The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

18788909293210

Comments

  • :beer:
    Well done everyone.

    :beer:
    DEBT FREE AND PROUD:D
    'Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt'
  • Great stuff kayester, how much was it and how did you pay it off?

    Let us know the details and you may get a badge too :)
    Could you do with a Money Makeover?


    Follow MSE on other Social Media:
    MSE Facebook, MSE Twitter, MSE Deals Twitter, Instagram
    Join the MSE Forum
    Get the Free MoneySavingExpert Money Tips E-mail
    Report inappropriate posts: click the report button
    Point out a rate/product change
    Flag a news story: news@moneysavingexpert.com
  • kayester
    kayester Posts: 1,844
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    I did owe £498 to credit card
    £983 to bank of mum n dad
    and over £3000 to various creditors from general bills when I first got a house.
    I have managed to pay it all off over the last year, making last payment of £50 to mum and dad today.
    and now onwards with the saving for a mortgage...im so pleased
    216/2018 (make ££ in 2018)

    Grocery challenge
    Jan 227/400
    swagbucks target 2018 1452/27375
  • kayester
    kayester Posts: 1,844
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    edited 30 October 2013 at 1:40PM
    I also created the 52 week money challenge on this forum....got a lot of people doing it too :)

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4744397
    216/2018 (make ££ in 2018)

    Grocery challenge
    Jan 227/400
    swagbucks target 2018 1452/27375
  • LBM: Mar 2003 about 18 months after loosing a well paid job my savings and credit finally ran out. My monthly outgoings had reached £5k a month.

    Debts at highest: £120K, and that's just the unsecured debt. 15 cards and 3 loans

    Debt Free Date: 05/09/13 (10.5 years later!!!) finished off with a redundancy payment that smashed the last £9k off. Although I do confess to £28k SB debt.

    Pearls of Wisdom:
    1. Don't be to proud, don't bury your head in the sand and don't keep things a secret when you get into difficulties. Doing this cost me years of debt, my dream home and a marriage.

    2. Avoid credit cards as a means to live off or supplement income. I was getting sent pre-approved credit cards with 5 - 10K limits which is insane.

    Threads: None in particular, as the site was a late discovery for me. But it did give me the confidence to tackle DCA's head on, and get an understanding Consumer Credit Law. It also gave me the nerve to pay off last bit of debt with lump sum instead of hanging on to it "just in case".

    As well as feeling great to finally be debt free my Experian Credit score has jumped from Very Poor to Good in 2 months, and that's with an incorrect default to be removed shortly.

    From some very dark days I can now marry my fianc! without any debt baggage and without worrying I'll scupper any chances of a mortgage.

    One final pearl of wisdom - I'll quote Winston Churchill:
    When you're going through hell keep going
  • Been debt free since December 2012. Was in debt for about 8/9 years before that. Now save each month and have barely touched a redundancy payout from 6 months ago. Feels good to be in the black.

    I budget every penny, don't own a credit card and save/supplement my income with pennies off the net here and there.

    The sheer feeling now of freedom and relief was worth the 8/9 years of being very skint!
  • fairyclicks
    fairyclicks Posts: 3,884
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    The day finally got here for me to do the debt free dance :dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance:

    I have been waiting for this day for what seemed like forever, edging closer and closer each and everyday. I have to confess at my LBM in Aug 2010 i really didn't think i would ever see it. I have honestly never felt so ashamed of myself in my life, and how i had accumulated £21,908.86 of debt i just didn't know. I had a good job and no reason to have debt like that, I just lost my way after always being good with money as a teenager and young adult - we are supposed to grow wiser and improve at these things aren't we??????

    Anyway, after loosing my job due to major physical and mental health problems i was suddenly propelled into a reality of having that figure written down on a piece of paper in front of me and literally no income. It seemed like an impossible situation - even the advisers at step change/CCCS struggled to make my budget work so i could pay the minimum of £5 to each debt, in the end i said just make the offers and i will find it somehow. I got my DMP paperwork through which said it would take me 35 years to clear my debt - it seemed like my whole adult life was going to be one of debt drudgery and never being able to make ends meet.

