The Debt Free Roll Of Honour

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  • Huge congratulations ianmak, so good to hear. We'd love to hear your "what I'm doing next" story :)
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  • yamsteroo
    yamsteroo Posts: 104
    PPI Party Pooper Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite




    a. The date of your lightbulb moment April 2010
    b. Debts at their highest £29,000!
    c. Debt-Free Date 24/01/2014
    d. Your one pearl of wisdom. Bite the bullet and take control - no amount of juggling is going to reduce the mess, just a strict budget and being honest with yourself.
    e. Which MSE guides helped you I read them all! From the moment my light bulb flickered to life I became a DFW geek and read all I could about how to get debt free fastest.
    f. Which forum threads helped you Pretty much all of them! Most of the threads covered questions I didn't even know to ask so I learned a lot from them.


    Going back just under 4yrs ago I was drowning, and I do mean drowning - my lines of credit were pretty much used up and I finally had to realise I was kidding myself that barely making minimum payments was being in control. The worst bit was telling my husband (he still doesn't know the full extent, but he knows it was bad), the best bit was when my first payment went out to StepChange (CCCS back then) - finally I acknowledged my problem and was dealing with it - I stopped drowning.


    So here we are today, for the first time in over 14 years, I'm debt free and in order to keep it that way I'll be sticking with my little basic Co Op account (no overdraft) and I won't be having a credit card again as I'm not sure I could trust myself (the 29k was frittered away ... I've nothing to show for it). Next step is a savings account - I don't think I've had one of those since I left school.


    For anyone just starting out or trying to pluck up the courage to contact their creditors, just do it. There'll be months when you think DFD is a million years away but it's closer every day - wish I'd started years ago!
  • Sandypan
    Sandypan Posts: 252
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    a. The date of your lightbulb moment - April 2007
    b. Debts at their highest - £54,489 on CC and loans
    c. Debt-Free Date - 27/01/14
    d. Your one pearl of wisdom - Write everything down/get organised

    f. Which forum threads helped you - all of them at different times for different things along the journey
    DF by Christmas 2014 #78 £18,964.15/£15,000
    DF by Christmas 2015 #07 £16,500/£21,992.92
    DF by Christmas 2016 #42 £4570/£4,500
    CC and loan debt at it's worst April 07 - £54,489 plus
    27/01/14 Officially Debt Free - except mortgage which I'm working on!
    26/02/16 mortgage free
  • AnnieBox
    AnnieBox Posts: 116
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    * The date of your lightbulb moment: 24 April 2013

    * Debts at their highest: £14700

    * Debt-Free Date: 31/01/2014

    * Your one perl of wisdom: Don’t go it alone! Part of the reason I got in such bad debt was because I hid from the truth and let things spiral down and out of control without letting anyone know there was a problem. Everything became so much easier to deal with when I opened up to my mum and my fianc!. I couldn’t have got debt free without them for support and advice, make sure you have someone to confide in who will encourage and support you in your journey.

    * Which!MSE guides!helped you: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/pay-off-debts

    * Which forum threads helped you: So many threads in the Debt free wannabe/diary forums helped me, I couldn’t possibly list them all individually, I’d be here forever!

    * And if you had a debt diary on DFW, a link to it: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4750361
    Paid off my debts, saved up my cash and now I'm finally buying my own home!
  • RockPaperScissors
    RockPaperScissors Posts: 359
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    edited 31 January 2014 at 9:56PM
    * The date of your lightbulb moment: 9th August 2012

    * Debts at their highest: £4,900 (plus more family debt!)

    * Debt-Free Date: 31/01/2014

    * Your one perl of wisdom:

    Pay attention to your finances and take control of them. I think I was sort of aware at the back of my mind that I was having trouble with my spending and borrowing, but I never really stopped to think about it properly. I only filled out my first SOA from this forum because I was curious. I knew I had some debts but I was completely convinced that it was due to earning a small graduate wage. I was really shocked with when it highlighted that according to the numbers and, I should be able to comfortably afford to pay all of my outgoings and have several hundred pounds left over. So where was that money going? I still couldn't tell you.

    Take control of your finances; know what you are paying and when. Create a budget spreadsheet and stick to it. When you don't, make sure you track what you *did* spend and on what so you can spot patterns in your spending.

    My second perl would be to talk to people about your debt. My family were oblivious to mine but I started by opening up to people right here on the forum and it gave me the confidence to talk to my family about it too. I felt less ashamed and more positive and supported by being open about it

    My last perl is packed lunches. Always always packed lunches. I must have been spending about £70 per week on buying lunch/coffee/snacks. I was sure that I didn't have time to prepare something to take with me to work. I could have saved so much money so much sooner if I had just taken food that was going to waste in the bottom of my fridge to work instead of stopping off at a starbucks!
    DEBT FREE AT LAST!
    Virtual Sealed Pot Challenge 2014 - Member 161
    Single Pot 1 Total:£23.32
    Joint Account Pot Total:£6.67
  • preable
    preable Posts: 2,114
    Debt-free and Proud! Mortgage-free Glee!
    Forumite
    The date of your lightbulb moment - 18th may 2013

    Debts at their highest - £4,756

    Debt-Free Date - 12 feb 2014

    Your one pearl of wisdom - I would say choose a date to be debt free and stick to it. Mine was the 14th but it happened 2 days ealy :)

    Which forum threads helped you - The ebay boards helped alot as i started selling spare items on ebay to raise extra cash.
  • The date of your lightbulb moment - Not sure of exact date but sometime in 2009.

    Debts at their highest - £25,000

    Debt-Free Date - 14th Feb 2014 <3<3

    Your one pearl of wisdom - If you are looking at a dmp company, make sure they are fee free, I made this error and wasted hundreds of pounds that could have gone towards paying off my debt.

    Which forum threads helped you - DFW boards.
    MFW 2018/19 #55 target: £6,847.26/ £500 paid
  • ridgers84
    ridgers84 Posts: 75
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    edited 21 February 2014 at 11:10AM
    The date of your lightbulb moment

    March 2012 is when I realised I needed to pull my head out if the sand. It got so bad that I was detained by the police and was admitted to the mental health hospital for 11 days. Dark times back then. I had been burying my head since about 2006 trying to live beyond my means and be someone who I wasn't.

    Debts at their highest

    C.£23k

    Debt-Free Date

    19th Feb 2014

    Your one perl of wisdom

    Can I have two??

    1) be yourself and don't be scared or ashamed to face the facts. It takes more of a person to rise to the challenge than for anyone to judge you.

    2) my beautiful, beautiful family. The birth of my son put everything into perspective. He gave me hope...


    Which MSE guides helped you

    Debt free wannabe mainly. Although I don't have many posts to my name I was hovering around in the back ground for a couple if years, I felt too ashamed to sign up!

    Thank you from the bottom of my heart to each and every one of you who come on here not to judge but to help and share your own experiences. Without a forum/website like this I genuinely dread to think of where I would be otherwise
  • Fantastic achievement Ridgers84...well Done!
  • lornz23
    lornz23 Posts: 166
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    Forumite
    Hi All,

    I have finally made it!!!

    Lightbulb moment: 2008 when I fell pregnant
    Debts at their highest: £25,000
    Debt-Free Date: Today!! 28/02/2014 :j
    Your one pearl of wisdom: No matter how many bumps that come up on the road - don't give up, the end is always in sight.
    Which MSE guides helped me: So Many of the boards helped me but Debtfree Wannabes and Old style savings were the ones I used the most

    Thanks to everyone here that helped along the way with PPI reclaiming, bank charge reclaiming and general advice you have all been fab! :T
    I am DEBT - FREE!?!?
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