Themaccas Are.......debtfree!!!!!!!!!!!

themaccas

Yes I can hardly believe it. 2 years and 5 months later after a sh*&load of debt, we have paid back every last penny:T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T
I started my debtfree journey in January 2006 having just come back from wintersales shopping. I saw our shopping bags piled high and just had a lightbulb moment:o I realised that all the money we had spent had all gone on credit cards and that we were looking at around £300-400 worth of extra debt for things we thought we needed but really just wanted. That night I couldn't sleep so came downstairs to look at our bank account online but got too scared. Found this website instead then the rest is history.

Since January 2006 as well as paying off our debts we have also had a holiday to New York, camping holiday to cornwall, refurbished our house to sell and move to a new home which we did last month, put DS1 through his driving lessons - he passed first time last week too:beer: !!! The first 18 months were amazing and in the first 12 months we cleared about £20K off our debt alone. In the last 12 months we have slogged it out a bit as we have been spending on getting our old house up to standard to sell after renting it out for 4 years and then buying a new house. However we have continued to pay off our debts as much and as often as we could.

The things in our favour was our earning power between OH and myself (although we had a big debt to go with it!) and that we got the whole family on board. OH and I were both very eager to clear the debt and as it started to go down it gave us tremendous encouragement to keep going.

Our life as a family has benefited from our money saving and debt clearing enormously. OH and I are always looking to save money with every utility bill and purchase. We don't buy things we can no longer afford and if there is something we really want then we discuss it and either work some overtime or save for it which doesn't seem to take too long. Our recent house move would never have happened had we still got all those debts and now we are in a lovely home I never thought we could have had a few years ago. We have paid off both car loans and now actually own cars outright for the first time in our marriage. I am not though, going to join the mortgage free board. We want a break from debtclearing and accept that a mortgage will be part of our life for the next 15 years. I would not be adverse to having a loan in the future either if we wanted to do something specific with it. However that is not needed right now, we are in the process of having some improvements done to the house - new electric garage door, hallway/kitchen new flooring, new lights, bedroom furniture - all paid for with savings and the reason our debtfree date slipped a couple of months:rolleyes:

So to the future. Well I will not be leaving MSE, it has been a wonderful friend and although I don't post as much as others, I am an avid lurker, and read posts almost every day. The board has been inspirational to me and I truely would not have done it had never found 'debtfree wannabe':D . I will continue to use my whiteboard to jot down our daily spends and keep oursleves on budget - £150 per week for food /petrol/pocketmoney for a family of 5. It is a weekly challenge alone to try and keep to that but we do sometimes make it! It is tempting to look at deals on new gadgets and things and know that we could make the monthly payments but so far we have resisted and I hope we continue to do so.

If anyone is facing a mountain of debt my advice would be to try not to face it alone, get your OH on board and if you don't have one then I would contact CCCs or Payplan. Give yourself a little treat occasionally, paying off debt can be tiring, boring and make you feel angry at times. Going to a nice coffee shop and giving yourself a bit of time can do wonders. Also remember: There is no magic cure it is hard work and I found no magic remedy other than maximise your income. If I had been a stay at home mum, I would have found a job and gone out to work but I appreciate that is not always possible. I did do a lot of overtime at work but I don't need to do that any longer and my family have me back.

So that's, I never want to go through this EVER again and because I don't trust myself completely if I'm being honest, I intend to stay with MSE forever!
Thanks to you all on DFW, without you I wouldn't be posting this thread:beer: :T :j :beer: :T :j :beer: :T :j :beer: :T :j :beer: :T :j

wendy+5

Congratulations! :beer: :T What a wonderful post!

doodledo_2

Wow congratulations that is fantastic news :T

Well done DS1 on passing your driving test to :j

People like you give us all the inspiration to carry on as it CAN be done.

Well done!!

Ames

That's fantastic, well done, there's hope for us all then!

Lucy1982_2

Wooo Hooo!!

Well Done to the whole family! So are you doing anything special to celebrate?

Gemmzie

Congratulations :T :T :T :T

I knew you'd get there

kizzykizzywizzy

Well Done:beer: :beer: :j :j :T :T

I'm so pleased for you - all the hard work paid off in the end.

Congratulations to DS too :T :T

themaccas

Well in true DFW style, we opened a bottle of champagne last night to celebrate that we had been given by some (rich!) friends for a housewarming gift. The true celebration comes from the lack of worry and arguments over money and bills though.

squealy

Well done!:T

Signed the Roll of Honour yet?

moneymabel

congratulations to you that is an amazing story and you have worked so hard-enjoy being debt free and RELAX!!!!!!!

TonyC

Congratulations on being debt free.

I owe roughly £40k, if I was able to pay this off with 2 1/2 year it would be amazing. At the moment I dont think it is achievable by me alone.

But I think I know what I have to do. I was getting really down about my debt before I read your post.

Thanks for the inspiration