What started as a lighthearted joke between Becca Christiansen and her husband turned into more than $58,000 in debt paid off in 116 days.
The preschool teacher, BYU theatre education alumna and mother of four daughters quickly became known as “The Debt Destroyer” online after she started posting about her goal to pay off her family's debt without her husband knowing.
“It is probably not the best marriage advice of my life, but it started as a joke,” Christiansen said. “I told my husband one day, ‘I bet you anything that I could do this secretly without you even knowing it.’ He thought it was funny, and then I did it.”
Christiansen said that in 2020, her family had more than $100,000 of debt. She was graduating and starting a boutique business at the time, and her husband was pursuing other ventures. She said over two years, they chipped away at the debt significantly.
“We got to the point where the remaining debts were just on payment plans, and it just weighed on me,” Christiansen said.
She explained that she and her husband came from different financial planning backgrounds, and they could not agree on how to pay off the rest of the debt. One day, she decided to pay it off her way.
“I’ve been very transparent that I’ve handled the finances for most of our marriage; that has just been my role,” Christiansen said. “There’s never been hard feelings about it; it’s just that I enjoy doing it. So, I can handle the numbers.”
After creating an Instagram account, Christiansen made a debt payment every day based on the previous day’s video engagement. For every new follower, nicknamed her “debt destroyers,” she paid 1/8 of a penny, and for every engagement, she paid 1/10 of a penny.
Each payment was renamed to keep her husband off her trail.
The account grew exponentially, which shocked Christiansen. Currently, she has more than 893,000 followers on Instagram, 735,000 on TikTok and 119,000 on Facebook. Across all platforms, she has more than 1.7 million followers.
“To this day, I don’t think my brain comprehends just how large of a following it is and how many people have seen my face and know so much about my life,” Christiansen said. “I think my brain shuts it out partially just to be able to keep sharing my story and to keep helping people as best I can.”
Christiansen said having a theater background gave her confidence in her storytelling and editing skills, which she used to create the social media series.
One of the most unexpected parts for her was the thousands of dollars in donations she received from strangers online. She was first asked if she accepted donations when she had around 289 followers. She was apprehensive, but ultimately said yes.
“I was given advice way earlier in life to not deny people an act of service or to deny them of receiving blessings for wanting to help someone else,” Christiansen said. “So, I accepted the donation, and I said, ‘By no means is this required, but I’ll say yes.'”
Christiansen said whenever she received a donation, she wanted to show an “excess of gratitude” in the next video because of how it changed her family’s life. The donations kept piling up, and she said she was taken aback by how generous people were.
“I’m just a mom and a preschool teacher, and these people are sending me their hard-earned money,” Christiansen said. “It was just humbling.”
Keeping the operation a secret from her husband was a challenge for Christiansen. She said there were some close calls, but he did not find out until she announced it to him in a social media video.
Christiansen is continuing her social media content with a new series dedicated to helping others learn how to pay off their own debt. She also gives back to the community, like in videos where she secretly pays off strangers' debt. She is also working to pay off her car with the same system she used previously.
“I want to be able to educate and help people on their own journeys, but also I need to be able to pay it forward,” Christiansen said. “This platform is so much bigger than just me, and it would be an absolute misstep to not lean into that and be able to be a force for good and help so many people in need.”
Christiansen hopes people can learn from her account that becoming debt-free is possible. Her biggest piece of advice was how powerful daily micropayments can be.
“It creates the daily consistent habit of chipping away, even if it truly is just a few dollars. That’s a few dollars less that you have to pay in interest, and it really does set you ahead,” Christiansen said. “I’d absolutely advise consistency, even if it’s tiny, and then analyzing your expenses and incomes and seeing if there’s any way that you can adjust.”
Christiansen said she aims to create a fun and safe environment for others to share their stories and see that a normal person can pay off their debt and grow a social media following by being authentic to themselves.
“I would hope that people can also see the genuine good that’s in the world,” Christiansen said. “That’s been my favorite thing about this account: just seeing the genuine good in strangers. I love showcasing that good because I don’t think we see enough of it in the world.”
To follow Christiansen’s story, visit her Instagram page @stealth.mode.savings.