A Thread for After Debt?

415SanFran

I have no debts and like you say I do not broadcast this as it sounds a big smug.
That said if it had not been for me reading this and other board I would be.
As someone else said "I am as tight as a coat of paint" (love that, will have to remember that one ) The only holiday we have had was a 10 pound one out of the Sun newspaper, we had a fantastic time in a caravan in Cornwall for a week, weather was fantastic, although we very pretty lucky this year with the scewed weather coming so late. My freezer is a haze of yellow stickers, and all coupons get used, send off for as many free samples as I can lay my hands on.
I do like to buy myself luxury items but I do have to earn them, for instance I have my eye on a fossil handbag for the last couple of months that I would dearly love to have.
When I say earn it, to own this I will first have to make the money buy making it on quidco, getting money/coupon from survey sites mystery shops that sort of thing.
I have just finished the "100 day challenge" so everything spare was going there, and then along came my water rates bill, so the fossil handbag had to go back to the bottom of the list AGAIN.
I feel that I have to have a goal in sight otherwise it just doesn't work for me, my last "love" was a kindle, but it got put to the bottom of the list ssoooo many times that I managed to talk my self out of it the moment I saw the handbag, which of course may well be replaced the next time a see a item that I fall in love with.

LealeaV

I think I need some help please!

I have spent the last couple of years paying off my debt... and the last 6 months of which I actually quite enjoyed... checking the figures, working out how long it would take me pay off, If I paid x each month etc, how long it would take me etc....

I have managed to save along the way as the last of the debt was on a 0% interest rate...

Anyway, I could just do with some help with coming to terms with being debt free and learning to cope without the buzz of my calculations and spreadsheets n things...

I do the same for my savings, but its just not the same! I find calculating up is not the same as calculating down... if that makes sense!

I am really pleased that I am debt free now and I really wouldnt want to be in debt again... I wouldnt change it for the world!

I think I just need something else to keep my OCD going with spreadsheets n things! I have found a keen interest in my Grocery Shopping... my weekly food shopping trip is now the highlight of my week! I quite enjoy getting my food shopping bill down and seeing what deals I can get!

Anyway- if you have any ideas on what I can use my OCD mind on then it would be great! Thanks

Mort

LealeaV wrote: »

I think I need some help please!

I have spent the last couple of years paying off my debt... and the last 6 months of which I actually quite enjoyed... checking the figures, working out how long it would take me pay off, If I paid x each month etc, how long it would take me etc....

I have managed to save along the way as the last of the debt was on a 0% interest rate...

Anyway, I could just do with some help with coming to terms with being debt free and learning to cope without the buzz of my calculations and spreadsheets n things...

I do the same for my savings, but its just not the same! I find calculating up is not the same as calculating down... if that makes sense!

I am really pleased that I am debt free now and I really wouldnt want to be in debt again... I wouldnt change it for the world!

I think I just need something else to keep my OCD going with spreadsheets n things! I have found a keen interest in my Grocery Shopping... my weekly food shopping trip is now the highlight of my week! I quite enjoy getting my food shopping bill down and seeing what deals I can get!

Anyway- if you have any ideas on what I can use my OCD mind on then it would be great! Thanks

Congratulations on being debt free.
We have found the same now the initial debt free euphoria has worn off. It's almost like we don't have a goal any more. We have been idly contemplating plans to give the house some tlc. For us it would be a case of determining a new goal, planning it, costing it and saving for it. Some scope for spreadsheets there maybe. If you have something like this you could count down to your target.

dark^knight

Interesting thread. For those of you getting bored as you are no longer working on becoming DF, may I suggest buddying up with others on here who are really struggling and mentoring them to become DF also. Just an idea.

MyOnlyPost

Hello to everyone and congratulations on being debt free.

I stumbled on this part of the forum by accident and this thread brought back so many memories. I was in 5 figure debt 15 years ago and had never heard of Martin Lewis. I ended up working two jobs and cutting spending to the absolute essentials to pay it off but I did and I've never looked back.

What I wanted to post was this:

Quite a few of you seem to be struggling now you are debt free. I understand because I've been there. Having money sometimes feels like a burden. When you're in debt and trying to get out it's easy to know what to do. Every spare penny services a debt, the only choice is which one. When you have money left at the end of the month and know there's no debt to pay it can become very difficult not to give into temptation, after all you deserve it after the torrid time you've had. The best advice I can give, and what I did, was continue to live the same way for 6 months. I figured I had been doing it for 4 years and I was used to living that way. After paying off £300+ pcm in debt I saved nearly £2k in that 6 months. That was the figure I needed to let go of the past. Only you will know what your own individual safety net is. Once you have that safety net you stop being scared of the unforeseen bills.

