Absolutely doing it this time

Poppy1984

Omg congratulations! How did you pay down such big debts in such a short space of time? That must feel amazing well done x

MrsLWW

As well as everything above, we snowballed all our debts so when the credit card was paid off we used all the money we were throwing at it to pay off the 1st loan and once we paid that off we threw everything we had at the last loan and I mean everything - Christmas money, overtime if it became available, all the money we had been sending to the former debts and we finally did it! It was a slog towards the end but so worth it!

Xx

Starmummy

That is AMAZING MrsLWW it is so incredible what can be done when you really put your mind to it. Well done!

Honeysucklelou2

Well done and congratulations at becoming debt free.

MrsLWW

My post onto the Debt Free Roll Of Honour

DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :j

a. The date of your lightbulb moment

There were a few flickerings, but the light came on and stayed on 27/02/2017 - when I joined MSE!:A

b. Debts at their highest

£30,000 :eek:, although my bright LBM wasn't until later, when we were round about the £21,000 mark

c. Debt-Free Date

12/02/2018 :bdaycake:

d. Your one pearl of wisdom.

Budget for everything REALISTICALLY. There is no point drawing up a really tight budget cutting out on things that you are going to spend on anyway - if you spend £50 a month on going out, but kid yourself on you won't go out and end up blowing your budget anyway then you will feel like you have failed and are more likely to fall back into bad habits.Use the Statement Of Affairs, ask for help on the Debt Free Wannabe page (although don't be disheartened when others poke holes in your budget - the hole poker might not think budgeting for a night out is something you should be doing but if it's something you know you won't do without then it's justified, you might not agree with them budgeting for a 20-a-day habit, but it's something they know they are going to spend on.

However, becoming debt free does require will power - we stopped taking finance out on cars, we each bought a car for under £1000 - was it annoying seeing other people tool about in flash cars? Yes. But I told myself and still tell myself every day, I OWN my car outright - if something seriously went wrong with my car tomorrow, I would be less worried than someone who still owes £7k on theirs. Remember why you are making the sacrifice!

Shop about - if you buy something regularly then shop about for it - I regularly go online to find where I can buy my e-liquid cheaper. If I'm making a big purchase like white goods, I google the model number and look in google shopping to see who has it cheaper. When it comes to make up I always ask for boots vouchers for Christmas and Birthdays so I can get the stuff I really want for less. My husband uses stick deodorants - so I googled them and now instead of spending £3.49 each on them in tesco, I get them in bulk for £1.10 each.

I always ask for the prescription from my vets then order pet medications on line for at least 60% discount.

I love Farmfoods, Poundshops (be careful though, sometimes it's cheaper elsewhere (£1 for bleach in the pound shop V 0.39p in Home Bargains), B&M, Aldi, Homebargains etc., I literally grudge paying Tesco/ASDA etc.

f. Which forum threads helped you

Reading the Debt Free Wannabe forum always helped, along with the Old School Money Saving.

g. And if you had a debt diary on the Debt-Free Wannabe board (DFW), a link to it

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5626473

Face up, take action, allow setbacks and keep at it!!!!!!!!! Good luck everyone, and well done all those in the DF Club!!!:T:T:T