A Thread for After Debt?

LealeaV

Well Mort I just want to say thank you for summing up my ramble... it is exactly how I am feeling and I pleased to know that I aint the only one!

Well my new goal (well old goal - but debt got in the way)
is to buy a flat in London. I have joined the "we're saving for a deposit" thread and also the "12k in 2012" thread..... so I was thinking of counting down from 12k... so then it would feel a debt countdown rather than a savings count up - which doesnt have the same buzz!

I am so glad that you started this thread backinbusiness I really do get so much support and joy out of knowing that I aint the only one out there that are feeling the same way!

Well I am itching for 2012 to come so that I can get OCD with spreadsheets and working out again! I am just saving as much as I can from now until then and then will tangle myself in figures, spreadsheets and calculations until I get a new buzz!

Well done to everyone on this thread - those who are debt free and those who are on their journey! I think the begining of every end is LBM and we seem to have all had ours !

Mort

This is technically the first month we have been debt free in a long time. I say technically for three reasons:

1. We have a small mortgage, which is a good debt.
2. We have had to borrow from family due to a boiler failure, this will be repaid in January.
3. We had credit card bills in for 84p and 51p

Today we have been window shopping in B&Q for ideas on how to do up the bathroom and kitchen, we have looked in Homebase as well and I dare say Ikea might warrant a trip out as well (if only for the hot dog and Swedish shop:rotfl:).


Next things to do are to add £1.35 to my signature block and start a diary thread on the Mortgage Free Wannabe forum.


For those of you reading this who are still on the the DFW journey or just about to start it good luck and remember the light at the end of the tunnel may not be an oncoming train.

backinbusiness

Hello all.

I've been reflecting on nearly a year of debt freedom-ness.

This is the first time in many, MANY years that I am not worried (financially) about Christmas.

In previous years I would be stressing about how we were going to pay for presents, food, etc - wondering how we'd pay for fuel to visit relatives, etc - putting it all on the never never (which should be renamed the forever, forever!).

My ex-husband's mantra (and a huge part of our debt problems) was "Can't you just put it on the credit cards?".

I'm not going overboard with gifts this year, but at least they'll be bought with budgeted savings. (Still can't bring myself to loosen these purse strings much!)

In this last year the post through the door has dropped by about 95%, I can answer the 'phone without fretting, and we've been able to allow ourselves the odd (MSE) treat.

Such a whole load of stress lifted from my shoulders.

BiB

backinbusiness

A Happy New Year to all Debt-Free or Debt-Free Wanabees!

Which of your MSE habits will you be using to keep on the straight and narrow in 2012?

I fell off the £2 coin sealed pot challenge last year as the children knew I was no longer just quite so fanatical and started raiding it for change for dinner money! (Patently not sealed enough!).

More fool them . . . On Boxing Day I popped into Poundstretchers and bought a rather a fetching money-tin with a £10 note emblem on it - and it can only be opened with a tin opener! Let's see them raid that!

Will of course keep revising my budget.

I can pay my car insurance in one this year - thus saving interest.

Continue to use 2 credit cards in tandem to maximise cash flow (and continue to pay both off in full each month!)

What a different place I'm in from this time last year!

Have a great 2012 all.

BiB x

camuk81

I would say its not rubbing anyone's nose in it at all. I read these thinking I can't wait till I get my signature to read nothing owed anywhere. You guys have been there and done it and all give great advice to us aspiring to get there

This time has been a bit of a shock and me and him are discussing what the plan is after paying off debt's i.e. paying off the mortgage.

I'm very lucky my LBM was way before anything too serious happened and I still openly admit I harbour a touch of jealously when I see a friend in a great jumper and I want it. Made even worse by my next directory turning up today! However come 2013 I will have no debt and will have over £800 a month more then I do now!

However I'm making sure I change and get fully on board. Joining more and more threads to see how much more I can stretch my funds!

Well done to all of you

JulieGeorgiana

I started on my Debt Free Journey in 2003!!!!

During my journey I took on a loan for a car (good debt as I needed a good reliable second hand car). But when I met my DH in 2006 I then had to deal with his debt too!!!

Fast Forward to June 2010 and we were debt free and we married that same month on a £3k wedding which had been paid for all up front

I also found myself bored, and it's easy to slip. But I gave myself two life aims:

1) Start saving for a deposit on a house

2) To learn to live only on my DH wages so we could have children and I could be a SAHM

becomming debt free meant that being a SAHM was an option now

We have £13k in the savings (I get a bigger rush watching it rise then I ever did watching the debts fall) and aim for £17.5k by the end of 2012! I am selling my car soon... and will be able to save £150 a month extra

We would like about £20k before seriously buying a house though. And MIL/FIL will give us £5k when we buy which will cover all the 'expenses' (this is a wedding present).

I do have one strict rule... what goes in an ISA does not come out.

Due to illness I have had to give up work 6 months earlier then we had planned (a huge hit to our savings plans) BUT I am very pleased that my frugal ways meant we managed and our dream of having a larger family while I stay home. Even though owning a home is only delayed a little while

I have 2 credit cards, I treat them like cash (I spent money on one today and the money is already 'earmarked' in my spreadsheet to be paid) and pay them in full every month. The 'points' I get on them are used to get treats for my family. I am very strict... and I enjoy the part where I am the one laughing at them... rather then letting them laugh at me while I pay stupid amounts of interest! I got the last laugh

I need the OS and DFW boards to help keep me on the straight and narrow... I worry about seeming smug, but I do think that people who are debt free are those I aspired to become when I struggled... Knowing that one day... I'd be one of them!

