In my last blog post, I revealed that I will be starting a
debt-free journey in 2026. I will start by focusing on paying off all my pay it
later accounts. That is not the only debt that I have by any means, but that is
the debt that I plan to focus on first. I spent some time yesterday looking at each
pay it later account. I looked at the date of purchase, amount of the purchase,
the payment and payment frequency, and the balance due. Some of them have a
smaller balance if I pay them off early.
My first thought was, oh man, this takes up a lot of room in
my journal. My next thought was, oh boy, this is bad. I mean really bad. After
I wrote everything out, I counted how many pay it later accounts that I have. I
will tell you how many accounts there are but give me a few minutes. It’s not
an easy thing to just spit out. It was enough to make my heart sink.
On 12/22/25, one of my favorite Disney YouTube creators,
Adam the Woo, passed away. I started watching Adam around 2016. My husband and
I stumbled upon Adam’s channel when watching Tim Tracker when we were
researching tips for Walt Disney World vacations. We have always loved the
adventures that Adam took us on in his videos in and out of the parks. Many nights
with the family have been spent sitting around the television watching Adam on
YouTube. He will be missed by the Prep for Pixie Dust family. I’m sure he is
finding ways to explore the Kingdom of Heaven now.
Since Adam’s passing, my husband and I have been watching
some of his older videos along with his recent videos of Italy. In one of
Adam’s first videos when he sold everything, stopped paying rent, and moved
into his van that he was purchasing for his band to tour in, Adam said
something that hit me hard. I have heard him say this more than once in other
videos, but at this point in my life, his words are resonating with me and my
current situation.
“To be owned by the things that you own is a very difficult
thing to overcome,” Adam the Woo 12/11/10.
There never was a truer statement about material items and
the chains that we put on ourselves for ownership of said items. More than
paying off these pay it later accounts to not have an extra bill to pay each
month, I am removing the chains of a payment obligation that I have to things
that I have bought for one reason or another. That gets me to thinking, why did
I feel the need to make these purchases to begin with?
Although Adam was free to get in his van and live
comfortably traveling across America with himself for years, that is not a
lifestyle that I could commit to. I have a husband, three children, and two
dogs. Our lifestyle is a little different. My husband and I both work full-time
jobs. All three of our children are involved in sports and/or extracurricular
activities, and all the kids are in school. We are involved in our community,
and our kids have deep connections with their friends. I would love to sell
everything and load the family up to move near Orlando to chase my dreams of
being a Disney Vlogger, but it’s something that I would have to get four other
people that have deep roots in our hometown on board with. When the time is
right, the doors will open.
So, back to the question of why. Why would I purchase things
and set up accounts to pay something later instead of just not purchasing it if
I couldn’t afford to pay it all off right then? Well, there are several
reasons. None that excuse the fact that if I couldn’t justify paying the full
amount up front, I should just not buy it, but mentally, I had my reasons.
Looking over everything that I have bought with a pay it later account, the
items were purchased for birthdays, school supplies, vacations, holidays, large
purchases, and Christmas gifts.
As I pay off each debt, I plan to really examine what the
purchase was and why it was made. I hope that I can do a little bit of research
on myself and maybe determine certain things that I need to save for to have
money set aside instead of making the purchase and planning to pay later. This
information will be very useful in the end. With each payoff, not only will I
tell you about the purchase. I will tell you how I managed to pay it off. I
will also be exploring some non-scammy ways to make extra money to help with
the debt. If you have debt that you need to pay off too, follow along to see if
you find something that works for your situation. If a full-time working mom
with three kids all involved in extracurriculars can do this, you can too!
So, I know that it has been longer than a few minutes, but I
just want to thank you for hanging in there and reading this post. I am about to
share the total number of pay it later accounts that I have and my timeframe
goal for getting rid of all of them.
I am starting the 2026 year off with a total of 51 pay it later accounts across all platforms.
That is two Sezzle accounts, 13 PayPal Pay-In-4 accounts, 7 One Pay/Klarna accounts,
25 Affirm accounts, and 4 monthly PayPal Pay-It-Later accounts. I thought about paying
one per week, but that would take almost a year. Many accounts will fall off organically, so
that will help along the way.
My timeframe for getting rid of all 51 accounts is 3 months.
By the end of March 2026, I would like to have all 51 accounts erased from my
payment obligations. I will not be doing any consolidations or loans. I will be
finding ways to make extra money to help pay these accounts off so that I can
move on to the next step in my debt-free journey. Follow along with me to see
how I reach my goal, and if I am 51 payments free by April 1st,
2026!
To find out where my overspending realization started, read
my previous blog post here.