First hurdle complete!

jamesp_3

This morning was a monumentous occasion for me. For the first time since i left university (1998), i am not in debt! Admittedly tomorrows Mortage payment will effectively put me straight into the red again but after a years hard saving it actually felt rather good. At the moment i currently have £198.53! Tommorrow i will be in £300 of debt.

My debt situation has never been colossal, but enough to make me worry and take action and i'm so glad i did. At the end of Last year, my wife fell ill and has not been able to work since. We effectively lost £20K from our yearly earnings. At the time, i had roughly 5K sitting on 2 credit cards. When we knew she wouldn't be able to go back to work I knew I had to clear it but it meant quite a lot of sacrifices. Out went the Sky, Mobile Phones, 2nd Car, holidays, nights out/Cinema, expensive wine, meals out, Sainbury's/M&S and in came freeview, PAYG mobiles, 0% credit cards and Asda shopping. Its amazing how much the little bits add up to. Since December last year i've managed to pay off £3200 to leave me where i am now.

Its not over. I've still got about 1.5K to go before i'm really out of debt but i can now see the end in sight. It was my aim to be out of debt before i'm 30, which is July 2006.

Its changed my outlook on money completely and i feel i appreciate things more now. I'm also not afraid of saying no to expensive nights out etc (those hangovers that cost me £60 were never that great anyway!). Also, when this is over i know i can relax a bit as i will have a bit more to spend but also i have now laid the groundwork to save a bit each month as well. Because of what happened to my wife, i now know how important that is.

Cheers all!

Jim

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Good for you JamesP.

Thats a really positive story that shows when you get a bit of bad luck financially that it does not have to take you under and you can adapt and come through the otherside in good shape.

Well done mate, good post.

Best things in life are free.

ms_london

Well done, thats excellent!!

Sorry to hear your other half fell ill - it goes to show you never know whats round the corner!!

Enjoy being debt free.

Ms_London

dinkylou

Really proud of you, thats a great change in attitude and finances.

Just shows you that most of us feel much more wealthy than we actually are and that sometimes a wake up call does us good.

tattooed_lady

That's brilliant. It's so cool that you paid off over 3 GRAND in a year just by cutting back, and you did it all without the help of MSE I take it! You should be really proud of yourself.

jamesp_3

ruyareece wrote:

That's brilliant. It's so cool that you paid off over 3 GRAND in a year just by cutting back, and you did it all without the help of MSE I take it! You should be really proud of yourself.

Thanks everyone. I actually only discovered MSE about a month ago. I wish i found it a year ago but nevermind! Whilst this site is excellent for finding good deals and information on different cards (and thats help me save a bit as well), a lot of the saving you can make is through common sense and being sensible with your money. What I like about this site is how it can help people see what they need to do to save money, and show them that maybe it doesn't mean loosing your quality of life. Some of the help people i've seen people offer others is outstanding!

frugglewump

jamesp wrote:

a lot of the saving you can make is through common sense and being sensible with your money.

You are so right.
I was at the gym last week and overheard two blokes talking about their creditcard problems. The thing is about a fortnight before I heard one of the same pair bragging to the other about how he had spent £500 on a night on the town but couldn't remember anything about it. Now there is wasted money! For £500 I'd want to enjoy the memories at least.

jamesp_3

frugglewump wrote:

I was at the gym last week and overheard two blokes talking about their creditcard problems. The thing is about a fortnight before I heard one of the same pair bragging to the other about how he had spent £500 on a night on the town but couldn't remember anything about it. Now there is wasted money! For £500 I'd want to enjoy the memories at least.

Theres a guy who works here who is in debt, keeps on complaining about it and says he can't have a pension because he can't afford it.

He's got the full Sky+ package, brand new Errickson mobile phone, new ipod etc etc. He doesn't see the having stuff as the problem! Thats almost a right in his view. One day its going to dawn on him though...

jamesp_3

Hi everyone!

I thought I’d post a reply to let everyone know how i got on with clearing my debts. My aim was to be out of debt by the end of Feb 2006 after I realised i was in £5-6K worth of debt this time last year. This was made worse by the fact that my wife got ill and had to quit her job.

The good news is that i achieved my objective and i am now out of debt! In fact, i've surpassed all expectations and actually have £2000 in savings! The reason for this is because i got a £500 inheritance and i did some matched betting with that. In all, i've earned £2,500 from matched betting/casino bonus bagging/Quidco commission. Be warned, this isn't for everybody and was only suitable for me because i was willing to lose a small amount of the inheritance money.

I’m going on a SKI holiday in a few days with some old friends from university. I feel like i really deserve it and its already been paid for by my matched betting! (My £2,000 in savings is after my SKI holiday) It’s the first time I’ve paid for a holiday with my own money.

I know my debts were never colossal but if i can do it, anyone can. I'm not going to stop now as well as i'm actually comfortable living the way i am now. This time next year I want over £10K in savings!

Jim

D&DD

:j Wow yet another declared debt free can't wait 'til it's my turn!! Well done James :T

Tabs_2

That's fantastic!!! Well done Jim :beer: