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?

I suppose you’ll tell me you’d “cook your food by hand” in that case?

There are some circumstances where debt is inevitable, there are others where the choice in lifestyle is the reason for the debt.
Then there are some people who just want stuff at any price.

E,g It's not always possible for people on low incomes to have savings in case something major needs replacing. We spent years building up a buffer because as soon as we got a bit saved something would need replacing, either white goods or boiler, roof repairs etc.
It would have been easy to have credit, but what if you can't pay it back.

We took the lowest possible mortgage we could for our needs, as interest rates had risen so high, not very low like today.
We also have low incomes as our work doesn't pay that much.
Living away from our family and friends meant no support network, but rather this than being in too deep with debt, and property we couldn't afford.

It can be done. I have a mortgage but otherwise no debt.
I put cash in a car fund every month, and another fund for household stuff in case the cooker dies.
I try to only spend what I have - if I don’t have cash, I don’t buy it. My car is 10 yrs old, so will replace soon with a 2 year old one.
I do have a credit card but only for absolute emergencies.

adaline only because you stressed at the end multiple was a choice.

Even so I tend to think having children is an emotional issue not just a practical one.
Indeed I think many more women are delaying having children due to financial reasons, you could say that's a good thing, but it leaves women in a predicament of TTC close or above 40

Absolutely possible. I just have the mortgage and a credit card that is paid off in full every month. I have always saved before buying, even for cars, whic are another big spend

I regard myself as debt free.

I do have a mortgage but I could pay it off now if I wanted to.

I despair at my nephew who lives on debt. He's in a low paid minimum wage job (because he couldn't be bothered to do any work at school and left with crap qualifications). Yet he has a new leased car with personalised number plates, a new iphone every 3 years, foreign holidays, etc. He's living the life on someone earning a lot more money. He's up to his eyeballs in debt. He lives in a succession of rented houses because he can't save a deposit to buy one.

Whenever he moves house, instead of taking furniture etc with him, he just gets a skip and dumps it and then buys new (on credit of course). His lack of financial awareness is staggering.

But his mother is just as bad. She's the same. Everything on credit. Only last year, she bought a new suite for her lounge - 3 years after she bought the previous one. Nothing wrong with the old one. I asked her why and she just said she'd finished paying off the HP for the old one (3 year deal) so she bought a new one which, in her words, "costs her nothing because it's the same monthly payment". In her next breath, she's whinging that she can't afford to service her car or buy Christmas presents.

You can't help stupid people.

I have lived debt free for years. Never put anything on a credit card that I couldn’t pay when the bill came in or bought on hp. The mortgage was the only debt I felt was acceptable but even that is paid off now.
But I have never bought a new car, holidays have been what we could afford that year. I don’t want random weekends away or expensive trips to Disney or legoland. In fact I am a bit of a homebody and would rather potter in my garden than spend cash on an “experience”.

Not the lifestyle for everyone but it suits me and allows me to live quite comfortably on what many on here would think of as a low income.

I need to replace my boiler and car this year both I have saved for. My boiler is around 30 years old and even though it is still working fine a new boiler will be more energy efficient and I will also zone it so in the long term it will save me money.
My car is 10 years old. Still works fine but as it is a very cheap car to run and insure I want to pass it on to one of my children so they can use it to build up a no claims bonus before buying something of their own. I have been looking at Dacias as they are basically a Renault but for half the price.

A lot of debt nowadays is because people want everything now and don't want to wait until they have saved for something.

You’re not actually answering my question here you know. How does “knowing you have enough” magically make money appear when you’ve just been made redundant and your oven has broken? I don’t understand how that works.

Savings, redundancy insurance for mortgage. That's not that hard to imagine, is it?

That's not that hard to imagine, is it?

Are you finding it hard to imagine that not everyone has those

even on a low income its possible to be debt free you just have to live within your means a few years ago I was single, working and all I got was wages and some working tax credits after paying all my bills rent ets I had £15 a week left of my wages for food it can be done, a lot of cheap filling food, not going out anywhere, no new clothes, walking to and from work, no car its existing but you can still live on very low money without getting into debt

Yes it is. I know people who don't owe any money and either don't use credit cards or pay them off every month. They live within their means.

People saying you don't need a brand new car are correct but you still need money to buy an old car and then pay for it when it goes wrong

No you don't because on Mumsnet you simply buy a car for £600 and drive it for years and years without needing to spend a penny on it apart from £200 pa insurance, £50 for the annual MOT and £20 road tax.

Meanwhile, back in the real world people are having to explain why they can't get to work because the car they bought when the last one blew up has gone wrong again and they have no money to fix it because it has all been taken up by having to buy a car when the last 'cheap' one needed expensive repairs.

"Are you finding it hard to imagine that not everyone has those"
Not my problem. I made sure I did.

This whole thread is making me cringe so much.

People with nice middle class lives who think that driving a car that's a few years old or not going to disneyland is the reason they are able to be debt free.

Nothing to do with the privilege of birth or education or stability or not being in an abusive situation or just plain luck that the world hasn't shat on you too badly, is it?

Not my problem. I made sure I did

Wow aren’t you just the greatest. You didn’t “make sure you did” you had luck. Do you understand the word “empathy”?

in the old days things didnt cost as much.

Relative to income, they probably did.

I had an overdraft when I was 18 of £1000, I knew nothing about finances and thought it was free money.

Paid it all back when I was 22 and had no debt since then. I use a credit card for food shopping and pay it off in full at the end of the month.

I am about to buy my first property and will have the mortgage paid off in 20 years (I live in a cheap area).

I save for what I want, never bought a single thing on finance. I'm a single mum and live a simple life.

What didn’t cost as much?

That was to pp referencing old days.

I’d have thought it the opposite. Cheaper now, tends to be more disposable too.

Oh and I'm not middle class either, I'm a working class single mum who spent a while on benefits. I never got into debt then either. I appreciate it's not the same for everyone though.

I think it could be possible, however the majority of people these days will be left with huge student debts which they will probably be paying until they are written off. We don't really consider our student debt as "debt" we have about 30k in student debt left to pay so it's going to be a few more years for us. No degrees we wouldn't be able to get a good job to buy the house in the first place!

My ds is in finance and he said me and dh credit rating is very poor
I said why? It's because apart from mortgage we have never applied for any, we have never even applied for a card.
Let's hope we never have a change of heart and want stuff on tic.

If something is important to you, it's amazing what you can make happen. I don't mean money magically appearing, but you don't always have to have everything now, even if something breaks.

I remember a cold winter waiting for savings for a new boiler, we didn't die, just put an extra layer on. Washing machine, we managed for a month or so before we found a good second hand one we could afford.

It's rare that someone has to take on debt, even those on low incomes. More often than not it's lifestyle choice.

I think because we all usually know or know of someone who is reckless with money the fallacy becomes everyone in debt is reckless with money.

I think sometimes debt can make a lot of sense - our mortgage payments are now lower than any rent in our area and getting less very year and the end isn't miles away. The university debt was worth it for me - got me a very well paid job menaing I could save a house deposit - and despite saving for our kids since they were born I don't think ours will avoid it and if they chosse carefully I still think it would be worth it.

Othertimes it can be unavoidable - because life happens.

I do think there's been a societal change to debt - my parents and IL avoided it were they could - not always possible and I'd say DH and I are similar - but student debt has I think normalised it for many young people.