How does everyone stay motivated?

Eupho

I tell you what keeps me motivated..

The People on this website

:T :T :kisses3: :T :T

ms_london

moanymoany wrote:

The one time I was in the USA there was a 'getting free of debt' programme on the TV. It was Martin's message. They said that when you have finished paying one thing off move that money to add to something else and then pay that off more quickly. They said 'you have got used to living on that amount - make the most of it'.

Totally agree. This is what I did when I hit my debt free date, just continued ploughing the 900 pounds a month (and then some) into my travel fund. I also took on another 2nd job just so I had a little bit extra, but I knew it would be for me at the end of the day rather than the bank.

Now I know that whatever I save will be going towards my ongoing travels, and then I will be saving for a house and then trying to pay off my mortgage. Never ending isnt it? :rolleyes:

Or your motivation could be being able to buy car mats.... :whistle:

It is a hard journey but so so worth it (I cant stress that enough!!). The freedom you will feel when you become debt free is amazing, it is a huge weight off your shoulders & means you can start living for you and not the bank!!

Have a great weekend everyone. 5pm here and I am off out. xx

dlb

This site is my biggest motivator, plus i look upon being debt free as a challange, spend hours going over budget, but strangly enough really enjoy doing it, i have lists of payments and the dates they will be paid off everywhere.
But my biggest motivation is as said by others is too take my kids back to Florida, we went 3 years ago as is one of the main reasons we are in debt (even though mother in law paid for the hoilday) as we spent,spent,spent over there!!
The hoilday changed their lifes and talk about it daily, when ever i feel like spending i put a slideshow of the hoilday pics on, and then i dont want to spend anymore.

hbl_2

dinkylou wrote:

Having little and big goals keeps me motivated.

When I have paid off my personal debt then I shall be saving enough to take a year out and go travel before I am too old. Thats my big long term goal and keeps me going.

Not long now! Judging by your signature, you've got 6916 to pay back over 19 months, at £364 a month (not including interest) so we'll say £400 a month. That's another three months to clear you personal debt, and then if you were to save that £400 in an ISA (and then a high interest savings account), you need only save half of what you owe student loan wise, and you'll offset the interest.

I keep motivated by thinking "debt free date - Early 2008" and "positve net worth date..." which is when I have more saved than I owe on my student loan, thus breaking even. :T

mommasue_2

As an older gran, I feel really sad when I see that young people now have to delay families in order to be able to afford to live. I know it is down to cost of housing, and crucial not to get into unmanageable debt, but I wonder sometimes why things have to be as they are? In the early 60's contraception was unreliable, so delaying families was not much of an option.

What happened was we had the kids and got stuff later. I mean really! No car, no TV, no household appliances, no fitted carpets, no meals out.

We wasted money, we weren't perfect, on cigs, football pools, going to launderette, buying clothes from clubs. It's just how things were.We didn't feel any more hard done by than anyone else. We could shop for bargains and cook using cheaper ingredients. I made bacon pudding, and told the greengrocer I needed green stuff for the rabbit, which I didn't have.

We had the best ever bargains at jumble sales, a few shillings bought armfuls of used toys and stuff to recycle. We knitted things and painted shoes a different colour when we got fed up with them.

I am not saying you have to do things like that, but seriously babies and children do not need all the stuff that they are given now. They really don't!

It doesn't hurt them to be minded while you work to pay the rent or mortgage, but they need you to be happy and relaxed and let them make a mess and spend time together.

I am sorry, and I don't mean to upset younger people, I know it all sounds ridiculous now, but perhaps a small shift backwards, a bit of 'Do I really need that?'; a change of attitude would help us get our priorities right. And to people of my generation, I'd say a bit of help for the younger ones would go a long way, an hour here or there for a younger neighbour, would be 'like the old days' a real money saver!

ottoman_3

Hi,

found it fascinating to see some of the posts in this section.

I hope some of you will find benefit from what I say and the pieces of advice I can offer.

Firstly, I used to be self employed and the nature of the work and an extravagant lifestyle ended up in my family being in £70k of debt (excluding mortgage !) I have 3 kids (all under 9) by the way.

My job was getting me down so I jacked in working for myself, folded the Company (it was a Ltd. Company so no personal comeback) and started again. Got a job doin gwhat I wanted to do and worked on the debts.

