Shopaholic shares how she paid off $15K in debt in 2 years

Jobs

By Tracy Swartz

Gotta give her credit — a UK self-confessed shopaholic claims she paid off more than $15,000 in debt in two years by practicing zero-based budgeting and cash stuffing.

Sarah Bartlett, 37, says she was juggling eight credit cards at one point as she splashed out for theater tickets, clothes, designer handbags, iPhones — even a new car — on a $35,000 annual salary.

When her mortgage doubled in 2021, she lost track of her finances and got into trouble.

The human resources adviser decided to take action and start accounting for every last penny — which she paid back in October.

“It’s a weight off my shoulders, and I’ve now found more pride in talking about the experience and how it can support other people,” Bartlett told SWNS. “You can get through, and I’m proof you can.”

Bartlett’s debt spiral began in 2015 when she treated herself to an $14,000 car with a 0% interest card.

“I took the credit card out with a money transfer and [$14,000] went into my bank account, which then paid for the car,” Bartlett explained. “I’d pay off that credit card with another and just kept following the 0% deals that I could find.”

Bartlett said she would make the minimum credit card payments every month, but she kept buying new stuff too, which perpetuated the debt cycle.

“I’ve always been a person who loves to spend money,” Bartlett admitted.

She also fell victim to transfer fees as she moved money from card to card.

So she turned to zero-based budgeting, which meant she allocated every penny she was paid.

She also did cash stuffing, which is dividing cash into various envelopes to manage spending and not rely on credit cards. She said she would split $250 each month among the envelopes.

She had to shift her mindset from “buy now pay later” to using the money she had set aside for purchases.

Bartlett continued these measures for 23 months, recalling to SWNS that her last debt payment was “completely surreal.”

“I had gone to the bank to do it — it felt weird, the sun was shining, it was a lovely day. So I went for a walk and FaceTimed my parents to tell them,” Bartlett shared.

“It was also around the time of my birthday, and I had plans to go for dinner with my boyfriend, and we toasted to being debt-free — it was really nice,” she added.

Now, Bartlett is working hard to ensure she doesn’t slip back into old habits.

“January sales was a time where I had to have a chat with myself and reign it back in a bit,” she sighed. “I went to the shops with some Christmas money and went a bit overboard, so I returned some things.”

Bartlett noted that she is not on this journey alone.

She acknowledged that she was gifted about $650 from someone on TikTok who didn’t need the inheritance money and wanted to support her.

She was able to pay that sentiment forward last month by giving that amount to another content creator to help with some of their debts.

“It felt nicer doing that than when I would buy new clothes,” Bartlett beamed.