Saturday, 31 March 2012

I'm Debt Free

That's right, I'm debt free! :) (Excluding student debts – more on that later!)

I've been hovering around 89% debt paid off for the past couple of months now. The reason is that I've been putting away any “spare” money to pay for what I thought would be expensive dental work (I get paranoid about my teeth as I neglected them as a teen). Fortunately I didn't need any treatment at all, so I now have an extra £750 of saved cash!

The first thing I did was top up my Emergency Fund. I've now got a £500 buffer to fall back on, which is around two months rent, car and living costs for me while living at home (not including saving for annual expenses), or the cost of a particularly expensive car repair (I'm looking at you, Jools!).

I put the rest of this “spare” money into my current account. It wiped out my remaining overdraft! I am finally debt free! (Click here to read my original entry about my debt). I won't say that I'll never have debt because I'll probably want to buy a house one day, but I hope that I'll never have consumer debt again.

As I mentioned before, I still have my student debts, but these are not consumer debt, don't affect your credit rating, and are at such a low interest rate that it is better to hold onto any extra money in a savings account. I'm also not eligible to start repayments until the next tax year.

What's next for the Frugal Graduate? Time to go out and splash the cash? Well, the advice on frugal living I have received and learning to waste-not-want-not have not been wasted. I'm still growing my own veg (a tomato seedling came up today!! :D), cycling, re-using and thrifting. My new target is to save £800 to pay for a deposit, first month's rent and moving to Bristol in September.

:)

7 comments:

DH said...

Massive congratulations! No feeling like it is there? I am sailing quite close to the wind myself financially at the moment as there have been so many expenses of late, but I will do anything to stay in credit! Enjoy your financial freedom! You have done fantastically.

Alison said...

Well done, that is fab!
Alison
x

Meanqueen said...

Well done, that's great news. I think for a young 'un you are doing incredibly well. I can't see you ever getting into debt again, apart from a house, and I don't count that as debt.

Unknown said...

I am so pleased for you! That's a great hurdle you've crossed. Maybe you can get yourself a little treat to say well done.

I like that you are getting organised for paying back your student loans and paying for living costs in Bristol.

It's all about keeping your eyes on the prize.

Sft x

Kitty Greene said...

well done from me too - you've done extremely well !

Pamela said...

Hi-five, Bryallen!

Unknown said...

You are a very responsible individual. You pay your own bills and not expect others to bail you out.