How I cleared $11,000 in credit card debt in 18 months without giving up travel or everyday life

As a personal finance reporter, I spend a lot of time telling other people how to manage money wisely. For years, though, I was carrying credit card debt myself.

I had a balance on one or more credit cards for nearly all of the 10 years I’ve had them. In the early years, when I was still in college, I sometimes simply didn’t have enough cash to pay the full amount. Most of the time, though, the issue was discipline.

I paid more than the minimum each month, but I also treated credit card debt as if it were just a normal part of life, so I never made a serious push to eliminate it. I assumed other people my age were also charging purchases and paying them off slowly, even though many of them were not.

I managed to wipe out my cards briefly in 2020 after putting my Covid-19 stimulus checks toward the balance. But then I got a dog, moved into my own apartment and kept traveling and spending at levels that felt manageable. Before long, I was carrying a balance again, and it climbed to a peak of $11,310.

Now I’m credit card debt-free. Here’s how I accumulated five figures of debt and paid it off in less than two years.

How I rationalized my credit card spending

My debt came from a mix of real needs and unnecessary spending. I used my cards for vet bills and dog supplies, but also for flights, hotels, dinners and the occasional new outfit. Instead of focusing on paying down the balance, I often relied on “girl math” to justify using my cards again. I would mentally track what I spent, then convince myself that I had paid back more than I used, without really paying attention to interest or to whether the balance was actually shrinking.

In one month, for example, I charged $764 for dog-sitting, a hotel and meals out, then made payments totaling $838. That looked like progress on paper. But after $60 in interest charges, I had barely moved the needle.

Even in months when I paid more than I spent, an interest rate of at least 21% kept pushing my balance upward. My approach was mostly based on feelings: spend when I wanted to, then toss part of my paycheck at the debt every other week. I never really sat down and calculated whether I was making real progress, or whether the balance was headed in the right direction.

The end of one year and the beginning of the next were especially expensive because of several trips and my best friend’s wedding. I got carried away, and my balance topped $10,000. I checked my account often, but I didn’t fully grasp how risky it was to carry that much debt. If I had lost my job or faced a major emergency, I could have struggled to make even the minimum payment or keep up with everything else I owed.

Fortunately, that never happened. I was still able to pay my rent and student loan bill, keep contributing to my 401(k) and add to my emergency savings. At the time, I saw credit card payments as just another monthly obligation, not something that was truly limiting me.

When I started dating my now-fiancé, he helped me understand how significant that debt really was, even if carrying a balance is common. By one LendingTree analysis of Federal Reserve data, about 45% of credit cardholders carried a balance at least one month in the prior year. LendingTree also found that Americans with any kind of debt had an average credit card balance of $7,756.

That was when I sat down with my budgeting spreadsheet and did the math. Looking through my monthly statements, I could see how often I was actually adding to the balance rather than reducing it, even a little at a time.

Getting serious about repayment

There are many strategies for tackling credit card debt, from freezing your cards to imposing a no-spend period. I was lucky that I didn’t need to take any dramatic steps once I decided to get serious.

I did cut back in a few areas, especially dining out and buying clothes. In New York, it’s easy to spend $100 on dinner or drinks with friends. I started saying yes to fewer nights out, and when I did go, I skipped extras like a $15 cocktail. I also stopped relying on Uber as much, which saved me roughly $40 on some outings.

Clothes can be a weak spot for me, so I became more deliberate about shopping. I would choose items in advance and wait before buying them to make sure I truly needed them. Instead of wandering into Target and filling my cart without thinking, I began placing online orders so I would only buy what I had planned for. I also made a stronger effort to save for trips ahead of time and pay those charges off immediately rather than carrying them for months.

Most importantly, I stopped pretending that a large payment automatically meant progress. I started tracking my monthly statement balance in a spreadsheet so I could see clearly whether I was reducing debt or adding to it. When I moved, that month’s balance rose slightly because I paid movers instead of sending extra money to the card.

Most purchases went on my debit card, but I did not cut myself off from credit entirely.

Why emergency savings mattered

I followed the classic advice of paying myself first by sending money toward my debt while also saving for emergencies. On each biweekly payday, I made a credit card payment and set up an automatic transfer into my emergency fund. Then I used what remained in checking for groceries and other essentials. On weeks without a paycheck, I would often make another payment if I had extra cash after covering necessities. Over several months, I averaged nearly $600 a month toward debt.

That emergency fund came in especially useful when my dog needed an expensive vet visit.

I often write about the importance of having emergency savings even while paying down debt, but going through it myself was a valuable lesson. It was hard to dip into cash I had worked to build, but I was grateful I didn’t have to put a $6,000 vet bill on my credit card. That expense slowed my progress for a month, but it didn’t derail me. And now that I’m no longer sending $500 a month to credit card debt, I can focus on rebuilding savings and other goals.

Michelle Singletary, a personal finance columnist, once told me that debt limits your possibilities. I didn’t feel that as strongly when I was charging vacations to my card. But as I’ve gotten older, started planning my wedding and thinking more about my future, I’ve come to see that a monthly debt payment is a bill I don’t want hanging over me. Life feels lighter without it.