"I racked up £12k of debt buying new clothes to create an 'Instagrammable' image"
A woman ended up with £12k of debt after getting addicted to the "dopamine hit" of buying new clothes, phones and fancy meals out.
Sarah Bartlett, 37, always loved online shopping and would regularly splash the cash on trips to the theatre and the "finer things in life".
She managed to live within her means until buying a new car left her tight for cash and she took out a 0% interest credit card.
The people development partner soon grew accustomed to buying nice clothes, the latest tech and home decor
She regularly bought expensive candles, designer handbags, clothes and new iPhones without thinking about it - and was soon spending way more each month than her £28k salary.
Over lockdown she said she used buy handbags and clothes to feel connected to the outside world.
After six years of overspending she had £12k of debt spread across eight credit cards, and the £180 minimum monthly payments were crippling.
But she got a wake up call in 2021 when her mortgage doubled and she was still spending £500 more per month than she could afford
She began budgeting to the penny, got counselling to curb her need to buy to feel included.
Strong-willed Sarah, from Bristol, has just £500 left of debt to pay back after repaying more than £11,000 in just 22 months.
Now she wants to help others, and erase the stigma around talking about money troubles.
Sarah said: "I definitely felt addicted.
"I put it to back of mind because I enjoyed the dopamine hit of the purchases and I was ignoring it until the wake-up call.
"I was quite ashamed of it so I didn't open up to my family about it until January 2023.
"I feel really proud of myself of how much I've cleared and I wasn't sure whether I could sustain it.
"I'm still slightly worried I could slip back into but I'm really proud of being able to do it and being more open about it and breaking the stigma people have about hiding it.
"Mental health wasn't spoken about it a lot and then it became more open so if my journey can support someone else on the same journey than that would be great."
Following a promotion in 2015, Sarah treated herself to a new £11,000 car which she paid for with a 0% interest card.
While paying back the £11,000, Sarah became enticed by transfer fees and would move money from card to card.
And while she was 'paying off' huge amounts for the car she kept spending so the total debt never got smaller - and in fact it got bigger.
She said: "I took the credit card out with a money transfer and 11k went into my bank account which then paid for the car.
"I'd pay off that credit card with another and just kept following the 0% deals that I could find.
"It felt like I was paying off the car but I managed to pay stuff off but then I'd buy more stuff so it turned into a cycle and the balance just hovered around £12k.
"I've always been a person who loves to spend money. I like shiny things - the newest things.
Sarah Bartlett, 37, always loved online shopping and would regularly splash the cash on trips to the theatre and the "finer things in life".
She managed to live within her means until buying a new car left her tight for cash and she took out a 0% interest credit card.
The people development partner soon grew accustomed to buying nice clothes, the latest tech and home decor
She regularly bought expensive candles, designer handbags, clothes and new iPhones without thinking about it - and was soon spending way more each month than her £28k salary.
Over lockdown she said she used buy handbags and clothes to feel connected to the outside world.
After six years of overspending she had £12k of debt spread across eight credit cards, and the £180 minimum monthly payments were crippling.
But she got a wake up call in 2021 when her mortgage doubled and she was still spending £500 more per month than she could afford
She began budgeting to the penny, got counselling to curb her need to buy to feel included.
Strong-willed Sarah, from Bristol, has just £500 left of debt to pay back after repaying more than £11,000 in just 22 months.
Now she wants to help others, and erase the stigma around talking about money troubles.
Sarah said: "I definitely felt addicted.
"I put it to back of mind because I enjoyed the dopamine hit of the purchases and I was ignoring it until the wake-up call.
"I was quite ashamed of it so I didn't open up to my family about it until January 2023.
"I feel really proud of myself of how much I've cleared and I wasn't sure whether I could sustain it.
"I'm still slightly worried I could slip back into but I'm really proud of being able to do it and being more open about it and breaking the stigma people have about hiding it.
"Mental health wasn't spoken about it a lot and then it became more open so if my journey can support someone else on the same journey than that would be great."
