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‘It is a pants cap, most on it could save £100s by ditching it.’

It wasn’t easy but, these change meant that, in just under six years, I was out of debt.

‘Don’t even get me started on the upselling and guilt-tripping.’

Welcome back to Me and My Money, Metro’s series taking a peek into the nation’s wallets and bank accounts.

This week we meet Ambrina Taylor, a 47-year-old money blogger and mum, who lives in a London rental property with her two children and partner, Paul.

After facing a series of obstacles including more than £20,000 of debt, navigating divorce and walking away from her business, she now makes around £3,000 a month sharing her expertise to her 75,000 folllowers through her Instagram account.

Hi Ambrina, tell us about yourself and your history with money

Growing up, I remember my parents were always stressed about bills. 

I went to the University of Westminster when I was around 18, to study psychology, and then did a second undergraduate degree in physiotherapy at the University of East London, but accumulated mountains of student debt, because I didn’t know how to manage my money.

Most of the time I wasn’t using my loan to live, I’d buy books with it but I also paid for a breast reduction and bought clothes. 

I worked part-time as a waitress in a cafe too, so I had money coming in, I just had more going out.

How did debt continue to build?

I moved in with my ex-husband aged 18 and got my first job as a physiotherapist aged 27. By then I owed £6,000 towards student loan and credit cards. My former partner worked in construction but payment could be irregular.

We managed until we bought our first house in London in 2006. Despite our debt we scraped together a deposit of 10%, but we were spending more than we brought in.

The house was decorated in Laura Ashley and I regularly splurged on days out or used credit cards.

Then I gave birth to my son Jake, now 17, in 2008, and ten months later I had my daughter Olivia, now 16. 

When did you realise things had got out of hand?

Sometimes I’d be out with the children and my card would get declined and it would bring me back to reality.

One day in 2017 I tried to get petrol for the car. I prayed the card would go through but it didn’t and I had to leave my phone with the staff so they knew I’d come back with the £5.

I’d never felt shame and humiliation like it before – and so much guilt because I felt I’d failed my children. Enough was enough.

At home, I sat down and calculated our debt. I had thought it was £10,000, but it was actually £21,000 and we were already making debt repayments of £1,000 a month.

Instead of feeling upset, that gave me a boost, because I realised we’d have much more money around when we’d paid off the debt.

I stayed in debt for so long because I thought everyone else was doing well. But I had to realise, no one was coming to rescue me, I had to do it myself.

How did you tackle paying it all off?

I settled on the ‘snowball’ approach pioneered by Dave Ramsey, involving paying off the debts smallest to largest, moved all the debt to interest-free credit cards and cut out all non-essentials. 

This included new clothes, haircuts, trips out and even activities the children were doing which I felt a huge amount of guilt about. That was the worst part of the journey. There were times when I wondered if I was doing the right thing, but the children got involved and helped out. They’d colour in our debt chart on the fridge and were a part of everything we did.

We cleared the debt in eight months and I earnt extra money through side hustles like completing surveys.

When we cleared it, it was Christmas time 2017 and we took the kids to Bluewater shopping centre and picked names of disadvantaged children off the wishing tree and bought presents for them. It was wonderful to use the money we now had to do something lovely for someone else. The kids still talk about it and I feel really proud that we did that.

What was your biggest financial challenge?

After the debt, my separation from my partner. We ran a successful doggy day-care business but I left in 2023.

It was a blow to my finances but by then, my social media account was growing in popularity.

I didn’t start off that way, but I wanted to share the journey because being in debt is lonely and soon brands started reaching out to work with me, including my dream money-saving brand Plum, in 2023.

Sometimes being self-employed was a worry, I wondered how I’d cope paying the rent on the small flat I’d moved to, paying my bills and paying towards the mortgage on my ex’s house. 

But I made it work – something would always drop into my inbox. Now I can earn around £3,200 a month, although my income is variable. 

Splurge or spend?

Travel is my biggest splurge – we travel a lot now from 24-hour day trips abroad to longer holidays.

Money isn’t everything. It can become everything when you’re in this job, but it isn’t everything. When I’d paid off the debt, I wanted to hoard every penny when it came in, but now I know what interests me and it’s seeing the world with my kids so I have learnt how to spend again.

Has your experience had an impact on your children? 

The children have learned they can’t just have what they want, they have to save money, and having seen my struggles, I’m sure they don’t want that for themselves.

Jake particularly is good at earning and saving money, but they haven’t taken on my frugality completely, they say I’ve put them off Primark whenever I go in because I used to drag them in there so often, but instead they both use Vinted for clothes and will always look for a deal.

What would you say to others struggling with debt?

Take a day, go through your bank statements and work out where money is coming in and going out.

The whole debt-free community on social media, including Facebook pages and other Instagram accounts is very supportive and you never feel alone. 

My haggling is legendary among my family and friends.

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