The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

MrsRogers · 27 September 2013 at 5:42PM

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
Sept2009 DH and I decided on our honeymoon we wanted to be debt free

b. Debts at their highest
£6k

c. Debt-Free Date
Jan 2012

d. Your one perl of wisdom.
Ask the question - What will spending this money do to my or our life?

e. Which MSE guides helped you
Budgeting

f. Which forum threads helped you
Old style - my fave & Quick Grabbit While you

:beer::j:T:j:T:j:T

zenthra · 28 September 2013 at 8:42AM

my lightbulb moment - June 2005 (my worst and best time.. worst being my meltdown when my total minimum cc payments exceeded my monthly salary:eek: and best.. discovering Payplan and getting an appointment with a week of first contacting them) :j

debts at their highest - £76,000 (11 credit cards, 1 loan and 3 store cards)

debt free date - Sep 2011 :T

pearls of wisdow -
don't treat credit like its just money given to you.. treat it as money you are borrowing from your future self.. a good awakener from debt is to add up all the interest across all your debts for the month then imagine having that as hard earned cash in your hands and burning it every single month.. :eek:

keep a monthly budget on a spreadsheet and track everything you spend on it putting it everything you spend at the end of the day from your receipts.. know to the penny were your money is going.. and then by putting in all direct debits and standing orders and estimates for groceries, etc see where you are going to be at the end of the month before you get there!

if you do get a credit card after your debts are cleared set up a DD to pay the full amount each month.. if you can't do this then don't get the card! the exception here is 0% cards where you can do the minimum but start saving to match the balance outstanding so when the 0% deal ends you can pay it off in full.

start saving after clearing your debts! i never had the money to save until a few yrs ago but now pay a fixed sum every month into my ISA and it feels sooo good to see that total increase each month :j

make the credit cards pay you instead of you paying them!:T get a cash back card or (as i do) an Amazon card and get rewards off them as you spend! just remember to have the DD set up for the full amount though so you don't have to worry about missing a payment.

final thought.. i always think of credit as like fire and should be handled with great caution!

virtuallyfree · 1 October 2013 at 2:21PM

I am Debt-Free and mortgage free Now :beer:
Female, age 50.
Here we go:

a. Sitting on equity when in debt is crazy
b. 50 k mortgage, 100k debts
c. March 2013
d. Buy a neglected property in an upcoming area and renovate it, then move on, don't be lazy, narrow minded or sentimental, think outside the box and you can have it all!
e. Credit cards, change them often, change your bank account, never get in a rut
f. Legal advice on being a landlord, not one anymore too stressful!
Great place for feeling not alone in this crazy world of spending!

X

Newgirl_2 · 2 October 2013 at 10:14PM

a. The date of your lightbulb moment
July 2006

b. Debts at their highest
Circa £70,000

c. Debt-Free Date
October 2013

d. Your one perl of wisdom.
Assess, accept and change (the situation). You can't change what you don't acnowledge so, when realisation hits, face up to how bad things are (or not) and set yourself a plan. We couldn't have done it without the CCCS. There's no shame in seeing help.

Oh and a bonus one - don't give up. It can be done.

f. Which forum threads helped you
So many, I can't even list them all.

g. And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it
I don't. But I wish now I'd started one at the time. I've enjoyed reading other peoples'.

kerri_dfw · 15 October 2013 at 9:21PM

a. The date of your lightbulb moment14th November 2011

b. Debts at their highest
oh gosh about £5-6k, although with interest I've probably paid off over £10k. This included a loan from Ll0yds for £5k + interest, a £400 b4rclaycard and £2k n4twest OD when I was a student, £2k in OD for Ll0yds, £2k in OD for HS8C, £3k v4nquis cc, £800 b4rclaycard, £1000 cap1 cc...how much is that? Urm...wow over £16k!!!! OMG!!!

c. Debt-Free Date
13th October 2013

d. Your one perl of wisdom.
The only way you will get out of debt is to change your outlook on spending. TURN OFF THE TELEVISION. You do not need all those shiny things, I haven't bought brand new clothes in about 2 years. Fleabay is a goldmine for seconds, you can even sell your smalls on there. Bras sell particularly well.

e. Which MSE guides helped you
None

f. Which forum threads helped you
Debt free by Xmas 2012 and 2013
Lots of DFW diaries, I've made lots of virtual friends.
Flylady - it's helped get the house in order, an ordered house helps with clearing debt, trust me on this one as it makes everyone a LOT happier.

g. And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4338963[/FONT]

LucyGoose · 23 October 2013 at 7:31PM

Lightbulb Moment: January 2012
Debts at highest: £8.5k
Debt free date: January 2013
Pearl of wisdom: If you can't afford it now, save for it. Chances are if you have to wait for it you probably will no longer want it when you can afford it and always make a budget and stick to it.