Following a promotion in 2015, Sarah treated herself to a new £11,000 car which she paid for with a 0% interest card.
While paying back the £11,000, Sarah became enticed by transfer fees and would move money from card to card.
And while she was 'paying off' huge amounts for the car she kept spending so the total debt never got smaller - and in fact it got bigger.
She said: "I took the credit card out with a money transfer and 11k went into my bank account which then paid for the car.
"I'd pay off that credit card with another and just kept following the 0% deals that I could find.
"It felt like I was paying off the car but I managed to pay stuff off but then I'd buy more stuff so it turned into a cycle and the balance just hovered around £12k.
"I've always been a person who loves to spend money. I like shiny things - the newest things.
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FunTranscript
00:00 Okay, so here we go. As normal, the minimum payment I make is £150. That's not the minimum
00:07 payment set by the credit card, it's one that I started with when I had multiple credit
00:12 cards earlier on in the year and I've kept it to that figure. One of you lovely people
00:17 used my Monzo referral, so I got £5 from that.
00:23 The next thing is money from my small business. I put ASGB, a single girl budgets, and I managed
00:31 to put a massive £350 towards the debt. When taking out things like expenses and tax, that's
00:38 an amazing amount to be able to put in.
00:41 Next up was shares from the Trading212 app. I've put £100 of that into the credit card
00:47 debt. And then with my penny savings challenge, I have added £145 to the debt.
00:56 The last two amounts are from my September budget, so things that I didn't spend. So
01:02 leftover in my fixed account was £104.50. The £4.50 was because I haven't recalculated
01:11 my water bill and the £100 was the buffer. And then my variable leftover was £121.97,
01:20 which again is just an amazing amount. I'm genuinely surprised with how well cash budgeting
01:27 and budgeting works for me.
01:30 So totaling all of that up in fast forward motion, and the grand reveal, £976.47. I
01:40 have put towards my debt in one month.
01:44 So it is time to do my weekly cash stuff for the second week of October. So there will
01:52 be £50 to go to my sinking funds and then my food, social and miscellaneous. So there
01:58 should be £140 here. So let's just count that up. So let's start by just doing my normal
02:07 weekly stuff. So £10 in for miscellaneous, £50 in for food and £30 for social, which
02:21 is definitely needed because if I've not already told you it's my birthday. So I am going to
02:31 have some friends over, so I want to get some like drinks and nibbles and things like that.
02:34 So let's pop that away in here ready for the week. And then let's see what I want to stuff
02:45 in my sinking funds. So the first thing I know I'd like to do is finish off my holiday
02:53 fund because there's just £20 more to put in here. And I'm going on holiday soon. My
03:00 first ever savings challenge. How exciting. Love that. So yeah, and then I will be spending
03:10 this and then I can wipe it clean and I can start it again for next year. But I'm going
03:14 to pop it back in here for now. So I now have £10, £20, £30 to play with. I think one
03:25 of the priorities for me is the girls nights out, which will be my trip with Becky and
03:34 Beth. So I'm not going to do, I'll do a 20 I think. So I'm going to, I'm going to do
03:44 this in different colours. I'm going to colour in this drink in a sort of weird greeny colour
03:52 and then a red colour at the top. Not sure what this cocktail is. Not sure I'd want to
03:57 drink it, but it looks a bit like a shot, doesn't it? Crazy shot. So 5, 10, 15, 20
04:06 is going to go into here. What do I have now? I've got 20, 30, 40, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75,
04:20 80. So yeah, that's not bad. We're getting there, which is good. We need to sort out
04:28 accommodation so that I actually know how much, like if I need to save the whole 500
04:32 or not. So then I've got £10 left and this is just for this week. So I'll have another
04:41 hundred by the end of the month. Could put that in there and do the second half of that
04:51 car. I think that's what I'm going to do. So colour that in. So that should have 20,
05:03 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160. So there's 100 in the bank, so there should now be 60
05:14 here. So 20, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60. Awesome. Just what we want. So that's all nice and
05:24 neat and tidy. That is the second week of October. All stuffed.
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