That was in early 2004. As of now, other than a £90k mortgage with 13yrs to go (and plenty of collateral in the property) we owe nothing - we have nothing either but I've also lost those pains that I used to get in my chest, the bad moods, the loss of drive etc... - getting rid of those last items should be motivation for anyone. Do you have the sleepless nights, the dread of opening the mail - I did, but I don't now.

Ok, I had a few lucky (?) breaks to clear the debts. I had a previous property that was rented out. I renovated it (for under £1k) and added around £15k to the value - took a lot of blood and sweat and then also sold the endowment after the property was sold. I made sure I claimed compensation for a mis-sold endowment first.

I cashed in all useless pensions and investments - just kept the good ones and we cut our outgoings massively.

Little savings make a big difference - for example :

We got mobile phones where you top up as you go along and used texts much more than phoning people. When you have to pay for a call you really think about whether you need to make it.

I take my own lunches to work - if you spend £2/day at work on food (which is not a lot) that's over £400/yr. Make your own and get the big multi packs of crisps from the Supermarket. I have Walkers crisps that cost me less than 10p packet and the same ones are 45p at work.

Get more pleasure out of the simple things and don't view them as a compromise. We got a letter from Dominos pizza offering us a Family meal deal for £13.25 instead of £26.50. At one time I would have said great, I'm saving £13.25 but now I say, no I am spending £13 I don't need to. Instead, this Saturday we got a family pizza, garlic bread, chips, mushrooms etc... from Iceland for under £5 and let our eldest help with the cooking - she loved it.

As well as cutting the outgoings, motivate yourself by generating extra income. Go round each room in the house and go through everything. Stuff you don't wear, use or like - sell it ! Ebay, car boots or local paper. Car boots are good fun - you meet a nice crowd and each time I've come back with over £100 in my pocket and we've not missed a single item we sold.

Some of you mention holidays - they're great but so's a walk in the country or at the seaside. Take a picnic with you.

Several of you mention wanting kids. If there's 1 thing to take from my ramblings it's this - If you use lack of finance as an excuse for not having children, you will never have them. Bringing up a child is not about how much it costs but how much love you can give.
If you have a warm stable environment then everything else will sort itself out. They bring more motivation and determinatino than anything else. They also put so much of the other crap that comes with debt into perspective.

Life's too short and by using the advise on this site and other places on the internet, you can sort your debts out.

Always question every penny that you spend no matter how small.

Please feel free to ask any questions and I hope this helps some of you.

lauren_1

On my fridge i have a picture of my favorite wedding dress and a cottage, my two goals in life, OH has in his wallet of NZ which is whele he would like to emigrate to in the future

Maz6

I find the what small DFW thing are you going to do today thread on these boards really helps to keep me motivated. I like to post on it everyday so I have to think new things to add which helps keep me focussed.

debsley_pig

Hi

I just wanted to say that it is great to have the goal to get debt free in order to be able to have a baby. However, can I just put a different point of view across?

My husband and I started off with the same opinion and really wanted to get our debt paid off and move to a better house etc before we started trying for a baby. After a short while, we decided to ditch this attitude as we really did not want money to rule our lives and say when we can and can't do something as important as have a child.

I really wanted to go part time after having a baby and so we worked out the finances and just made sure we would be able to afford to pay all the bills, including debts and childcare, and have enough left to put food on the table, pay for petrol and have a little bit left over for a few other essentials. At that point, we didn't have quite enough, but we decided to go ahead anyway and figured that there are plenty of ways to bring in a bit of extra money, and we would just figure it out at a later time. We planned ahead and made sure we had enough savings to see us through the maternity leave and to buy all the essentials for the baby.

We were blessed as the salary scales at my work place were then restructured and the shortfall was met. It would still help to bring in a bit extra money, and I will get round to it! But, that corny old saying of we will manage, is kinda true. We are in the position where my husband is disabled and is currently a student, and is just bringing in disb. benefits and student loans. I have gone to just over half time at work, and my son is in a good nursery where I work. Couple this with the fact that we have huge amounts of debt, but we still manage and have got our own house and we have everything we need (not everything we want). Our future is also bright as my husband finally has a future career worked out where he will hopefully be bringing in a good wage in a couple of years, and we can maybe then have another and he can support me for a change!

I'm just saying that circumstances can always change even when you don't quite know how it's all going to work out. Don't let money rule your life. If I had have, I wouldn't be sitting here now typing this whilst listening to my 9 month old son on the baby monitor, giggling in his sleep. Life is too short and too precious.