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LBM but not in debt

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OK, this may seem like a totally pointless post on this board but I've been here for a while, and I regularly read the posts, so this is my contribution for any one who it may help.

I was at one point in the consolidation loop, and besides my mortgage at the time, I owed a minimum of 15,000 between loans, credit cards and overdrafts.

I started paying all of these off, helped by a well paid job about 10 years ago but I can't say that any time I had a LBM, I just knuckled down and stopped spending so much on frivolous things and paid off one thing at a time, what you all call snowballing now.

I still had the well paid job, and still spent up to my earnings every month after I paid off the debt, so for the time since paying it off up until August, I was debt free, but had no savings, no emergency money, no spare cash anywhere. Any savings I did manage to accumulate got dipped into every month for overspending on again, frivolous things.

In August I changed my job, took a £5,000 pay drop to do something that on paper a better job, i.e. a better position, but as I've said, paid a lot less [much more interesting though and totally free of corporate bullsh*t]


I've just spent half an hour re-jigging all my accounts and tallying them up with YNAB [ which I've only started using in the last couple of months], so my current account and savings match up with YNAB and I can see what money I have, where it goes and what it's doing.

The LBM came just now, when I realised that although I don't owe any money, I have no buffer because I was still spending as if I was earning lots.

So, it's just to say really, that you can get rid of your debt, but unless you look at what you're spending on, and keep some kind of record that makes sense to you, you'll always be beholden to your wages, and they won't work for you, they'll work against you.

So here's to a future where I don't go mental and spend silly amounts of money on entertainment, drinking, going out, taxis, take aways, hobbies etc etc because it's s slippery slope to being in debt again.

And thank you to everyone who's posts I have read which have helped me to get to this point. I wish you luck and perseverance with what you're doing.
Non me fac calcitrare tuum culi

Comments

  • lozzy81
    lozzy81 Posts: 275 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Well done on becoming debt free!! Just goes to show that there is light at the end of the tunnel!! :T
    Virtual sealed pot 2019 member #6 :j
    £0.00/£200 :)
  • Congrats and what a great post!

    I think LBM's come in all sorts of different shapes and forms, we were never in the sort of debt that many people here have been - ours was more a general financial muddle of moderate overdrafts, a loan as "standard" when we needed a new car, and the mortgage trickling along precisely as the bank intended. Our LBM came when a friend showed us the effects of OP'ing on the mortgage - and from that came the realisation that we needed to make our money work for us, not just let it trickle through our fingers. 8 Years on life is incredibly different and again, a lot of that is down to input and support from people on here.

    I've always tackled saving in exactly the same way I tackled the debt in the first place - methodically, setting targets, thinking about what is spent, how it is spent and whether it needs to be spent, and enjoying watching the savings creep up.
    🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
    Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
    Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
    £100k barrier broken 1/4/25
    SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculator
    she/her
  • I am similar - no debt (never really have other than mortgages) but yet only realised recently that I have to cut back and have a proper emergency fund. I am a contractor and never know when I will not be working and we have just bought a house so any savings we had are now long gone. I am going to build up my emergency fund to cover me for 3 months wages. I have started to cut back and its amazing when I realise what I just don't need or even want. I also want to OP on mortgage - I did this with my flat and the difference was incredible. well done on your LBM. Its a revelation isn't it!!!
  • ReadingTim
    ReadingTim Posts: 4,084 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I think a lot of people don't think they have a problem as long as they can keep meeting the minimum repayments whereas the reality is that for as long as you have more going out than coming in, you'll get into debt and stay there, getting deeper and deeper as time progresses.

    The SOA is great for laying this out in black and white in a way that can't really be argued with and should be used by anyone whether they're in debt or not - savers can benefit too as the logic is the same: to move out of the red and into the black you need to spend less than you earn!

    It can also make you realise how precarious your position, how fleeting that illusion of safety, comfort etc can be when you realise you're only a missed paycheque or two away from the brink....
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