Even now ten years on and with a family to look after I compartmentalise my money. I know what we have coming in to the house pcm to the penny and it is all allocated. I do it mentally but my wife finds it easier to use physical pots, so £x goes into the school uniform pot, £y into the holiday fund and £z is the food / household budget etc. (You get the picture). We have two savings accounts. One is our long term savings and is for when the kids leave home, we never touch this. We then have a savings account which is our "slush fund". The aggregate balance is£2,500 and we use it for one off payments where there's savings to be had such as taxing the car 12 months not 6 and paying the insurance when we purchase and not in instalments. This would also be our emergency fund. We have a regular payment to the account and it's always maintained around that figure over the year.

The net result of this is that I am now a father of 3 with more financial responsibility than at any time in my past but being in debt taught me how to manage that. As far as I was in debt 15 years ago I now have double that in savings through financial management alone. So keep up the good work and good luck to you all, there is light at the end of that tunnel.

sydneybean

Hi,
I'm on my debt free journey but just want to say that you guys are a massive inspiration when i read through the posts on here. You shouldn't feel people will look at you as being smug about being debt free - thats why we all join right? we want to be where you are now. For me personally if there were no people on here who had managed to become debt free then where is the incentive to go for it?
please keep on posting on threads it really does help and when i am debt free i will have picked up some great tips for coping with it!:T

rictus123

Well iv got just shy of £2,000 coming out on Friday afternoon...which will leave me with 2 debts. One is a £3,000 loan(should be paid off end of January at latest) and one is £4,500. The £4,500 one was spent on work tools and equipment so i dont see it so much as a debt as with the stuff i bought with it i draw extra income. Im not going to pay it down, im going to pay it off with a lump sum the middle of June. Right before my 21st birthday. THe best bit is i will have money in the bank after i pay off the last debt. Then i dont think i will be safe to spend on "whatever i like" until my cash worth is at least £10,000. That is the safety net i have in my mind. Outgoings next year even with the loan should be around £600 pcm. Income is projected at £2,400 pcm for the first 3 months, £3,200pcm a month after that. So could be saving as much as £2,600 a month over summer. I will definatly need help though, even with a figure that big. Whats to stop me spending it all going out or on a car i do not need?? Thats where you guys come in.

ms_london

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

[/B]I'd love a Kindle.... sigh ..... but I don't need one. I've nearly bought one at least 20 times this year and have always managed to talk myself out of it.

I spend a fair bit on books (do use the library too) so the BAD part of me is saying this would save money .... I must resist!

Mantra to self .... Need / Want, Need / Want, Need / Want, Need / Want, Need / Want, Need / Want ........

This isn't going to help, but I bought a kindle at the start of the year and I LOVE it, it is a fairly cheap hobby to have, no monthly subscription, just perhaps limit yourself to not buying heaps of books, although a lot are cheap / free.... Especially since they are only £79!!

I do agree with the want and need theory of course, but you do also need to have some pleasure in life to keep you sane.. xx

ms_london

sydneybean wrote: »

Hi,
I'm on my debt free journey but just want to say that you guys are a massive inspiration when i read through the posts on here. You shouldn't feel people will look at you as being smug about being debt free - thats why we all join right? we want to be where you are now. For me personally if there were no people on here who had managed to become debt free then where is the incentive to go for it?
please keep on posting on threads it really does help and when i am debt free i will have picked up some great tips for coping with it!:T

Thinks Sydneybean - good to look at it from that point of view too, and it is motivating to hear of others who have been there and became debt free, I'm sure stories like this motivated me when I was in £19,000 of debt! :eek::eek:

xx

seriousDFW

I think the thing with becoming debt free is that there's a VERY specific goal - i.e. getting from however in debt you are to that singular point when you have no debt. That journey from the negative number which says how much debt you have to zero is a fixed distance, it has a clear end point, and you can really work towards it as there's only ONE outcome you want. When you have achieved DF, I imagine, it would feel like there was an infinite amount of possibilities. Do you save? If so, how much? £100, £1000, £10,000? Once you've saved this how do you spend your money? This very wide variety of choices makes it hard to feel like you have control.

I think when I become DF, I will have to have a clear plan about how much reserves I want to save, and then how I will spend the money I have over that amount.