Her life must have seemed perfect on social media — but in reality, she was addicted to a life of luxury that pushed her into debt.
Sarah Bartlett, 37, from Bristol, England, said her shopping addiction — fueled by the desire to take the perfect Instagram photo — sent her into $14,540 of debt over eight credit cards in a period of six years, South West News Service reported.
After getting counseling for her issues, she’s back on track, only owes $908 and is sharing her story to spread awareness about the alluring nature of shopping.
“I definitely felt addicted,” she said.
“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,” she added.
Bartlett, who makes $33,924 per year working in human resources, managed to live within her means until buying a new car drained her funds.
She treated herself to the $13,324 car on a zero-interest credit card after getting promoted at work in 2015. While paying back her car debt, she discovered the lure of transfer fees — and she’d then move her money from credit card to credit card.
“I took the credit card out with a money transfer and [$13,324] went into my bank account, which then paid for the car,” she said.
“I’d pay off that credit card with another and just kept following the 0% deals that I could find,” she added.
Bartlett always had a love for the finer things in life, but she began spending on even more.
“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 [$14,535],” she said.
“I’ve always been a person who loves to spend money. I like shiny things — the newest things,” she explained.
She’s a fan of buying the best clothing and the newest iPhone, going to fancy restaurants, purchasing expensive candles and seeing theater.
“I love musical theater and if you go the theater, you make an event out of it for the weekend, and I used to do three or four of them a year, and it all just adds up,” she said.
“I like the finer things in life and I probably don’t have the financial means to do it, but I didn’t want the experiences to end,” she added.
Bartlett explained that she was able to pay the minimum on her card every month, but she felt like she could “buy something now and worry about it tomorrow.”
“I knew I’d get paid and so if I wanted something and it was the middle of the month, then it was ‘okay’ because I’d be paid in a few weeks,” she said.
“But I never tracked how much I was spending. It was a cycle of living paycheck to paycheck, in a sense,” she added.
Once she became accustomed to a certain way of life, she had trouble living any less luxurious way.
“I presented an ‘Instagrammable image’ that I’d created this lifestyle and that I had to keep up,” she explained
“I wanted to feel part of a group, too,” she said.
Bartlett’s wake-up call that something needed to change happened after she moved to a new home in 2021.
Her mortgage doubled to $968 — and she was still spending $605 a month over her budget.
Prior to that, she had been living in a studio over the COVID-19 pandemic, and she was buying things to feel less lonely.
“Living, sleeping, eating and working in one room was challenging. Getting something in the post felt like a connection to the outside world,” she said of sharing her high life on social media.
“The anticipation of the parcel arriving was sometimes more exciting than having the item,” she explained.
She eventually sought counseling to get to the root of her spending so she could get her life back on track.
“Since I started the financial journey, I’ve also had some counseling about needing to feel included. That drove a lot of my spending, and it’s quite difficult to break that cycle,” she said.
“When I was at school, I was bullied quite a lot and didn’t feel included, and it’s something I’ve been chasing to not feel the way I felt whilst I was at school,” she added.
With help, she started to change her spending habits and budget so she could pay off her debt.
“For the first year, I was mostly just tracking it and keeping an eye on it, but at the start of 2023, I saw I’d made a good dent in that debt, and I decided to cash budget for some things,” she explained.
“When you’re tapping a card, you don’t think twice,” she added.
Embracing cash helped her preserve her funds.
“I find it harder to let go of the cash, so I budget cash for food shops, meals out,” she said.
“I do zero-based budgeting, too, so when I get paid I allocate every single penny,” she divulged.
Bartlett also practices a viral trend called cash stuffing. She divides her cash into different envelopes and allocates them for different things.
So far, she says, her spending has vastly improved.
“Since January 2023 I’ve been under budget every month, so whatever’s left each month goes to repaying the debt,” she said.
Barlett said most people don’t understand debt, and now that she’s turned her life around, she wants to help others by teaching about debt in schools.
“I would love schools to teach kids about this. You can fall into it very quickly,” she said.
“In school, why were you not taught about how to set up a budget, or interest?” She pondered.
The five ways she lowered her debt were by admitting she had a problem, budgeting her money, picking up side hustles, setting up an Etsy business and cash stuffing.