To think apart from mortgage it is possible to live debt free!?

[Moneytalkone]

Just that really, AIBU to think that it is possible to live debt free, that debt isn’t a necessity in life! Apart from a mortgage I suppose if you want to own a house. Had a chat with a friend who claimed that debt is given these days, it’s almost an accepted/expected part of life? What do you think?

It’s not a badge of honour to have no debt. Properly managed it’s sensible. If we buy something big where there’s a 0% offer available, we take it, it means our money continues to earn interest and it’s factored into the price anyway. Credit cards are paid off every month and we’re mortgage free so any “debt” we take on is entirely manageable.

But "debt" isn't really debt if you have the same, or more, money in savings elsewhere is it? Proper "debt" is where you owe money and don't having savings to cover it.

OP's question is very vague?

e.g.

'I believe that it's possible for anyone, regardless of the luck, talents, & priveliges that they're born with, to at all times stay debt free' - this is obvioulsy a load of crap.

'I believe that many instances of household over-indebtedness could have easily been avoided with a bit more thought & discipline' - sure, I'd go along with that.

etc

etc

If we couldn’t afford holidays upfront we didn’t have them. If we needed to borrow for a car we didn’t buy it. If we couldn’t afford lots for Christmas, we had less yes, us too.

We have no debt....if we can't afford it we don't buy it
We are 50 ish both work...me part time husband low paid but a job he enjoys
Grown up children left home
Simple life but we feel it's worth it !!!

Thanks everyone I haven’t RTFT but obvs opinions/experiences are mixed.

What gets me are those who claim they need a "good/reliable" car for work, but instead of leasing a £150 per month Peugeot 209 rock up with a £350 per month BMW. Do they really think a brand new Peugeot or Citroen would be any less reliable than a BMW? No, they just want to show off. If they get into debt because of that kind of stupidity, then tough.

You sound pretty priviliged... I don't have a mortgage, I'm renting and my rent is high, I live alone without my partner so living on one income and I'm pregnant. I had lots of savings from selling off a website, but unfortunately my ex-boyfriend took most of that and then left me, and so I had to borrow money to be able to pay for the flat before moving out and saving up for a rent deposit all over again. I was then in a car accident so my car insurance got ridiculously high which it always was because I'm 24 and at the time had only been driving for two years. I think the younger you are the more debt you get into, unless you have a well off family, two incomes or a high paying job.

why can't you find new work? Temping agencies are forever recruiting, you can do a few days here and there, it's not ideal, it's not stable but it pays the rent.
How do you think some of us managed between job? Accepting any low pay job - we are lucky, there is a minimum wage in this country so a job is a job, whilst you are trying to find a proper one.

You just can’t. There isn’t work. Local high street has been stripped bare. All the people made redundant when you were, are all going for the same jobs along with the people made jobless by all the other business closures. There just aren’t the jobs. You had to sell your car to eat and have nothing left to pay for travel to other cities. What do you do? 6 weeks until universal credit kicks in. How do you eat?

It’s still a silly OP.

5 seconds thought will have answered the question for you OP. Yes- in lots of circumstances it’s possible to live without debt. Many do. Not really sure what you wanted from the thread

We have no debt....if we can't afford it we don't buy it

Does that go for food and rent too? Because for some- that is literally what the debt is taken out to pay for.

I was (still am) a lone parent of a baby and a toddler. I was working part time and receiving working tax credit, child tax credit and housing benefit. Tax credits sent me out one of those lovely letters requesting proof of all my incomings and outgoings. I promptly obliged. A month later my tax credits stopped. I called them. Apparently I hadn’t provided the information requested. Except I had. The said I needed to send it again. I couldn’t- because it was sitting in an envelope somewhere waiting to be found in the tax credits office. They said they’d make a note on my file and hopefully it would be found. I spent days of my life on the phone to tax credits over the next few weeks trying to sort out the issue. Meanwhile- no tax credits were being paid to me. Then guess what happened? Housing benefit said my circumstances had changed and I was being reassessed. The “circumstance change” was that I was no longer receiving tax credits so my housing benefit was stopped while I was reassessed. They couldn’t make a decision until tax credits told them what I was getting from them. And they couldn’t find my evidence in order to decide what to pay me. They eventually found it. 12 weeks after my last tax credit payment. And when they restarted my tax credits they didn’t back date it (that came 18 long months later ) so for 12 weeks I had no tax credits and for 8 weeks I had no tax credits or housing benefit. I had £34/week child benefit and £100/week from my part time job. To pay rent (£145/week) feed the 3 of us, buy nappies, pay childcare (£150/week) and petrol to get me to work. As you can see- the maths didn’t add up. I literally had no choice but to take out a credit card. But that was fine because I knew i would be getting a big back payment in tax credits once they restarted and I could pay off the debt. Except that didn’t happen for 18 months. Fun times.

