Did you become dept free..........

**brenda67** · 04-29-2008, 04:52 PM

from a inheritance? I often wondered if there is some people dept free because of coming into money from one form or another and making the smart choice to payoff dept verses buying into all the comercialism crap..

**sdrjeolsen** · 04-29-2008, 05:43 PM

We were debt free till this house. And no, we did it the hard way, doing without a lot of things. Wish we had rich, generous parents though

**Jenih** · 04-29-2008, 05:45 PM

We're in the final stages of paperwork to receive an inheritance that will allow us to pay off all our debt, and put additional into savings. I think a lot depends on your mindset, though, as being able to sort of wave a magic wand and make your debt disappear so quickly and easily can be dangerous, too. Without the lesson in all the toil and sacrifice to pay everything off, it could be all too easy to start running up bills again. It doesn't leave a mark, you know? Thankfully, we've been working at this a while so we have experienced the sacrifice, done the hard work, and gathered more than a few grey hairs through worry, and we know that becoming complacent is something we need to be very wary of. Knowing that has put us in a good position to not go down the debt path again. We have all we need, and now the focus must be on saving for our future.

There was a time when thoughts would have turned to "stuff", but now I'm just looking forward to the happiness and peace that will come from having no debt other than our mortgage, and enough money in the bank to make us feel secure. It truly is a blessing.

**TheRootedNomad** · 04-29-2008, 05:56 PM

No money waterfall here. We busted our buts to pay off out debtload.

**mombottoo** · 04-29-2008, 06:26 PM

The people I know wouldn't leave behind enough to inherit

! Which is fine by me, I don't plan on leaving my kids money up the wazoo either...I'm going to spend what they would inherit before I go

!

**30s&DebtFree** · 04-29-2008, 07:51 PM

Hi. Just joined the site today and saw this thread which is near and dear to my frugal heart.

So, had to respond.

My husband and I met about 10 years ago when we were in our late twenties. My husband had already purchased a 2 bedroom townhouse which he had mortgaged most of the funds to buy the house. When I moved in with him, we agreed that he would continue paying all of the bills as he had while living alone and I saved pretty much every cent I made and started paying down the mortgage (once we were married of course). Over a period of 5 years, we managed to pay off the townhouse and then sold it for double what he paid for it. We put all of the equity down on our 2nd home and did the same thing all over again; DH paid the monthly bills and I used my income to pay off both of our new cars and our new mortgage (which wasn't that high to begin with because we used all the equity from the first house as a huge down payment). We also never once carried a balance on our credit cards, but instead, only bought what we could pay for monthly and we have always paid the CCs in full every month. We pay for whatever we can with the CCs and have never paid one cent in interest, but instead, collect about 100.00 every few months in Rewards cash from the CC company!!!

We live very comfortably, but I am not a high maintenance type of gal either. Meaning, I don't get 100.00 hair cuts, I do my own nails, buy second hand items when I find a good deal (esp on my son's clothing and toys, even some stuff for myself too). We brown bag lunches, cook lots of frugal meals vs eating out, don't waste money on things we don't need, etc. It is amazing what you can do over a period of ten years if you are careful with your money.

Also, we always had a "two year plan" in motion. Example, in two years, we will pay off the cars, in two years we will pay off the house. You have to put a plan in motion and STICK TO IT, even when it is tough.

I can't tell you how amazing it is to live in a beautiful house, very nicely decorated, drive nice (but not luxury) cars, dress nicely, AND be debt free. I have friends who may have better cars than me or wear all the latest fashions, a different outfit each day of the week, but I know that my financial freedom is worth so much more than all those "material" things that decline in value or end up being given away to Purple Heart in a few years.

So, to make a long story short, DH and I carefully planned, no one gave us a cent, and we managed to come a long way in 10 years. Now, I am a SAHM and we live MORE comfortably than most of our peers who are two income households. I imagine it would be tough to do what we did if we were just beginning to live frugally, but because we started from the beginning, it was easy because we never accumulated that much debt. Our long term goal was to be debt free.

My advice to those trying to pay down debt is to make long term goals and stick to it. It may seem impossible, but over time if you stick to your goal, you will be so much better off. It takes time, so don't give up!!!

**PrairieRose** · 04-29-2008, 08:33 PM

No siree....., it took us about 8 years of hard work at it. We also put 3 kids through college while paying our debt off completely. It was not easy and we could have done it in 2 years less if we hadn't been so tired of beans and rice, rice and beans..... . We took 2 years and cut ourselves some slack before we finished it off this year.

**forHISglory** · 04-29-2008, 09:19 PM

No inheritance for us to be debt free. Hubby's parents were hard working factory worker and stay at home mom. They left us a few thousand dollars, which we appreciated, but we were already debt free. The best inheritance I received from mil and fil was how to live a debt free life!!!

My folks are still living. When they die, my sibs and I will inherit the farm, but I have no idea what it's worth. But it won't make any dif on our debt situation as we are still debt free. And again, I thank my parents immensely for instilling a frugal life in us.

**FrugalMomof3** · 04-29-2008, 09:38 PM

No inheritance for us either, we worked hard to pay off debt ourselves, we do have a mortgage and right now there is no extra going towards it but we live happily.

**FrugalWitch** · 04-30-2008, 01:39 PM

I inherited a house from my Ninny that needed over $5,000 of basic repairs. That was all. It is over 100 years old, no insulation, no central air and heat, nothing lavish.

The house is in sad shape now, needing a new roof and as much as I hate to, we may end up selling it since we will have to live with Momma until she dies to keep her out of a nursing home. She will be 64 at the end of May.

**POOTERSMOMMY** · 04-30-2008, 03:57 PM

We did it the old fashioned way! Good old hard work .

**brenda67** · 04-30-2008, 05:04 PM

I love reading your responses...

**dolphin** · 04-30-2008, 05:47 PM

In 1995 dh received a large sum of money from an auto accident. We were able to become debt free. In 1999, we lost our oldest son, 1 year later, an opportunity came up to buy dh's Moms house in another state. We took it! I do think grief and wanting to run away from bad memories played a part in our decision but we moved and aquired a $65,000 mortgage. We went to work, then both lost our jobs, the credit cards debt (which we had never had or used before) built up quickly. We were in a state where the prices were high on everything. It has been our financial RUIN.

Lesson learned? If you EVER get out of debt, never, ever, go back to it, no matter what!!!!! We are getting ready to file for bankruptcy.