I shopped my way into £14k debt – but stuffing envelopes with cash helped me pay it off
CALCULATOR in hand, Gabrielle Kyriacous stared in horror at the total in front of her.
The single mum was £14,000 in debt, thanks in large part to a shopping habit using credit cards and store cards from the likes of Next and Very.
But the mum of two managed to pay off her debts in less than 18 months — and now is an expert on how to save.
Gabrielle, 36, says: “I felt sick when I saw how much debt I was in. I was only earning £9,000 a year as a nursery worker.
“I knew I had to do something about it, and I came across the idea of saving cash in envelopes each month.
“I’d mark up each envelope with what I was saving for — for the house, each of the children and myself — then put a set amount of money in each after I’d paid all my expenses.”
Gabrielle, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, got her first store card as a student aged 19 in 2004, mainly to buy outfits for nights out.
She paid it all off but returned to her store card habit when daughter Lily was born in 2006.
She says: “My budget as a single mum just didn’t stretch.
"In 2008 I opened a Very account, a Next account in 2010. It was mostly emotional spending.
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"I loved being a mum but still wanted to feel like ‘me’. A new outfit had that power.
“I wanted Lily to have things I hadn’t had growing up.
"Staring at the lovely clothes in her wardrobe made me so happy, like I was a really good mum.”
Gabrielle did not miss a repayment until she had son Huxton in 2016 — after beginning a new relationship in 2013 — and her finances began to slip.
She says: “My income fell during maternity leave. With the age gap, there wasn’t anything we could reuse for Huxton.
“If Huxton looked nice in his clothes, I felt like it was a positive reflection on me.
“Plus, kids grow so fast — they always needed the next size up.”
The explosion of social media also had an impact.
She says: “Everywhere I looked online, there were ads for amazing clothes for me and the children.
"I’d see all these influencers, and it was hard not to feel I should have what they had.”
After her relationship ended in July 2017, Gabrielle’s debts snowballed.
She says: “As well as the shopping debt, I had a car loan plus costs from having to move house after the break-up.
I felt sick when I saw how much debt I was in. I was only earning £9,000 a year as a nursery worker.
Gabrielle Kyriacous
“It was a huge and scary number, but I wasn’t going to feel sorry for myself.
"It was the kick up the backside I needed, so I cut up my store cards.”
She discovered Dave Ramsey, an American personal finance guru who has a huge UK following online.
She says: “He talks about the ‘snowball method’ of paying off debt: Listing them by interest rate and paying off the highest first, then moving on to the next.
"After making the repayments, I took my remaining income out in cash each month.
"Putting it into envelopes really helped me. And once the envelope was empty, that was it.
"It makes things really simple, and unlike using cards or bank transfers you can see the cash there in front of you.
"It makes you think about purchases really carefully.”
Gabrielle also tried the 1p saving challenge — where you save a penny on day one, then 2p on the next day, 3p the day after and so on.
By the end of one year you will have saved £671.61.
She says: “Small steps make a huge difference. Without even realising it I was saving.
Gabrielle would buy yellow sticker food, use supermarket cashback apps like Shopmium and CheckoutSmart and look for offers such as Asda’s “£5 for five frozen items”.
Small steps make a huge difference. Without even realising it I was saving.
Gabrielle Kyriacous
And she drastically revised her clothes budget.
Gabrielle says: “I set myself a £20-a-month budget for clothes — charity shops or eBay only.
“I’ve bought grey skinny jeans from Mint Velvet, colourful T-shirt dresses from Fat Face and tops from Hush, all for £5 each or less. I recently picked up a £35 Boden jumper for Huxton for £1.”
Selling the family’s old clothes on eBay, Facebook and Vinted brought in extra cash to speed up her repayments.
Gabrielle has also created an income through eBay and car boot sales, by buying cheaply to resell at a profit.
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In December 2020 her final debt was paid. “I will never get back into debt again,” she says.
“Now, when some- one says, ‘I love your outfit’, it’s an amazing feeling to know I paid just a few pounds for it.”
You can follow Gabrielle at
Gabrielle’s Top Tips
- Use the envelope method.
- Small steps make a huge difference. I did the 1p saving challenge, where you save 1p on the first day, then 2p, then 3p and so on. By the end of the year you have £671.61.
- Sell what you no longer need. From toys to unused sports bras, it all adds up.
- Spread the cost of school uniform. Buying what you need before September means you can hunt out the best bargains.
- Involve the kids. Lily loves bargain hunting with me.
- Prioritise what you really DO want to splash out on. For me it’s proper shoes for the kids, not pricy T-shirts that will always end up covered in dirt and mud.
