'I blew £35k on boob job and designer handbags - but cleared £12k in a month with clever debt trick'

'I blew £35k on boob job and designer handbags - but cleared £12k in a month with clever debt trick' Sarah Outtridge, 31, has been in debt since the age of 18 thanks to purchases ranging from an £8,000 breast augmentation and £1,000 a month on clothes A midwife who accumulated £35,000 in debt on cosmetic surgery and clothes has already cleared £12,000 in one month by using the snowball method. Sarah Outtridge, 31, says she has been in debt since the age of 18, after buying big ticket items “on impulse” including a £7,500 car on finance in 2020, an £8,000 breast augmentation, and £4,500 courses in property and aesthetics. She also used Klarna to help pay for new clothes - spending up to £1,000 in just one month on new items. In July 2026, Sarah calculated her total debt - £34,856.67 - and overhauled her lifestyle. She has employed the snowball method - where you pay off your smallest debts first, then roll those payments into larger debts, building momentum until all debts are cleared. So far, she has wiped off £12,000 including her £3,250 Monzo credit card debt using money she was due to spend on a £7,000 tummy tuck procedure in September 2026 - which she has now cancelled. Working an extra two 12-and-a-half-hour shifts per week, she brings home around £4,000 per month, putting 50% of it to repayments. She has also paid off her £1,000 Klarna debt and has opted to close her account completely. Sarah has set herself the goal of paying off her debt entirely by the end of 2027, and hopes to then go on and save up an emergency fund of three months' expenses by March 2028. Her end goal is to save £50,000 to buy a new home - as she currently lives in supported housing - by December 2029. Sarah, from Hackney, East London, says: “Since I turned 18 it’s been ongoing, I’ve never not been in debt. “I was completely out of control spending on mostly things I did not need through pure impulse. I was so sick of it. It’s just constantly feeling like I’m working, having no money and I want to save for a house and I was thinking ‘it’s impossible with all this debt’. “It was a vicious cycle. I would buy big things and cosmetic surgery was one of them. I’d say because it was my first cosmetic surgery, I wouldn’t say I was addicted but especially Botox and filler I got into a routine of having it regularly every two to three months. “I had a breast augmentation costing £8,000. I got a car on finance before which was really high interest because my credit score was not that great. I couldn’t get a permit to park where I live and I was paying £2,000 per year to park in the borough. “I ended up selling the car as it was not much use – I was constantly paying for parking, finance and insurance. I lost some of the value of the car after selling it. It would be for clothes, like on Klarna, as well. “One month I spent £1,000 through Klarna and basically I’d think, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll pay and spread the payments over the next three months’. It would be the same process and I’d buy more and buy more." After calculating her debts, Sarah has employed a method of paying off her smallest debt first and working through them methodically. Feeling like she was “constantly living” in her overdraft and burnt out from working, Sarah’s hopes of one day affording a house deposit spurred her on to “take accountability” for her finances. “I thought it was around £20,000 thinking off the top of my head,” she says. “I didn’t sit down and calculate it. When I did finally do that, with all the interest added it was over £30,000. “I thought ‘this is crazy’ and way more than I thought and something has got to change. I’ve got to reduce my outgoings completely and aggressively get rid of the debt. “I’ve been doing that, doing extra shifts at work and budgeting every week. I had a tummy tuck booked in Turkey in September this year and I have cancelled that. I paid off my Monzo credit card by cancelling that procedure." Sarah has been paying off chunks between £500 and £1,000 per week due to her overtime work, and despite not setting a specific weekly budget for herself, has been cost-cutting wherever she can. “I have cleared out the cupboards of food and have only been getting things it makes sense to buy,” she says. “I’m doing no buys as well so I’m not buying new clothes. I’m walking everywhere – I have completely cut public transport and uber.” Meal prepping has also kept costs low, as well as cancelling her £40 per month gym membership. Sarah has also switched energy providers from Fuse Energy to Good Energy through U-Switch, which she estimates will save her £37 annually. “It’s a big weight lifted off my shoulders,” she says. “I feel so motivated every time I pay a bit more towards my loans. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. “I felt weighed down before and drained like I was living in survival mode. At the moment I’m building a future for myself and it’s freeing. I’m getting my life back." Sarah began sharing her story on TikTok last month, and has already received “loads” of comments and supportive messages. “People are saying I’m brave for putting it out there,” she says. “Even people at work have been saying ‘Sarah because of you I’ve cleared off my credit card’." Sarah’s debt breakdown Before Monzo credit card (which paid for aesthetics appointments, shopping and clothes): £3,250 – included £247.84 interest Monzo loan (for composite bonding): £6,000 over five years – included £3,106.25 interest Lendable loan (for breast augmentation): £7,500 - plus £1,500.42 interest Tesco loan (for tummy tuck): £10,000 over five years - plus £3,500 interest Total debt: £34,856.67 Now Monzo credit card: Cleared Monzo loan: £2,585.85 left to pay Lendable loan: £7,032.09 left to pay Tesco loan: £13,128.15 left to pay Total left to pay: £22,746