WireBrushAndDettolMaam
there IS work - there are jobs. So much so that companies are still recruiting abroad because they cannot find willing staff. It might not be your "dream" job, and places like call centres for example are not glamorous, but it's a job.

Brexit is bringing a financial disaster for this country, but jobs have not been lacking so far. The willingness to work has.

I was (still am) a lone parent of a baby and a toddler. I was working part time and receiving working tax credit, child tax credit and housing benefit.

it was your choice to have children when you knew you would be relaying on benefits! Good or bad, it's still very much a CHOICE.

I'm almost 35 and been living in my own property since 21 and I've remained debt free, although I may not in the future, ya never know but currently I have been living debt free do I'd say yes its possible

You just can’t. There isn’t work. Local high street has been stripped bare. All the people made redundant when you were, are all going for the same jobs along with the people made jobless by all the other business closures. There just aren’t the jobs.

Where do you live where there are absolutely no jobs?

No nice or desirable or well paid jobs, sure, but there are always jobs. Even if that's evenings at a petrol station or mornings as a cleaner before school.

it was your choice to have children when you knew you would be relaying on benefits!

No, I actually chose to have them in a long term relationship with two adults working full time. Then he left, PND floored me and I couldn’t keep working FT while coping with being abandoned to look after two small children alone whilst being ill.

Your ignorance is fucking astounding.

For some people there simply aren’t jobs. It’s pure luck if they get picked out of the hundreds of other applicants for the 3 jobs that they can actually do. Not everyone can travel to any location to work. Not everyone can get childcare that fits around doing a 6am cleaning shift. Not everyone has the physical ability to do cleaning. Honestly- you are speaking as if everyone is starting on a level playing field and can just walk into a min wage job if it comes up. It’s really not that simple.

Quite.

I spent my childhood living in extreme poverty and always on the verge of being made homeless.

My mum hadn't set it up that way. She had married, bought a house, had two children.

Then he left, she was ill for years and it was all a blood mess, that neither I nor my mother 'chose'.

Transport is a huge issue in rural areas.

Most people need a car to be able to get to and from work, unless they don't mind/have time to walk 20 miles a day or by freaky coincidence, the two buses a day coincide with their working hours.

Cars are expensive. Insurance and break down cover is expensive. Petrol is expensive.

But so many people have to pay out or get into debt for those things in order to earn anything.

I've pretty much always lived debt free apart from the mortgage.
Basically, if I can't afford it I don't buy it. It's quite simple.

I didn't learn to drive until I was 33 as I couldn't afford to. Plus I wouldn't have been able to afford a car anyway. The car I have now is 15yrs old but reliable. I couldn't afford kids until recently so I didn't have them. I don't drink or smoke, don't have any expensive habits or hobbies etc.
Unless you have a big, unexpected problem in life such as a redundancy or health issue, it's easy to live to your means. I think many people just choose to live outside of what they earn and then complain they're not paid enough etc.

For some people there simply aren’t jobs. It’s pure luck if they get picked out of the hundreds of other applicants for the 3 jobs that they can actually do. Not everyone can travel to any location to work. Not everyone can get childcare that fits around doing a 6am cleaning shift. Not everyone has the physical ability to do cleaning. Honestly- you are speaking as if everyone is starting on a level playing field and can just walk into a min wage job if it comes up. It’s really not that simple.

That's not the same as there being no jobs at all, though...

....yawn

Between the two of us we managed to save over 200k in 3 yrs. I know LOTS of ppl who have done similar!! well done Parttimers but you are not the norm

Nobody has answered the question. Savings gone, no job has been offered, no universal credit for 6 weeks. What do you do? In fact what would you have done in my situation I described a few posts back? How would you have fed my children, bought nappies, paid the childcare fees? Should I have quit my job to save that cost and be left with just £34/ week to live off? That wouldn’t have stopped me needing a credit card. Still rent to pay. Should I have stopped paying rent? That would have meant I was in debt to the person providing my home instead of to a credit card company.

Iv never had a penny of debt except my mortgage. I'm 29 married with a daughter and I just had a credit card to book holidays and tickets and pay it off the next day for safety reasons. Always worked full time in the NHS so I arent well off by any means.

Yes it is possible to live debt free with the right attitude and effective budgeting skills