I now consider the money I put into my pension to have been a mistake.

I have a fall-back fund for the quiet months. I am a single working parent and it gets lonely when things are insecure.

Women trapped in violent relationships need to know that there's no shame in talking out and walking out on their abusive partners.

I never got into debt because my parents had drummed into me at a young age: if you can't afford it, you can't have it.

I do not think anyone should feel pressured into doing it but I am the sucker who will stop on the street and sign up to direct debits.

We all like to think that if we were the victims of domestic abuse we'd up and leave - but it's not always as easy or straightforward as that. Women stay with abusive partners for all kinds of reasons - they love them, they fear them, they have children with them, they believe they can change them or they simply have no where else to go.

At 16, I got a part-time job selling double-glazing door to door. That was soul destroying but the worst part-time job I did was at university working on reception in a sexually transmitted disease clinic. Because no one else wanted to do it, they paid £8 an hour.