I was bankrupt & homeless after blowing £250k when drunk…I’d buy £6k designer dresses & splash £25k on a single holiday
WAKING up with a pounding head, Claire Taylor caught sight of the designer shopping bags littered around her bed.
She cautiously peered into them, trying to work out what she had bought, while feeling sick as she totted up the cost.
It was a scenario she knew all too well.
A couple of drinks over lunch with the girls would turn into a few more.
From there, she would wander off for a spot of shopping, splashing out thousands on her credit card in London’s designer boutiques.
Come evening, she would head out for the night, polishing off a couple of bottles of champagne, followed by ten mojitos.
While Claire’s life seemed privileged, she was alcohol dependent — and in 2014 she was declared bankrupt, owing £250,000.
Speaking as Dry January came to a close, the 59-year-old events manager says: “My life was carnage. I was out of control but telling myself it was fun.
“I’d wake up in the morning with a crushing hangover and feel sick about the money I’d spent.
“But I’d escape from those feelings by drinking more, and then I’d shop again.
“I once walked into Roberto Cavalli and put £6,000 worth of designer dresses on my card when tipsy after a bottle of champagne. Another time, I bought eight pairs of designer shoes, costing £3,000 in total, in about half an hour.
“It was done on impulse because I wasn’t thinking straight after drinking.
“I’d row with my husband about my excessive spending. I’d tell myself it had to stop, but I didn’t.
“I feel ashamed and embarrassed about my behaviour now.
“Far from stopping me, shop assistants in posh stores would often provide more fizz and encourage me to shop.”
One survey revealed that more than 55 per cent of us shop when under the influence, spending £4.46billion a year.
More than one in four says that clothes are the first thing they buy.
‘Was in denial’
But Claire didn’t stop at clothes.
She spent thousands on sunglasses, shoes and handbags.
She also spent £25,000 on a trip to New York and a cruise round the Bahamas with her kids, Harleigh, now 31, and Ollie, 28.
It sounds glamorous, but as the mum-of-two candidly admits: “Alcohol dependency never is. I wasn’t on the street swigging out of a vodka bottle, but my drinking put me in dangerous situations. I let my kids down and ultimately became bankrupt.
“Now I’ve stopped drinking, I’m so much happier.
“I’m there for my children, I’m no longer in debt and only spend within my means. I’ve gone from a size 16 to 12 and look 20 years younger.”
Claire’s drinking crept up on her over the years.
The occasional boozy lunch with her then husband, a businessman, followed by a splurge in the shops escalated over time.
She says: “He sold his business in 2002 and suddenly we had a lot of money.
“What was once a treat became a habit as my drinking increased. When I shopped, there was no thought about what I needed, only what I wanted.
“If I saw a dress or jumper I liked I’d buy it in every colour. Some purchases I loved — I’ve still got all of the Roberto Cavalli dresses.
“Other times, I would put them to the back of my wardrobe as I didn’t even like them.
“I once went through my cupboard and found 50 bottles of unopened perfume. I had no recollection of buying them. I loved sunglasses and would buy dozens at a time.”
In 2011, Claire’s marriage came to an end after 19 years.
She says: “We’d grown apart and it had become toxic, so we split. Looking back, I see my drinking played a part, but at the time I was in denial.”
Claire moved into a rental property and shared custody of the children with her ex.
She says: “Far from it being a wake-up call, I got worse.
“I was struggling emotionally after my divorce. Between 2011 and 2014 I was living off borrowed money — the bank let me keep spending as we had properties and investments between us.”
By 2014, Claire had racked up £250,000 in debt.
She says: “I’d have three-day drinking binges, recover for four days and then it would start again.
“One night, shortly after my divorce, I blew £1,700 buying drinks for all my friends. They never worried about my spending as they spent lots, too.
“Another time, I was so drunk I decided to stay in a Mayfair hotel and spent £1,200 for a suite, just for me. I didn’t make it to the bedroom, passing out on the sofa.
“I booked holidays with friends and then didn’t make it to the airport.
“I’ve lost count of the amount of flights I had to rebook, costing hundreds of pounds. I lurched from one disaster to another. I was banned from my favourite restaurant for being obnoxious.
“I was once so drunk, the taxi driver had to carry me into my house. I shudder at the thought of what could have happened.”
But the thing that pains Claire most about those years is the effect it had on her kids.
She says: “One of my worst memories is Mother’s Day 2014. They’d arranged a lunch for me and I was too hungover to get there.
“I left them sitting in a restaurant, with balloons tied to their chairs, waiting for me.”
It was the same year Claire was declared bankrupt. She was the victim of a fraudulent investment and the bank cut off her spending.
She had to sell the former marital home to pay off her debt and, due to the bankruptcy, she could not get any credit.
But even that wasn’t the reality check she needed. “I had a lot of jewellery and watches, so I sold them, which paid my rent in advance,” she says.
“And then I got a job working in a fitness bootcamp. I’d go away for a week and be in an enforced detox. But when I got home, it would all kick off again.
“I couldn’t afford to go out in Mayfair any more, so I went out locally in Hertfordshire.
“I hadn’t really changed. I didn’t save money. Anything I had left after paying my bills, I squandered on partying.
“In 2016, my daughter Harleigh has a vivid memory of me passed out on the sofa. She thought I was dead and had to slap me awake. No child should go through that.
“I feel so ashamed and embarrassed that it wasn’t enough to make me stop.”
Claire’s turning point came on July 23, 2017.
“It was my mum’s birthday,” she says.
“She’d taken her life by suicide in 2012 due to dementia. I was alone, thinking about my life, and I hit rock bottom. That night, I went to an AA meeting.”
While Claire stopped drinking, it was meeting addiction expert Chris Hill (beatmyaddictions.com) that she credits for her transformation.
She says: “I wouldn’t have stayed clean without Chris’s help. He helped me realise that I wasn’t depriving myself but gaining freedom from addiction.”
‘Gave me back control’
She and Chris set up a retreat to help others with addiction issues, running it from a rented house in Hertfordshire.
But when Covid hit in 2020, the business could not operate.
Claire moved to Portugal, where she now lives debt-free, running a concierge service and working in event management for the Thai Beach Club in Vilamoura.
She has remained sober since 2017.
She says: “I look back on my life and I feel desperately sorry for me and my children. I was unhappy and shopping and drinking to escape.
“Stopping drinking gave me back control of all areas of my life. I now eat healthily, I never drink, I exercise every day and practise mindfulness.
“I want other women to know that it gives you freedom — you’re no longer trapped in a cycle of destructive behaviour.
“I hope anyone reading this appreciates the difference being alcohol-free makes and considers carrying on with Dry January.
“When I got sober eight years ago, I thought giving up booze was saying goodbye to fun, and it turned out to be just the opposite — and it could be for you, too.”
Her biggest spends
£25,000 on one holiday to New York and the Bahamas
£6,000 on dresses in Roberto Cavalli in an afternoon
£4,000 in Chanel on a handbag, a pair of shoes and pair of boots
£3,000 on eight pairs of shoes from Gina