I paid off the loan I took to escape

Dear Delyara, When I left my husband, I borrowed £8,000 within forty-eight hours for a deposit, furniture, legal fees, and childcare. The interest was terrible, but fear does not shop carefully. Once we were safe, the debt followed me into every month. A debt adviser helped me refinance part of it, freeze one interest rate, and create payments that did not require using another card for groceries. I took weekend work, sold things we no longer needed, and built a small emergency fund before increasing payments. Today, I transferred the final £63.17. The loan account closed. I printed the confirmation and placed it beside the tenancy agreement from the first flat we moved into. One document marks the day we got out. The other marks the day I stopped paying interest on the escape. I do not regret borrowing the money. It bought a locked door when we needed one. I am simply relieved that safety no longer arrives as a deduction from every paycheck.