    I found MSE quite by accident one night while unable to sleep and was searching desperately for some way to increase my income - i had heard of all the earning online scams and thought there has to be something that is real....

    The debt free wannabee board became my home, my inspiration, my support, my resource and my guide - it literally saved my life. I tried everything i read about that i was able to do. I joined the £10 per day thread where remarkable people made the impossible appear possible - i soon discovered it was no illusion - it was possible to make an extra £10 per day, it was even possible to make more than that, and i did. I eventually managed to quite consistently make £500 extra a month from what i learned there.

    I also learned from other parts of MSE things that made a huge impact on my debt situation - i could try to claim back PPI payments, and i did, I could try to negotiate settlement figures, and I did. These things wiped huge chunks of my debt out and i will be forever grateful that i stumbled across this forum - i jokingly say it has magical properties.....but i'm not quite sure i'm joking! ;)

    My one pearl of wisdom is: pennies make pounds, no amount of saving or earning is too small to make a difference to your debt.....all those pennies just cleared £21,908.86 for me.

    If you have just joined the forum, if you have just started looking for help it is here. Breathe deep, do the scary thing and count up exactly how much you owe and then get stuck in. Laugh, cry, stomp about and rant and rave - you are in the best of company :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Stick with it and you will do the debt free dance too! :D:D

    (still can't believe i've made it :j:j)
    xxxx
    Debt at Aug 2010 (LBM) £21,908.86, Debt Freeeeee Date 4th Nov 2013 :j:j:j Massive Thanks to the £10 per day thread :A Next goals:
    Savings £1203.16/£10,000******Mortgage to Zero: £52,579.46 to go
    Feb Earnings: £711.20/£500 March: £434.41/£500
    Currently compiling an A-Z of earning sites and happy to share it ;)
  • CurlyTop
    CurlyTop Posts: 379
    First Anniversary PPI Party Pooper Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    The date of your lightbulb moment : May 2002

    Debts at their highest: £48,487

    Debt-Free Date: 1 November 2013

    Your one pearl of wisdom: One pearl is hard but I think keeping a list of all your spendings to identify ways in which you can make savings and to make you realise just how much things cost to make you question whether you really need them.

    Which forum threads helped you: Definitely the Old Style Boards, all of which were informative but moreso, inspirational

    Thank heavens its all over !:dance:
    I got there - I'm debt free and intend to stay that way. If I haven't got the cash, it doesn't get bought. It's as simple as that.
  • I joined MSE in February 2006 and finally became DEBT FREE in October 2009, 4 years down the line i'm still debt free, hasn't been easy at times and I still visit the forums on a near daily basis even though I don't post a lot :D right now i'm waiting for 28th November when I can officially count up my stash for the Sealed Pot Challenge :j

    Thank you to everyone who has helped me and continue to do so through this site..
    MFiT-T6 #17
    New mortgage: October 2019, £480,000
    Current balance: £225,000

    Sealed Pot Challenge~17 #6
  • The date of your lightbulb moment : 1st LBM Xmas 2009, true LBM August 2010

    Debts at their highest: £39,723.02 (I shall never forget that number)

    Debt-Free Date: Today - 12th November 2013

    Your one pearl of wisdom: Dont get to comfortable, I nearly cleared my debt twice before this date. I thought I was in control, I have been in debt to some extent since I was 19 im now 32 thats a long time with nothing to show for it. It a way of life and becomes the norm. Scream at yourself now, get debt free as soon as you can.
    Oh and frozen sandwiches, they helped me save a fortune as no waste and no time used every single day :D

    Which forum threads helped you: I hardly ever posted but read a lot, I loved the debt free diaries so I knew I wasnt alone, the old style boards learning what you really need to get stuff done and this thread as inspiration. If I can do it anyone can :dance:
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards