Outrageous but Brilliant: 6 Ways to Tackle $20K+ Debt

No matter how much debt you have accrued, there is always a fear and concern about how to best pay it off. It’s an unfortunate truth that this fear grows alongside your debt, so the more you owe, the more likely you are to worry that you are increasingly unable to pay off even a small portion of what you owe. 

Stop Racking Up Debt

Before jumping into how to handle debt, it’s equally important to recognize that you need to stop building up more debt. The brilliant and creative ways to tackle your debt explained below will only work if you don’t keep adding to it as you try to pay it off. 

This might mean you have to give up some of the niceties in your life, like eating out as much, traveling less, or even skipping shopping for new clothes for a while. There is no question that digging yourself out of a debt hole will take some sacrifice, and it won’t be fun, but it will be necessary. 

The Ice-Cube Purchase Blocker

This debt-tackling method is rather unique but has been shown to work for thousands of people willing to think a little outside the box. The bottom line is that you will take your credit cards and put them in an ice cube tray with water and create a barrier to impulse spending. 

In other words, you are creating a physical barrier or obstacle to help remind you that you don’t need that extra pair of shoes, a new purse, or even a night on your own. This action of placing your cards in an icebox should be both symbolic of a willingness to tackle your debt, but also to help you build up better habits. 

Try it for 30 days and see what happens to your own psychology as you go through a month of no spending and realize how freeing it feels to watch your debt number go down. If you have $20,000 in debt, it will take longer than 30 days, but it only takes 30 days to help establish better habits. 

Neighborhood Skill-Share Swap Meet

If freezing your credit cards doesn’t sound like your kind of fun, you should think about a different tactic, like joining a neighborhood skill-share swap meet. These local events are a great way to help you build up some extra cash that you can throw at your debt using skills and knowledge you already have. 

What if you know a second or third language or how to plant a garden? Maybe you can teach someone how to use a computer or join social media, and do so all while earning a few dollars. These skill share swap meets are likely promoted through Facebook groups, Nextdoor, or word of mouth, so they should be easy to find. 

As people attend, you can have others donate or bid on services, and maybe you can walk away from a weekend of helping out with a few hundred extra dollars. If you do this for a weekend or two a month and sacrifice your social life for a while, you can start to chip away at how much of your $20,000 debt remains. You might also have a little fun and learn something useful yourself. 

Social Media “Fast Sale” 

If you don’t want to go out in public and look to earn a little money with your neighbors, you could try and do it the digital way. Jump on TikTok and start a “fast sale” where you go live and start to sell unwanted items, like clothing or toys, to your followers or anyone they send your video to. 

Start by announcing you’ll be having a sale sometime in the next day or two, so people have time to join and can clear their calendars if they might be interested in something. If you can build some urgency by talking up the great deals you will offer and how fast they will go, you might be able to sell your wares for more and have a bigger audience to ensure everything goes. 

Assuming you have plenty to sell, it’s not impossible to think you could walk away with $500 or even $1,000 in cash from selling items that have been sitting in your closet for a while. There is even a chance you have more than enough for two different video streams, doubling your money and chipping away at your debt. 

Remember to be energetic, have fun, maybe share a story or two about each item, and make people feel as if they have to have something you own. 

The Sequential Jar Ladder

The sequential jar ladder is a unique but unknown opportunity to help pay off your debt. This involves setting aside $2 on day one, then $4 on day two, and doubling the amount every day for the next 30 days. Over time, you will have saved up a sizable chunk of money that easily chips away at your total debt amount. 

The best way to do this is to put cash into a jar in a very visible and public place in your home so you see it daily. You just need to cap your savings at around $1,000 to make it realistic, but the goal is that you know you are diligently putting money into this jar every day before you spend anything, anywhere else. 

To be fair, if you doubled the number for 30 days, you’d have millions, or even billions, so capping the money is the smart thing to do. For this reason, you could even consider switching to weekly doubling if needed to ensure this is sustainable over the long term until your debt is paid off. 

Bulk-Contract Freelancing

Another brilliant way to handle debt is to offer yourself to small businesses through social media management or freelance writing for a lump sum. This could be anywhere from a few hundred dollars for your services to a few thousand monthly. 

The key is to use every dollar earned and put it toward your monthly debt until it is gone. Then, you can start saving up to buy some of the things you might have missed while paying down debt. 

The hope is that you can find enough clients to make substantial money to put toward your debt. Advertising yourself on Fiverr, Upwork, and even local Facebook groups will be a great way to get yourself out there and start building up some clientele. 

You need to be realistic about it, taking some time to get clients and having a contract to guarantee payment, depending on your ability to deliver on time. These nuances aside, if you are able to earn regular business, your debt will be gone in no time. 

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