First steps to debt free life

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Piggybank - well done for the LBM and wishing you good luck on your journey.

As others have said, the forum is fantastic - if you're having a bad day, others always around for advice & support!

Have a look at the challenges and try a couple - the NSD one is great and a really supportive bunch of people on it.

A spending diary is also great (I've recently restarted mine as found I'd managed to slip into old habits after only a few weeks of being DF:o) and note down everything - it's amazing how the odd £3 here and £5 or £10 there soon adds up.

When you are tempted to buy something - remember the "need" and "want" words ....

As others have said, a SOA would be good - we often thiink we're paying the right amount for things and it's only when someone else says "I only pay 1/2 of that!" that we realise we're not!

Most of all, good luck:D

DorsetGirl_2

Do have a look at the 'payment a day' challenge - its pretty self explanatory but its really helped me to chip away at my debts.

I would also look at snowballing - there is a great snowballing calculator at https://www.whatsthecost.com. Put in all your debts and it will show you how you can be debt free the quickest.

Good luck on your journey - the first few days are always the hardest, but if you have a goal at the end (like Uni) it always helps.

FireWyrm

Welcome to the darkside, we have cookies...

You wanted practical advice, this is the place to come, but just to start you off .....

1) Do you have a smart phone? If so, get a spending app for it, register every single transaction you make no matter how small
2) Take cash out of the bank weekly, and that's what you use - not cards
3) If you can, destroy your credit cards immediately. I know it's hard emotionally, but a snip with a pair of scissors will solve that problem almost immediately. You cant use it if you dont have it
4) Think about budgets, meal plans, shopping with lists rather than grabbing shiny stuff off the shelves or whatever the bargain is that week.
5) Inventory your clothes, what can you sell and what can you make do with for 365 days - (no new clothes until the sales next year)
6) Cut your groceries to £120 a month for a family - it can be done...honest.
7) What do you need to buy over the next year and can you make it instead? I needed new curtains for my kids bedrooms - made them instead with a borrowed sewing machine and some common sense. There's no shortage of 'how-to' articles out there, it just takes a little perseverence. Google is your friend.
8) Check out the sealed pot challenges....get a jar, seal it and cut a hole in the top...all your spare change goes in there for the next year.
9) Check out the 'Old Style Boards' on here for inspiration on running your home.
10) Every time you go to buy something ask yourself "Do I need this?" Want is not the same as Need....keep telling yourself this.

Monkeychops_3

FireWyrm-what a great post. I have taken on board everything you have said for my own journey. First thing downloading a spending app on my phone. Just got to figure out how to use it now!

Thanks again and to everyone who offers advice, i'm sure to use it all!

Chrisblue1962

Piggybank83 wrote: »

PS - raided the Piggybank today and found £10 in pennies! £10 off my OD One step closer

Me thinks you are going to do very well! :T ...Welcome to our merry band of DFW'ers

What app did you download btw? (I have an Android phone). I have found Financisto to be good.