‘We were drowning in £54k of debt so took the plunge and did the unthinkable’

After tucking her two children to bed, Laura Helen could do nothing more than head to sleep herself. Having put on a brave face, the night time is when Laura’s thoughts were consumed by her financial worries. Despite her and husband David having “great jobs” and “great pay”, the pair were left £54,000 - and it took its mental and physical toll.

“It was intense for sure. During the day, my sister would call me Mrs Tumble because I'm so animated, so fun and so playful, and I pour my all into my children completely. But then they’d go to bed and it got to the point where I was so stressed that for a couple of months as soon as they went to bed and my mum clock turned off, I passed out,” she tells OK!.

“It was completely overwhelming. I was almost a single mum in the way that my hubby had to work so much to make enough. I remember one day I had a phone call and I just didn't have language. I forgot to say hello. I hung up, embarrassed and called back after practicing saying hello a few times. I lost myself a little bit.”

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Mired by debt, their £3,000 monthly take home pay meant nothing to their situation. After paying off bills, the pair were hardly left with any money to see them through the month. “We weren't left with anything. We used to have a sofa and two armchairs and at one point we had to sell one of the armchairs to buy food when it got that bad. I'm not exaggerating when I say to people we were struggling to put food on the table,” says Laura.

However, that all changed following one trip. Instead of paying their rent for one month, the pair headed to see Tony Robbins, a coach and speaker, at an event and began to think about how they could overhaul their lifestyles. After working out their costs of living, the pair realised that staying in long term stays across the world could reduce their outgoings.

“We had nothing to lose. We were at a point where we were going to lose it all anyway. I hate that people wait to that point to make big changes, but we were at it. The worst that could happen would be we came back to the same scenario. We've got such a great relationship, we’ve been together for over two decades. It's just that level of trust and a home is with each other, it's not a place or a thing,” explains Laura.

As a result, the family packed all of their belongings into a suitcase and backpack each. As well as putting items into storage, Laura ended up donating 45 bin bags full of goods to charity, though it wasn’t all easy.

“I hoarded things. I had clothes from when I was a teenager and gifts from my 13th, 16th, 18th birthdays. I had so much stuff and I literally sat with things and cried,” she admits.

First on the family’s travel list was Spain. With their children having never been on a plane before, and with a flight to Spain lasting just over two hours, it made sense as the first port of call. Besides, if it did all go wrong, David could easily fly back home for work.

“I've still got the videos now of my children on their first flight just being adorable and excited. Of course there was so much that could go wrong, but it was super exciting that we were going for it. I guess I'm overly optimistic,” says Laura, though she admits that her loved ones weren’t immediately on board.

She adds: “I think their exact words were bats**t crazy. It wasn't cool then. It wasn’t a laptop lifestyle, nomadic family, you know all these cool things weren't known at all then. It's still not fully embraced now, but back then it was really unheard of.”

Over the past seven years, Laura and her family have travelled the world. From riding camels in Egypt to climbing mountains in Utah, the group have explored some places that many people can only dream about visiting. In turn, Laura now ‘worldschools’ her children and educates them via travelling.

“There's no curriculum. Every day is a possible learning experience. Everything is a life lesson. When the kids ask a question, we really answer, and we research and we learn in different countries. It's really cool,” she explains.

“When we came back to see our family and friends our kids had learned three new languages, been in the Grand Canyon, held an alligator and had done all these cool things. We've got super supportive friends that are amazing.”

While Laura admits that there is no long term plan when it comes to their travels or worldschooling adventures, she emphasises that her children will always have a say in what they do. From where to travel to, to how they’re educated, the children’s interests are at the heart of what they do.

“We fully support their decisions. When we’re moving they have a lot of input to where we go and what we're going to do. We even had a longer housesits for six months to see if they wanted to settle and if they wanted to do something different. They help lead where our life goes,” she says.

In addition to seeing the world, Laura and David have been able to clear off their debt thanks to their lower living costs, though what Laura did first with the extra money may come as a surprise. “We cheered and jumped around and screamed and celebrated. Then I probably cried in relief for about an hour,” she reveals. “We were in Spain and the first thing I did, which is really boring, was I took out life insurance. It kept me up at night when I didn't have it.”

Moving forward, Laura wouldn’t change it for the world. Having travelled the world with her closest family, she has no regrets. “We're insanely happy. We have incredible kids that we get to spend all our time with. We watch their breakthroughs, we watch them learn, we watch them create,” she says. “Every day is different. People always go, childhood goes so quick, and it does. Even though that freaks me out a little, I can show you I was there for every step. That, to me, is magic.”