Our Priority List – Preparing for Long Term Family Travel
When setting up our priority list we started with the debt snowball method in mind. We began with a credit card that was one of our lower debts and being a credit card it had a high interest rate so it was a no brainer. It was a mental game for me too. I picked a general credit card instead of a store card because I felt more comfortable spending every extra dime we had to pay it off. I was so worried about emergencies that our small emergency fund wouldn’t cover. It was not an issue. Once I paid off that card I was never making payments on it again. It was the best feeling.
Next came a store card that had a 0% interest rate that was about to expire. At that point it went to a true debt snowball through our credit cards and a personal loan. When we set up our first list that was as far as it went. It is much longer now and includes things we need to consider prior to our long-term travel plans. We have multiple student loans that fall under a larger umbrella. We want to focus on them individually because they are less overwhelming. Below is our actual list including things that we have already paid off so you can get an idea of what our priority list looks like. I’ve included the rough time frame next to each of them.
Our Priority List
- Credit Card – Paid
- Store Card – Paid
- Store Card – Paid
- Credit Card – Paid
- Personal Loan – Paid
- Credit Card – Paid
- Credit Card – Paid
- Credit Card – Paid
- Credit Card – Paid
- Store Card – December
- $500 a month toward the house remodeling
- Store Card – January & February
- Ivy’s Dental Work – March
- Loan for the A/C & Furnace – March, April, May
- Student Loan – May
- $5,000 for down-payment on the Van/SUV we need to buy before we leave – June & July
- $1,000 a month for savings toward vehicle
- Student Loan – August
- Student Loan – September & October
- Pay off Vehicle – November, December, January, February, March
- Save $10,000 – April, May, June
- Our Travel Equipment (Suitcases, Go-Pro, Computer, Kindle, etc.) – July
- Student Loans x6 – August until they are paid or we leave
- Save
We are currently on item #10 on our list. We set a realistic timeline. We are hoping to do better but don’t want to set ourselves up for failure. In a perfect world, we want to completely finish our list by August. The timeframe is based on our current monthly payoff amount. It doesn’t include any extra money we are able to come up with. We plan to ask for some of our travel items for gifts and buy some of them as gifts for the kids for Christmas next year which will help a little.
We plan to sell/donate most of our belongings before we leave. Anything we make from our yardsales/online sales will go straight towards whatever item on our list we are working on. We plan to start by putting things for sale online that we feel are worth while. Anything that doesn’t sell or is not worth the effort to post, will go into a yardsale. I read an estimate that said most people would need to have 3-5 yardsales to rid themselves of all excess belongings. I can’t remember where I read it but it did make sense to me.
We will be selling both of our cars before we leave too. We plan to put whatever we make off the house into a savings account for when we are ready to settle down again. It will not be part of our living fund when we leave. We will both be working while long-term traveling so don’t be too worried about us being crazy and broke right away. It would be amazing to begin our new life with no debt and a reasonable amount of savings set aside.
Most of you know that I have been extremely honest and transparent through this entire process. The main reason I have been sharing everything is because I want others to see that it is completely possible to change your life and live your dreams. I love reading those “I paid off (insert insane amount of money) in 2 years” posts. They are amazing and so inspiring. I always dig around looking for the posts leading up to it but most of the time I can’t find them. When I’m reading through family travel blogs, I find the preparation posts very informative and interesting. I hope that someday our story inspires somebody to go for their big dreams no matter how crazy they seem. If/When that time comes, I want them to see the entire background story and know exactly where we started our journey. If that person is you, Go for it! Dream Big! Life really is shorter than we realize and crazy dreams really do come true!
Happy Travels!