What is Your Why ? 9 December 2007 at 2:20PM edited 12 May 2009 at 2:11AM in Debt-Free Wannabe 77 replies 8.8K views

duchy

Update I found this old thread and realised how many of the posters on it had "kept the faith" and are now debt free or well on their to been. So a big cheer those who have made it (and especially to those who stuck around to make sure they stay that way as well as share some of the wisdom they gained on their journey) and welcome to anyone who wants to add their "Why" or reafirm or update it



Why are you an MSEer or a DFW ?
The obvious answer is to save money or to get out of debt but I reckon there are as many Whys as there are MSEers.
It isn't just about clearing debt-it's about lifestyle and choices.
I know people who are MSEers because....they have a hobby they want to fund, want to educate their children privately, want to be at home with their kids, just enjoy the "chase" of getting the best deal, want to study, want to clear debts, want to retire early....
A whole host of reasons and sometimes in the slog we forget WHY we are doing it and get discouraged.
So reafirm your WHY and post telling us what YOUR reason is and what the rewards of been a MSEer are for you !

Gemmzie

Good post duchy

Well for me, I wanted to be able to clear my debts so I could save as much of my student loan as possible for a house deposit in the future.

For my parents, to avoid bankruptcy and losing the house

robotgirl_2

Excellent idea for a thread!

For me it was because my parents kindly offered to help me buy a flat (at an unspecified future point, but still very kind of them!) I would have been so embarrassed to tell them the extent of my debts when it came around to sorting out the finances that I had to sort myself out pretty quickly.

My other reason is that I'd love to leave my job/line of work (boring office admin and computer tinkering) for something more exciting, but all the jobs I'd like to do tend to pay 2 or 3 grand a year less, which I needed to cover my debt payments.

My contract for my current job ends in February, which is when my debt free date should be. I might give myself a week off as a reward before going back to looking for work!

red74

I want to clear my debts so I'm able to land myself into a further huge amount of debt by being able to afford to buy a house.

Megatimbo

Hello duchy,my reason for paying off my debts is that i want to be more independant financially which is my way of saying i want more of my income back,like most folks who have spent on plastic over the years,had as part of our LBM that interest rates on the cards can be rather high as opposed to what you would receive in interest on your savings,with few exceptions.

Also i`m one of those people who paid into a pension which was "Maxwelled" and the money i paid in has gone along with around 450 other folks who worked for the company.

what makes me annoyed is that money i paid into the failed pension could have been safe in my own savings account and would be a tidy sum now

Well enough of my warblings,on a positive note taking action now to improve my lot after the setbacks

Regards M

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there

This one is an easy one for me... my hubby has done 22 years in the army..and is now doing another 5 :T ...we have only been together about 6 years mind... and when he leaves the army he will be 48, and his lump sum will be enough to pay off our mortgage and the remaining bits of loans that won't have been paid off between now and then(currently the house is let out).
If i can just get as much saving done and keep the spends under control my aim is to do up the house - new kitchen etc -using money saved whilst on here.... which will mean at the age of 48 and 40 for me we can be debt and mortgage free :dance: ...so hubby can do a job he wants too -subsidised by his army pension , rather than being a wage slave.... and at 55 he will go onto full pension and if he wants to he can retire completely... not that he will..
Sorry for the long ramble the quick answer would have been :-

So me and hubby can spend some quality time together whilst we are young-ish enough to make the most of it :T

thankyou so much for starting this thread Duchy.... you have just reminded me of what im aiming towards.... it sometimes gets easy to forget this in the thick of everything.... will try and remember that when i get the urge to buy somethin i really don't need

hypno06

Well, what keeps me focussed, is that as some of you know I received some money from my Dad's estate when he died. I paid almost every penny of this off my debt, so I feel that if I don't concentrate on getting shot of the rest of the debt sorted, that not only will I be wasting everything I earn, but I will also be wasting everything my Dad worked for too.

So my primary "why" is so that I don't let my Dad down.

bored_of_debt

Good topic!

I've never really thought about it in too much depth but I want a bit of security, comfort and ultimately fun!

I don't want debt over my head when i've nothing to show for it, I wanna have a nest egg reserve fund incase needed and I wanna be able to enjoy MY money that I work for, rather than havin to pay it back to companies for not earning it myself in the past!

(and I'm a bit of a petrol head so I can't wait to get a new toy - currently all I have is an oyster card!! lol)

postingalwaysposting

Ummm hard subject topic but great thread. I guess i came on here for the offers and to spend money at first (young ish then). Then i realised hang on i cant afford my monthly repayments, this is were i came on here and joined the waggon. Of course i kinda stayed when i became debt free and now i seem to help others where possible. In this time i now have learnt many df/mse ways and i am very money savvy now (wasnt when i arrived). Now i am trying to get a decent amount of money behind me, not for any specific reason just because i dont want to be in debt going into my late 20's early 30's. I also find escaping here away from the normal world comforting and even though people laugh i love it here.

Even though we are all here for different goals/reasons the community found here is amazing, long may it continue.

lilac_lady

One word sums it up for me - independence. If you owe money you're dependent on someone or something. Better to be free,

penguin83

I want to be able to reduce my hours at work to see my kids and OH more (I do full time days, he does full time nights - we pass like ships!).

Ideally I would like to be able to give up my job completely and work with horses, which I used to do but doesnt pay much. I would love to be in the position to be able to cope with a dramatic drop in income! x x