We are living very tight within our means... Our outgoings are cut to the bone, and it's almost the same as our incomings! Someone mentioned paying for insurance once a year... I do that now, it really is worth it.

I feel it's only right that we give back now, because without help would we be where we are now???

debtshurt

Debt free since December 2010 (one year already) but i got a credit card less than 6 months ago to rebuild my credit profile. I do pay it off every month so the card company sent me a letter to let me they are increasing my limit.
I feel guilty than i am setting myself up for failure again so i'm thinking of closing the credit card account before i get in debt again.

katsu

Two years in for us. We "graduated" from DFW and moved on to MFW as quite a few people do. Transferrign the mentality of tackling the remaining big debt seemed to make such sense. You can do a downwards target of "reduce the mortgage by XX to YY by DATE" if you prefer that to a savings target.

It took a while to settle in on MFW and I still come here a lot to help people out - and to keep learning as things change and new tips come up. We learnt a lot in our journey and after we got DF.

I am proud to be DF - truly proud - but it is sad you can't really tell people in real life as many would think you were boasting or look for you to buy more rounds etc. Being DF has two main advantages: firstly, all your money is available for the present and the future instead of some of it being still needed to cover past spending and secondly your money goes so much further as you are not paying an extra 10-30% on everything due to the interest charges. That last bit has made such a difference.

Since becoming DF I have:

* taken out a cashback CC to make money from the bank
* taken out (and repaid) an interest free education loan - I do agree some debt is good debt
* remortgaged - I actually felt confident enough to fill in forms, look at our financial details and speak to the IFA about our mortgage options. Last time I made DH do it as it made me feel sick.
* started to be more confident about switching - switching bank acounts etc and really trying to work TCB to maximum benefit. I feel less scared about getting credit checked now, so am willing to make applications

I find MFW invaluable in keeping on the straight and narrow - posting on the daily small things thread there and associating with other people excited about coupons etc

QueenB.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Well as this was my first DF christmas i did go a little crazy but i have to say not as crazy as i thought i would when i was dreaming about a df crimbo as a DFW. Strangely i just kept thinking do we really need it, will the kids really appreicate it and my OH got less this year than last year. Christmas dinner cost roughly £15 (we are a vegetarian family so no meat costs) and all teachers got homemade gifts. The things i enjoyed most about this DF christmas was not the extra money available (though it was a nice feeling) but instead it was

• Socialising more, as i wasn't either working to pay debts or worrying about affording the holidays.
• Waking up this new years day with money in the bank, all bills paid, christmas paid for and no OD/CC hanging over our heads:)

To be honest the bank accounts are not looking as healthy as they could have if i had put in place a tighter christmas budget but they are a lot healthier looking than they did a few months ago.

I still get a sickly feeling when i spend too much money (this made crimbo shopping interesting:cool:) and i still need to tighten up my new goals but i actually looked forward to the new year and getting christmas out of the way so i could get back on track moneywise:)

I have decided on 3 new goals so far

• To pay our car insurance/years tax in one go
• To afford a family holiday
• To save at least another £1000 (hopefully more)

To achieve all this will take some rebudgeting and restrictions but i know it is possible if i put my mind to it. Also like many of you my home is in some major need of some TLC and redecorating so this year will be spent replacing (as cheaply as possible) or fixing up as creatively as possible the difference being i am doing so through choice not because i have to:D.

rising_from_the_ashes

Hello all Happy New Year

Funnily enough, I was thinking about this thread the other day......

MyOnlyPost wrote: »

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.

This is where I am .... I really need to concentrate for at least the 1st half of the year and get the budgeting under control - my emergency fund (only started recently once I became debt free) and a little extra I'd put aside have all been wiped out by a very large vets bill (sadly with an unhappy outcome) and a new fridge/freezer as mine packed in a couple of weeks before Christmas:(.

This may sound silly - but I'm just as worried at the thought of having no "fall back" money for emergencies should they come along ... as I was about my debt.

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

I need the OS and DFW boards to help keep me on the straight and narrow... I worry about seeming smug, but I do think that people who are debt free are those I aspired to become when I struggled... Knowing that one day... I'd be one of them!

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

I feel it's only right that we give back now, because without help would we be where we are now???

Well put JulieGeorgiana:D

I am struggling a bit to find challenges tho' - I'm determind to get my grocery budget under control this year (have set an annual budget to allow for bulk buying etc - which is a bit scarey).

Unlike many, now I'm debt free, I don't have extra cash to play with as my budget is tight (one of the reasons the debts happened in the first place).

My debts were paid through a 2nd job, e*baying etc etc - I've now (thankfully) been able to give up the 2nd job but it's meant I'm back to a very tight budget:( and that worries me.

The savings challenges (save £12k in 2012 etc) are way out my league .... I did find one on another board that someone was wanting to try "small" amounts... but she's still talking £5k - still far too much for me.:(

debtshurt wrote: »

I feel guilty than i am setting myself up for failure again so i'm thinking of closing the credit card account before i get in debt again.

Why don't you try to forget about the credit increase?

The credit limit on my cc card is huge (I've actually just had to go & look at a statement as I'd forgotten what it was:o) but my golden rule is to only ever put on the card what I can afford to pay off that month. HTH:)


I spent this morning reworking budgets and checking my budgeting pots (car, house ins etc) - these are down on what they need to be as they were only started part way through last year, so I'm putting a little extra to them to make sure I've enough in them when whatever is due. Hopefully, once I get over this bit, things may be a bit easier!:)