Clearing My Debt to Afford a Move to Australia

Falling into debt is extremely stressful. While my motivation wasn’t all about clearing debt to move to Australia. It was another aspect that having a large amount of debt was affecting. With help, I was able to take action.

I hope my story can help you too.

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A year ago, I completely cleared all my debts after racking up a whopping £40k on credit cards, loans and other credit ties over time.

This hard work has ultimately enabled us to afford our dream of a permanent move down under and only took 4 years to pay off, thanks to the angels at stepchange.org.

Like many people who get into debt, I don’t have much to show for the forty grand I managed to amass over the years.

It just grew gradually and kept on growing. That, teamed with the relentless interest piling on top and I was starting to get in a bit of a pickle with my finances. 

I have always worked hard for my money. Early on in my life, I had paper rounds and completed chores around the house.

At 16 I began working full-time in retail, this continued alongside my A-level and subsequent degree study to support my mum with the household bills.

Fast forward to the present day – having a successful career in education. I have also always loved spending it! Why not? I had worked hard, right? 

My impatient nature unfortunately means that I wasn’t always happy to wait for things.

Often, I would whack purchases on the credit card or get myself a ‘buy now, pay later’ option. I would also like to blame a little bit of this frivolity on the culture I am surrounded with.

We live in a time of ‘instant gratification’ where you can order an iPad on the train home from London (because you had an unsuccessful birthday shopping trip), and it will be there waiting for you when you get home.

What a brat! 

My family circumstances changed over time, with maternity leave and my husband leaving his career to return to university.

I didn’t adjust my budget accordingly and carried on spending at the rate I was with our previous joint income. Not the brightest idea I have ever had.

My inability to budget, coupled with my laissez-faire attitude was probably enough on their own to get me into debt. However, my spending spiralled somewhat when I was struggling with my mental health.

I had a newborn baby and toddler at home and with my husband working extremely long hours, I would take myself out and buy things none of us needed in an attempt to cheer myself up. 

This would often be £100 on clothes for the kids or some decorative bits for the house. Occasionally, it was really silly decisions like buying a car on a credit card or taking out another loan to pay off my cards, but never cutting them up and closing the accounts. 

In the short term, I thought this was making me happier as it was giving me something to do.

However, it was beginning to get a bit out of control. When I lost two of my grandparents very suddenly (and on the same day as one another).

I began to take an even less serious approach to money, with the mindset of ‘You can’t take it with you’.

Again, this was not an ideal move. 

Fast forward 4 years and this reckless spending had really started to take its toll.

I was earning a really good salary. I should have been able to afford family holidays and days out with the kids. But the whole of my monthly wage was going on bills and I was just about making the minimum payments on my cards, loans, store cards and my overdraft.

My mental health was really not in a good place and looking back, a lot of this was down to the lack of control I had over my finances. I felt like I was failing my family and most of all, letting myself down.

Furthermore, I was working so hard but had absolutely nothing to show for it. 

I had heard of a few debt management companies but the one which I reached out to was a charity called StepChange. I had seen a guy on YouTube mention them and how he had changed his life around with their help. 

At this point, I had nothing to lose so I gave them a call. The lady on the other end of the phone really was an angel. She didn’t judge, had so many hints and tips to give me and helped me with a plan there and then.

We set up a budget (this was a shock to my system!) and I went on something called a Debt Management Plan. 

This consisted of StepChange contacting all of my creditors on my behalf to explain my situation, offer a regular monthly payment and stop charging me interest immediately.

Because I was paying off quite large monthly sums, all of my creditors adhered to this. 

I went from paying almost £1800 per month to different creditors to just £700. My budget was reviewed annually and there was always support on the other end of the phone, via email and the chat function. 

The plan does mean that my credit history is now very low and it would be very difficult for me to obtain credit over the next few years, but given my history is probably not a bad thing! 

Whilst I was initially ashamed of myself and regretted the amount I had managed to collate in debt, this was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life and has honestly changed our household so much. 

This year, I was able to comfortably afford two family holidays, which were paid off weeks before we travelled. I have a savings account for our move to Australia and have been able to pay for the majority of our costs so far outright because of this. 

When we were looking to move to Australia prior to my debts being paid off, I had about £3 in my bank and there would have been absolutely no chance of us leaving the UK because the equity from our house sale would have been used to pay off my debts…not set up a new life down under. 

I have a budget, which I stick to and I now have control over my spending. 

• I use the Monzo banking app to budget for larger purchases and have a set amount going into them each month. Things like Christmas, birthdays and holidays have an ongoing top-up. There are also cashback rewards on the app if you buy items on your Monzo card, so it is worth keeping an eye out for these. 
• Pots are also set up for ‘home’ and ‘sinking funds’ because I don’t want something drastic to happen and have to rely on credit to sort them out. 
• Budget for things like glasses, dentists, hair appointments and MOT across the year. E.g. my glasses are usually about £300 every 2 years so I would therefore put away £12.50 a month to cover this payment, rather than waiting for it to happen and being out of pocket. 
• Spreadsheet- each month, I update my spreadsheet with income/outgoings and plan for anything additional happening during that month like half term or a special event. This helps me to put a bit extra into my ‘entertainment’ fund. 
• When I finished my plan, I continued to put the £700 per month straight into savings because I managed for 4 years without it whilst I was paying off my debtors. I was used to not having it so it was easy to keep it set aside. 
• If you are struggling, tell someone. Don’t brush it under the carpet like I did as it will only get worse. There are lots of ways to overcome issues with money. You can request mortgage breaks, ask for the minimum payment to be reduced or that the interest is stopped for a period of time. As long as you don’t miss payments and can continue paying something, there is usually a way to support. 

It may sound cliché but money doesn’t buy you happiness.

During the 4 years that I was paying off my debts, I enjoyed the ‘no spend’ days with my children a lot more. Kids also don’t need you to buy them things. They are more than happy with a day at the park, taking a homemade picnic than they are having lots of things bought for them. 

Being in debt is nothing to be ashamed of. In 2023, 8.1 million people (15%) in the UK sought advice for their debts. Consumer credit continues to rise with the cost of living crisis we are all currently dealing with. 

If you feel like you need some advice with your debts, please contact StepChange on 0800 138 1111. 

That one phone call really does make all the difference ❤