Nearly there.

mungoskint

First time logging in here since about 2009, but I've come back because I'm almost debt-free after 10 years of hard slog.

About 8 years ago I realised I wasn't in control and credit card debt was growing rapidly. Somehow I ended up on this site and took courage from people's stories that I read here. I'm eternally grateful for that.

At the worst point I owed £30k. I took control. I made a spreadsheet (which has since grown to be my dashboard/touch-stone/worry-beads and more) showing month by month the balance on each card and how much interest I was paying. I added a chart that showed how the balances were tracking, and how my total debt was looking.

I budgeted monthly amounts to pay off, and stuck to it as best I could. It was tough at times, and I ended up skipping some payments (and being hit with charges), but as long as the overall trend on the graphs was downwards I realised I would get there eventually. I added projections into the future so I could see when I would finally have paid everything off. Having a concrete date for being debt-free was a massive motivator for me, even though it changed fairly regularly, depending on how well I was doing with paying balances off.

In September 2016 I finally managed to pay off the one card that had done most damage... at £16,500 balance in 2010 I was paying around £200 a month in interest on it. Making the call to MBNA to officially close that card felt really good.

I'm sure this is just one of many many similar stories, but I felt I should return and thank the MSE team and community because this site must have helped so many people like me.

Come January 2017 I should be debt-free. I've had no money since about 2005 but now I'm starting to think about investments to add to my pension. What a bloody relief!!

Thanks all, keep the faith.

Ilona

Hi, thank you for coming back and telling us your story, it's going to be a great motivator for anyone struggling with their finances. I hope you are going to reward yourself for doing such a good job, not by spending though, ha ha. I hope you have a great life from now on, you stuck it out to the bitter end, and now it's your time to enjoy.

Ilona

katy_ann

What an amazing story and well done you for sticking at it! I bet you cant wait until January!

mungoskint

Ilona wrote: »

Hi, thank you for coming back and telling us your story, it's going to be a great motivator for anyone struggling with their finances. I hope you are going to reward yourself for doing such a good job, not by spending though, ha ha. I hope you have a great life from now on, you stuck it out to the bitter end, and now it's your time to enjoy.

Ilona

Thanks @Ilona

mungoskint

katy_ann wrote: »

What an amazing story and well done you for sticking at it! I bet you cant wait until January!

Thanks @katy_ann, and all the best for your new arrival!

Karonher

Congratulations. I hope you have something special planned for January - a nice night out or celebration at home.

Poor_Single_lady

Thank you. This is really helpful and really motivating. Wishing you well for your newly debt free journey.

louby40

Well done! What a fantastic achievement