Thanks to this site I'm debt free after 5 years

angiepooos

I was looking back at my first post here in November 2009, when I thought I was going to lose my job and we would have to sell our house. I had a string of credit card debt - about 24K - and a loan which was about 9K and £220 a month.

Thankfully I didn't lose my job then, but the fear provided the wake up call I needed.

I worked full time, but created another job for myself as a dog walker. For two years I walked dogs before work, lunchtimes and after work. I had no training for this but walking my own dogs, but apart from dog walking insurance, it cost me nothing but a simple website and a free ad.

I won't lie to you, it was hard. And if my children hadn't been grown up enough, I doubt this route would have been possible. I followed all Martin's advice, and paid off my most expensive credit cards using the waterfall payment method, and started to shop in Lidl rather than Waitrose (yes I really was delusional and living as if I had lots of money before this point).

It was humbling. My husband had a good job and so did I, and I felt I had to live up to other people's expectations of us. I thought it was pride, but it was really about vanity.

My husband and I decided to turn it into a game and refused to have any more rows about money - we'd all to often played the blame game with each other.

We had to cut out cigarettes and wine and takeaways, which was a nightmare at first but great in the end.

I had to give up my gym membership - I took up jogging with the dogs instead. I had to give up Waitrose, but Lidl was better. I had to give up buying new clothes - eBay bargains were my new friend. We took packed lunches, I cooked from scratch, I made birthday presents (cakes and biscuits) and most importantly of all, we told everybody that we were paying off our cards and could not longer waste money on anything that wasn't essential.

Admitting we'd messed up was hard, but most people were kind - we didn't have to go into exact detail about the figures. I just said 'a lot' if they asked how much.

We discovered who our true friends were, and we discovered how strong our relationship was.

One of the best things I did five years ago was to sign up with Experian in 2009. Was good to see our progress, although I've just today cancelled it as I no longer need it.

The other thing was to claim back PPI (we got £22K from Ocean Finance).

The PPI payment went straight on the debt, no little treats, and along with my two jobs and all the cutbacks we've made, I have pulled my score up from the lowest score 'very poor' to excellent 996 (today).

All the people who wouldn't help me out when I needed it - like the Halifax and Barclaycard and Marks & Spencers, are now falling over themselves to offer me credit. But do you know what? They can stick it right up their !!!!!!. I won't be going down that road again.

The best part of all of this is that I can finally sleep like a baby at night. I used to wake with panic attacks.

If you're just starting this process, it can seem impossible, and so daunting. But follow the good advice here, sell anything that can raise money (even if that's your car) and think about what you could do to earn more money - we all have a little free time and a some sort of skill, even if it's just babysitting or dog walking.

Good luck to everybody starting out. I'm proof that it can be done as long as you are honest with yourself and determined to reach your goals. When you're debt free there's no greater feeling.

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply!

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Muhren

Well done on becoming debt free, must be a great feeling.

Is that a typo or did you actually get 22k PPI back?!!!

lilbert

woah!!! 22k PPI is epic! thankyou so much for sharing your story. In the middle of busting a loan so really inspiring to keep going. thanks!

angiepooos

Yes, no typo, our Ocean Finance loan was costing us more than our mortgage. We had taken out a second mortgage, then added more on over the years.

This was in the 1990s when they were very aggressively selling. It would have been clear to a blind man that we were a terrible prospect, but we looked good with our earnings on paper at least, and back then my mentality was so different - we'd apply for a loan to pay off our credit cards and amalgamate our loans then, when it came through, we'd just say we'll pay most off and take a holiday... and maybe buy a new sofa.

Each time we'd apply they'd offer us the PPI and I always asked if it meant I had a better chance of being accepted, and they always said yes.

Getting the money back was bitter sweet really - we had to sell the house we loved to pay back the loan due to the excessive PPI payments, but that was around 2007. Throughout it all we've been lucky to earn good money and keep our jobs, but when we had that loan we had barely £100 at the end of the month so unless I'd loaned more, we couldn't have kept up the pretence of normality.

My cars were always reasonably nice but I changed them every year and sold them all at a loss. We never came across as rich though, and people would have assumed we had good savings, but we didn't and still don't. For all that spending I have never had anything worthwhile to show for it.

I'm just starting to save now. For the first time in my life and I'm fifty. It feels wonderful. Another thing I do is leave my debit card in the house and just take out the cash I need. I felt anxious not having back up at first but I always have an emergency £20 in the back of my purse if needs be.

DebtFree2012

Massive congratulations.

2y 11m left for me

[Deleted User]

I think you have done a great job. I no longer take my debit card with me either, keep £20 in a spare purse in my bag. If it costs more than that I don't buy it!!

runforlife

Bloody good inspirational post

OneLife_OneShot

Great post and congratulations!

Former_MSE_Megan

Wow that's amazing! On both being debt free and that huge PPI claim!

Well done

judi24

Great post - congratulations!

angiepooos

Thanks for your responses, I was hoping to inspire others because I remember how !!!!!! I felt five years ago. There seemed no way out and I used to be almost hysterical with worry all the time.

And I don't mean to imply getting out of it was easy or a bundle of laughs, especially at the beginning. Without cigarettes, our bottle of red wine every night and takeaways/great food, our evenings together were long and boring for a while. We'd built our lives around these, almost since day one when we got married, and life seemed crappy and pointless without them.

But that didn't last long and we ended up getting into cooking and reading and chatting again. It improved our relationship no end, as did losing the 5 stone I'd been carrying around for years. Eating cheaply and healthfully has its bonuses.