My blog is 2 years old!!!!
When I started my blog, I was sure I'd be out of debt within 18 month or 20 months tops! By the end of the first year I knew that, that wasn't going to happen. Life happens - you don't always know what is around the corner and you can only plan for what you know. Also, it is a learning skill to get out of debt, you don't need to learn to get into debt but getting out is a major change of lifestyle which you must work at.
At the start of June last year I owed £12, 671.77 and I am now down to £3,764.50 at the start of this month. To get passed that £10k figure was such a relief. Now that I am down to the last few thousand I really just want it gone - that monkey on the back of my finances that stopped me doing anything with my finances. Not so long to go now and it will be gone - I can't wait!
I have been reading posts that people have made about keeping your credit card accounts open once you have cleared them. Cutting up the cards etc. so that you don't use them but keeping them open to help your credit rating. Now the information is mostly from the States and I don't know if it is the same here in the UK or in other Commonwealth countries?
The other side of the argument is the Dave Ramsey approach of getting rid of all your credit cards and only having debt cards. That sounds a little scary, especially after my trip to Turkey were I needed emergency credit in a hurry. An emergency fund of £1,000.00 wouldn't have cut it!
Have you cleared your debt? What did you do?
3 comments:
Happy Birthday to your blog!
I'm not debt free yet, so can't really comment on the notion of never having credit cards and only working with debit cards.
If you were 100% sure that you wouldn't splurge on it, then I'd say you'd be safe with a credit card for emergency back up... and no, those shoes you just can't resist are not an emergency!
I think it's always a good idea to have one credit card for emergencies, but you don't need to keep it in your wallet!
Thanks for visiting and commenting on my blog - it led me to your site and I can not wait to read more.
BTW - I use credit cards for pretty much everything. I do not like carrying cash and this works for me. Plus, I love earning cash rewards, it is like having a coupon for everything. I do, however, never charge more then I can pay a month and I always pay my balance in full.
That said - I like Dave and what he tries to teach the masses. Debt free is a real and needed thing in our world. On the other hand, I do not feel we should go credit score free. This score works in so many areas of our lives - like insurance ratings.
Good luck to you!
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