A MONEY coach has revealed exactly how she cleared £16,000 of debt in under two years while earning less than £30,000 a year.
Veronia Spaine, 31, fell into debt in 2018 after finishing university, having maxed out a £2,000 overdraft and taken out a £14,000 high-interest loan to buy a car she later realised she could not afford.
Veronia Spaine revealed how she cleared £16,000 worth of debt in just two yearsCredit: SWNS
She was able to reduce her rent to jst £300 a month by moving into a family home as a lodgerCredit: SWNS
Veronia, from Dartford, Kent, decided to tackle the problem head-on by creating a strict budget and cutting back on spending.
She stopped buying clothes, didn’t go on holidays and moved into a family home as a lodger – costing her just £300 a month.
This allowed her to put £700 a month of her £1,900 monthly income towards repayments.
By sticking to her plan, she cleared all her debt in just 18 months and now helps other young women take control of their finances.
She said: “I paid off my overdraft but ended up stuck there, then took out a loan for a new car. I didn’t understand finance or interest rates – that was a learning curve.
“I realised I needed to get better with my money and started writing down my numbers.
“Once I paid it off, I began building savings and sharing my journey online. People then started asking me for help.”
Veronia – who posts on TikTok as @veronia.spaine – said she initially struggled to save because she would overspend or forget to budget for certain costs.
So creating a realistic budget was her turning point, including planning ahead for expenses like Christmas and birthdays.
She said: “People think budgeting is just about debt and bills, but you have to account for real life. Knowing it’s budgeted for gives you accountability.”
To speed up her debt repayment, she reduced her social spending, halving her budget for eating out and planning cheaper activities such as games nights.
While she sometimes had to miss events, planning ahead allowed her to stay social without overspending.
She also cut grocery costs by shopping at Aldi and Lidl and meal prepping to avoid buying lunches at work.
Veronia stopped buying clothes, didn’t go on holidays, and moved from a shared professional house at £500-a-month, into a family home as a lodger, paying just £300-a-month.
She said: “That meant I had even more money to put towards my debts.”
As a result, Veronia was able to put £700 a month towards repayments.
By April 2020, she had paid off her car loan and used savings to clear her overdraft, becoming debt-free.
After sharing her experience online, Veronia began receiving requests for advice. By 2021, she had established herself as a money coach.
Money saving challenges
Here’s some of our favourite money saving challenges.
- Weather saving challenge – Save the amount equal to whatever the highest temperature was that week. £1 = 1C.
- – save 1p a day for everyday of the year, but it increase the amount by 1p each day. So day one you save 1p, 2p on day two and 3p on day three. When you reach 100 days you start adding a £1 coin each day too, while this increases to a £2 coin each day plus pennies at 200 days, and £3 each day on top of pennies at day 300.
- 20p a day challenge – Start by putting 20p in savings, then increase the amount by 20p every day. For example, the first week will look like this: 20p, 40p, 60p, 80p, £1, £1.20, £1.40.
- £5 a week challenge – Like the 20p challenge, put aside £5 a week and increase it by a fiver each week. Eg £5, £10, £15, £20
- – Every time you buy something, round up the purchase to the nearest £1 and put the difference in a savings account. Eg. You pay £2.60, so you put 40p in savings. You can use an app such as Monzo or Starling to do this.
- – Here you have a bingo card with different numbers on it and you tick them off when you’ve put that amount in your savings account. It can be ad hoc but you have to tick them all off by the end of the month.
- Monday to Sunday challenge – With this challenge, you simply save £1 on Monday, £2 on Tuesday and so on until the weekend where you don’t save on Saturday or Sunday.
- – Every Sunday you put aside £1, followed by £2 on Monday, £3 on Wednesday and so on. On Saturday you’ll put away £7, and then the process repeats and you’ll put aside £1 on Sunday as the new week begins
She said: “We’re not taught enough about managing money, which is why so many people struggle to save.”
Having helped many Millennials and Gen Z women, Veronia said the most common mistake she sees is people avoiding their bank accounts out of fear.
She explained that not checking balances makes it impossible to understand spending habits or take control. She recommends using a budget tracker, whether that’s a spreadsheet, notebook or notes app.
She said: “A lot of my clients don’t know where their money goes because they don’t look. Once you start paying attention, you can plan better and feel more relief.”
Veronia advises checking bank statements regularly, knowing bill amounts and ensuring there is enough money in the account regardless of payment dates.
She also stressed the importance of budgeting for all spending, including non-essentials like lunches out or clothes, and recommends using separate accounts or spending pots for bills and discretionary money.
That way, once general spending runs out, essential money is protected.
Veronia encourages people to ask themselves at the start of each month: “Where do I want my money to go?”
She said: “You should know where your money is going before you get paid. Most people already do – they just haven’t put a price tag on it.”
She also recommends saving small amounts monthly for predictable events like birthdays, holidays and Christmas.
She added: “The best thing you can have is a simple budget template. It doesn’t need to be complicated – just review it every month and make it a habit.”
Veronia recommends saving small amounts for expesive times of year like ChristmasCredit: SWNS
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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