What is your motivation to be debt free?

rdchick

My lightbulb moment was moving into a gorgeous 3 bedroom house with the love of my life after spending a lot of time and money on ex-boyfriends and not on looking after myself I found myself in what seems like a large amount of debt (nearly £7000) to me and wanting to not be in this position any more and wanting to be able to pay for holidays/wedding/house/babies without this burden!

jojitsui

Every time I fancy having a little spending spree I am going to re read this thread
Thanks x

nicnacnoo

i got a loan for a caravan last year and saw it as an investment, ive since realised that it is actually a debt and im paying it off and hopefully by spring next year. My motivation to keep at it is because i want to move away, i live in Cumbria and nothing happens here so im moving to Lancshire in a couple of years while the kids are still young to give them a better chance once they are older
Great thread idea by the way
Nic

allydowd

I've been in debt for HALF MY LIFE. Nuff said.

topcat9

What a great question! In our case it wasn't so much aiming towards something as wanting to get away from something - the oppressive weight of debt pressing down upon us every day It began to lift the day we entered our DMP and in a couple of months time we hope to be free of it :j:j

browneyedbazzi

I realised about six months ago that although I'm now (after years of modestly paid slog) making a decent salary that should be fairly comfortable I was struggling to make ends meet and dreading the last week of each month before payday. I'd often get towards the end of the month with no cash in the bank and end up relying on a credit card or even going on a spending binge using credit to try to cheer myself up. The weight of spiralling credit card debts was becoming scary especially as I got near to limits and knew that I wouldn't have that 'safety net' for much longer...when I sat down and properly looked at what I was spending I realised that far too much money was going on interest to repay credit cards and an old loan. I worked out how long it would take to pay off the cards if I carried on the way I was, and how much interest would be paid doing it and was horrified.

I became determined to live within my means and sort out all the debt. I cancelled all store accounts and stopped carrying credit cards when I went out. I sorted out a loan to consolidate the card debts that meant less money going in interest and that the debt would be paid off in 3 years instead of 40+ (or never as I seemed to keep topping up the balance on my cards with new spending). Instead of getting thrills from buying new things I now love finding a bargain (on something I need) or a way to save. It feels really good now knowing that a debt free life isn't far off

I even managed to go on holiday last month and did so guilt free because I worked lots of overtime and saved up so it was paid for in advance rather than on credit..that felt wonderful!

rictus123

I am wasting 500 a month on min payments. 6k a year I could be saving plus interest....once debt free I won't be in the red again bar mortgage.

GingerFurball_2

The realisation last summer that if someone decided to write me a cheque for £5,000 that I could pay off my overdraft and credit card - and have no money after I'd done that.

By using the debt snowballing website and realising it would take me 40 years to pay off my debt by only paying minimums.

Not a great situation to be in with a young kid.

On Thursday I'll have cleared the credit card off completely, so will have made excellent progress in the last 8 months.

The motivation for remaining debt free is simple; if I'd never spent on the credit card then I'd have cleared my overdraft (which is still maxed, but at 0%) and have about £1,500 in savings.