Debt Free Disappointment?

sam_in_leeds

Done it.

Took me 5 years - probably didn't try hard enough but oh well it's all over now.

5 years ago I was £5,200 in debt, in a temp job on £200 a week with sweet FA to show for it struggling to get by, switching from one 0% card to the other every 6-12 months and sucking up the 3% fee. Everytime I needed something unexpected the plastic came out and I added a bit more to it like car repairs, the a nice holiday here and there etc - I instantly saw £205 a month come out of my account towards a debt I had very little to show for. Most of it came from my old student days (I started my first job £2k overdrawn) and so debt just seemed like a number, not something I ever worried about until I realised it was over £5k and very little show.

Now I earn almost double, in a secure job and I''m 100% DEBT FREE (and in danger of becoming the tightest man alive - No month's complete without at least half a dozen NSDs!)

For some reason it feels like a bit of an anti-climax really, £2,110 in savings as £0.00 of debt left.

More than enough until payday and then a Eurostar trip to London/Paris with Mrs Sam_In_Leeds paid off in full to look forward to but this whole DFW thing hasn't exactly set fireworks off. Oh well, maybe come payday when every last penny is mine it'll sink in.

Good luck everyone - It can be done.


:rotfl:

moohound

Well done on becoming debt free, keep saving it gives you freedom and options, I find I spend my own money that I have earned much more carefully than I used to spend the banks money that I was yet to earn.


Having NSDs should be a source of pride, why buy stuff you don't need, its just wasteful on many levels.




Have you a financial goal for the future? The trip of a lifetime maybe?

Kate_fixing_it

I'm trying to think about my DFD similarly to how I think of weight loss - the journey and skills learned along the way are as important as the end result. I try not to focus on when I'm debt-free/skinny I'll do xyz/be happy.

Look at what you've achieved! The goal every person here has whether they have savings or debt.

Have a fabulous trip and enjoy it even more knowing you won't be paying for it for the next few months/years

Kate x

Kitty777

WELL DONE!!

I think it will kick in, in a few weeks or months...when you realise you have no repayments to make!!!

Enjoy your break away, I am jealous!!

xx

Lensman_2

Give it at least 18 months to kick in. Really.

While I am not debt free and probably never will be (a long story) I have had an equivalent "freeness" on another level that has taken a very long time to sink in.

I also have a very close friend on MSE that had a serious debt transition. I am happy that they are now back on an even keel - but again, it took a long time.

Both of us track the point in our lives being the lowest to the equivalent of your being debt free. It just takes time to come back up again.

In the meantime, spend a tenner of the money you were paying on your DMP now and then as a treat. Just a tenner and just now and then. But treat yourself. That will help.

sam_in_leeds

Kitty777 wrote: »

WELL DONE!!

I think it will kick in, in a few weeks or months...when you realise you have no repayments to make!!!

Enjoy your break away, I am jealous!!

xx

Thanks

I'm sort of waiting for pay day now and I can guess then I can go semi-mental!

I'm going to be in London and then on to Paris payday week so it's the perfect place to blow my £205 a month debt-repayment!

I need to get that debt-free broken free symbol on the side now (Well at least until Mrs Sam_In_Leeds has finished with Oxford Street).

StressedSteph

Well done, like the others have said, it will eventually sink in that you are free from money worries and all the stress that brings.


So good to read you are now a "Tight-wad". You need to keep abit of that going otherwise it would be very easy to slip back into debt.


Why not do as "Dave Ramsey" teaches and now save a 3-6 month Emergency fund. Your job may be safe now but you never know whats round the corner. Save 3-6 months of expenses then you can tackle whatever life brings your way.


Do you have a mortgage? Could you start making over-payments to kill that off. Even an extra £100 pm makes a surprising difference to the length of your mortgage.


After all of that you could start investing some money for your retirement. Probably a long way away, but a small amount every month now, could make you a millionaire at 65.


So many new exciting challenges for you. The fight isn't over, you have loads to do :T


I am very jealous xxxx

Upsidedown_Bear

Have you seen "A thread for after debt"?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3589211