/02/2012

Pearl of wisdom? I can't be trsuted with credit! Just a few months ago I moved the last couple of hundred pounds over to a 0% CC which meant I could avoid interest until the whole lot was paid off - managed to spend an extra £800 on stuff I didn't need. If you need to transfer your balance (and definitely do so if you can save yourself ANYTHING at all in interest!!) then cut up the new card, don't save the number anywhere and pay it off online - through their website rather than your banks - a few times I copy & pasted the card number from my bank into a shop's website so I could spend more after I'd hidden it

Cut it up - cancel it if possible - remove all temptation!!

I found it much easier to send a chunk of cash to my card/overdraft as soon as I got paid then I didn't have a chance to spend it before it made it there!

Good luck DFWs!! Make use of all the support and resources there are on the site & forums - sign up for challenges and get involved - it's a much easier journey when you're not doing it alone! It can be hard to talk about it in real life, but everyone here is in the same boat :A

Mikeone

I've done it. I've really done it!

A couple of years ago, I decided to become debt free before my next birthday. Being a leapling, I had longer than most to do this. I knew the 29th February curse would come in useful one day:rotfl:

Tomorrow is my birthday.

Today I am debt free.

I beat my target by a single day. :j

Date of Lightbulb moment: 20/09/09

Debts at their highest: Difficult to say, my finances were in a real state prior to my LBM. Applying some forensic accountancy, I would reckon the very peak to have been around £26.5k, in mid-2008, which makes it within the four-year period between my birthdays.

Debt Free Date: 28/02/12

Pearl of Wisdom: I delayed tackling my debts for quite a long time, not because I denied their existence, but because I thought being a DFW meant living an ascetic existence with no purpose in life other than repaying the debt. I didn't want to put my life on hold, so I ignored the problem.

This was wrong. Taking control of your finances does not mean making them take over your life -quite the opposite. My life has been richer (no pun intended) since becoming a DFW. I have achieved things that I would have been otherwise unable to do.

If anyone is reading this and, as I once was, worrying about starting to tackle their debts, let me tell them -just do it.

Debt Free Diary: None.

gothrockchic1

rubywhatashmoo wrote: »

Joined as a DFW nerd on 23/04/2007 - didn't actually have my lightbulb moment until three and a half years later though!

October 2010 my debt was £4344.51 (never forget the pennies!)

DFD: 24/02/2012

Pearl of wisdom? I can't be trsuted with credit! Just a few months ago I moved the last couple of hundred pounds over to a 0% CC which meant I could avoid interest until the whole lot was paid off - managed to spend an extra £800 on stuff I didn't need. If you need to transfer your balance (and definitely do so if you can save yourself ANYTHING at all in interest!!) then cut up the new card, don't save the number anywhere and pay it off online - through their website rather than your banks - a few times I copy & pasted the card number from my bank into a shop's website so I could spend more after I'd hidden it

Cut it up - cancel it if possible - remove all temptation!!

I found it much easier to send a chunk of cash to my card/overdraft as soon as I got paid then I didn't have a chance to spend it before it made it there!

Good luck DFWs!! Make use of all the support and resources there are on the site & forums - sign up for challenges and get involved - it's a much easier journey when you're not doing it alone! It can be hard to talk about it in real life, but everyone here is in the same boat :A

Congratulations!!!! :T:T:T

gothrockchic1

Mikeone wrote: »

I've done it. I've really done it!

A couple of years ago, I decided to become debt free before my next birthday. Being a leapling, I had longer than most to do this. I knew the 29th February curse would come in useful one day:rotfl:

Tomorrow is my birthday.

Today I am debt free.

I beat my target by a single day. :j

Date of Lightbulb moment: 20/09/09

Debts at their highest: Difficult to say, my finances were in a real state prior to my LBM. Applying some forensic accountancy, I would reckon the very peak to have been around £26.5k, in mid-2008, which makes it within the four-year period between my birthdays.

Debt Free Date: 28/02/12

Pearl of Wisdom: I delayed tackling my debts for quite a long time, not because I denied their existence, but because I thought being a DFW meant living an ascetic existence with no purpose in life other than repaying the debt. I didn't want to put my life on hold, so I ignored the problem.

This was wrong. Taking control of your finances does not mean making them take over your life -quite the opposite. My life has been richer (no pun intended) since becoming a DFW. I have achieved things that I would have been otherwise unable to do.

If anyone is reading this and, as I once was, worrying about starting to tackle their debts, let me tell them -just do it.

Debt Free Diary: None.

Well Done you!!! :T:T

Happy Birthday for tomorrow, enjoy your first debt free birthday x :beer:

LondonGirl252

HUGE well done and happy birthday Mikeone!

LianneH

[FONT=&quot]Lightbulb moment: July 2009

Debts at their highest: £18,000

Debt-Free Date: 28th Feb 2012

Your one perl of wisdom: well a few…

1. run your household bills like you are the Finance Director of a company, know every penny coming in & out and question whether those pennies going out and try and drive them down.
2. set a realistic budget to work to, don’t rush too quickly to pay off the debts, yes pay and over pay, but only if its sensible and wont push you too close to re-using the overdraft or credit cards again.
3. Earn as much extra cash as you can through ebay, car boot sales and surveys and use this money as a treat pot, makes the long journey a bit more bearable!

[/FONT]

ElmerFudd

Congratulations LianneH. :j

gothrockchic1

LianneH wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]Lightbulb moment: July 2009[FONT=&quot]

Debts at their highest: £18,000

Debt-Free Date: 28th Feb 2012

Your one perl of wisdom: well a few…

1. run your household bills like you are the Finance Director of a company, know every penny coming in & out and question whether those pennies going out and try and drive them down.
2. set a realistic budget to work to, don’t rush too quickly to pay off the debts, yes pay and over pay, but only if its sensible and wont push you too close to re-using the overdraft or credit cards again.
3. Earn as much extra cash as you can through ebay, car boot sales and surveys and use this money as a treat pot, makes the long journey a bit more bearable!

[/FONT][/FONT]

Well Done!!! :T

jamja

bigstoo wrote: »

a. The date of your lightbulb moment - December 2004 was when I took the bull by the horns and consolidated my debts and vowed to not borrow another penny
b. Debts at their highest - £12000 plus around £4500 in student loans
c. Debt-Free Date - 16th December 2011.
d. Your one pearl of wisdom - Budget, budget, budget! The biggest thing for me was to use personal accounting software. Before, I used to bury my head n the sand. Now I know exactly how much money I've got, and if I don't have the money I don't buy it/do it. This is the free software I've been using

Finally, thank you to everybody on these forums. I've not posted much over the last several years, but it's been a constant source of inspiration.

Onwards and upwards to the Mortgage-Free Wannabe board!

Cheers :beer:

Congratulations! Good luck on your mortgage free quest.