She might be a self-confessed shopaholic, but Holly Smith from Aberdeen might be the only person in Scotland not dreading their credit card bill this year. Holly vowed to give up shopping eight months ago and is now inspiring others to do the same through her blog.

What a difference eight months makes. Earlier this year, Holly Smith was in debt and her spending was out of control. Her clothes were kept in bulging wardrobes across three family homes.

Realising it was time to change, the clothes mad 22-year-old from Aberdeen vowed to curb her impulsive buying for a whole year.

Holly said: "It's been great, it's been a real challenge, but I'm now almost eight months into the challenge, so I think I've learned quite a lot.I've managed to clear off my debt
and I've managed to start saving. Every day I'm finding new ways to save a bit of money, cut back here and there."

Now Holly's bank account is looking a lot healthier, and although Christmas and New Year is traditionally a time to splash the cash, she even managed to keep herself in the black over the festive period.

She went on to say: "I've got more than enough dresses that haven't been outed just yet, so I managed to have something to wear. I bought some canvas bags, and I've
hand-designed all of them, and everybody will get their Christmaspresent in a bag this year."

So far, Holly has managed to save £5,000 by cutting outall non-essential purchases -
now she is even inspiring others to do the same through her daily blog.

And although she only has a few months left of her shopping ban, Holly says she won't be going back to her old ways. She said: "I'm planning to go to London for a little bit in June and have a little bit of a spree, but I'm hoping that after that I'll still be able to carry on saving a lot of money each month.I definitely don't think I'll be going back to the way I used to be."