Instagram star Gemma Bird, AKA Money Mum, is now a bestselling author and finance influencer living in a stunning four-bedroom family home, but there was a time when she was struggling to make ends meet.
“My life before Money Mum was very different,” the 45-year-old mum-of-two tells Notebook, during an exclusive photo shoot at her palatial Essex pad.
Gemma, who shares son Brody, 13, and daughter Brontë, seven, with husband Adam, 51, explains, “Before Money Mum took off, I had a business online selling underwear on Amazon. I lived with Adam, but he had lost his job and was working for me.
“I earned roughly £15,000 a year and we lived on this for quite a few years because we wanted to build up the business. Unfortunately, it never really grew. That was tough.”
Growing up, the first home Gemma lived in was a two-bedroom ex-council house with her parents, before the family moved into a three-bedroom terrace. She says, “Mum and Dad didn’t have much money. Dad was a milkman, then a bus driver and then a manager of the buses, but it wasn’t mega money. Mum did cleaning jobs just to survive.”
At 17, Gemma started getting pocket money, but she says, “Once it ran out, it ran out. We were always told to go and get a job, from a young age.” Her upbringing shaped her thrifty attitude and, though she didn’t know it then, would go on to spark a whole new career, with thousands of people following her money-saving hacks.
“My first proper job was a paper round, then I’d clean neighbours’ cars to earn extra cash,” she says. “It was instilled into me that you have to work for your money.” She also worked as a mushroom picker, estate agent and barmaid — and even cut colostomy bags in a medical centre.
Gemma moved out of the family home at 23 and bought a two-bedroom ex-council house, but after breaking up with her ex and meeting Adam, she moved into his four-bedroom house. It came with a hefty £225,000 mortgage attached, but Gemma and Adam famously paid off that mortgage when she was just 37.
“I owned two buy-to-lets that I’d bought with Dad. We went halves on buying them and on the profit we made. So it was possible, due to a mixture of buying something that was smart, money from my previous divorce settlement and saving up all my life. Literally every penny I had, I saved. I didn’t go clubbing when I was younger. When I did go out, I’d drink soda and lime.”
The family moved into their new four-bedroom detached house near Chelmsford in October 2024. Showing us around her gorgeous Georgian-style home, Gemma admits she still pinches herself at how far she’s come.
“I’d always wanted a house with high ceilings, full of light,” she says. “So when this came up, Adam and I just fell in love with it. I’d always wanted a walk-in wardrobe too. It was everything I’d dreamed of as a little girl. And though it’s a big property with a big garden, it’s still snug and cosy.”
Hilariously honest, Gemma admits that she’s no fashionista, despite the walk-in wardrobe. “I just like the idea of one,” she says, laughing. “The shoot team added clothes to mine. It was literally just full of supermarket-bought T-shirts.”
Her favourite room is the lounge, which has rich, dark green walls adorned with brightly coloured paintings. “It feels like I’m in a stately home, it’s so peaceful,” she says.
Gemma could only have dreamed of living in such a property without her famously thrifty lifestyle, which led to her new career as Money Mum. The lightbulb moment for Gemma — who has gone on to appear on Loose Women and visited Downing Street to advocate for financial education and discuss finance issues affecting UK families — came when she met a friend for coffee in 2020.
“I was building up the lingerie business and on terrible money. I went to Costa Coffee and was picking up all these receipts and my friend was like, ‘Why?’ I explained that if there are points on them to collect, I take them to the till, and say, ‘Oh, sorry, I forgot to add this to my card’ and get free coffee. She was like, ‘Wow, you’re a money influencer.’”
Gemma laughed it off, but came home that day and decided to start a vlog. “I wanted to make saving cool again and empower young people. So I went online and started sharing my ‘no spend days’.”
A no spend day, one of her best-loved hacks, is exactly what it sounds like — one day a week where you spend absolutely nothing. She explains, “You use everything in your cupboards, get creative with the kids. It’s a challenge, but it gets you in the right mindset.”
Gemma also has a hard and fast rule of not buying anything unless she can afford it. “Say something’s a thousand pounds and I’ve got a thousand in my bank account. Technically I can afford it, but if I spend that, I’ve got nothing left. I need five times the amount of that item in my account if it’s a small amount. If it’s a large amount, three times that.”
Gemma soon realised she could not only bag the odd free day out for her kids but create a bona fide business helping others. And that business is now a runaway success.
But although she’s chatty and confident on screen, away from social media Gemma admits she struggles with anxiety.
“I worry every single day,” she says quietly. “I always think people don’t like me. I think it’s all going to end. I wake up every once in a while crying or shaking. I’m on anti-anxiety medication. It’s horrific and I wish I could wave a magic wand and it all goes away.
“Sometimes, I want to punch myself in the face. I’ve got a lovely life, so why do I worry? But mental health doesn’t work like that.”
But ambitious Gemma tries not to let this stop her and admits she’d love to do more TV work. “I’d love to do a show where I live with people for a week, show them what they’re wasting money on and just sort their lives out.”
Though comfortably off today, Gemma says she will never stop hunting for a bargain. She says, “It doesn’t leave my brain. I was out with my husband yesterday and my favourite hair dye was on offer — so I bought five boxes.”
Thankfully her obsession with saving doesn’t cause any friction with her other half. “On our first ever date, at a pub, I remember saying to Adam, “What’s the loan-to-value on your house? I was nearly 30 and thinking, ‘I don’t want someone that’s not switched on with their money.’ But Adam was just the same. When I asked him that, he said he knew I was the girl for him. It’s so funny.”
Family life with their brood, Gemma says, is a “madhouse”, but she loves it. She tries to pass on her financial know-how to the kids without ramming it down their throats and admits her two will sometimes turn to her during a conversation and go, “Well done, that’s a money tip, Mum!”
Meanwhile, Britain has just welcomed a new Prime Minister, and with the focus on what Andy Burnham will do to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, Gemma has some advice for him.
“People on benefits get help, the super wealthy aren’t really affected but the middle class always gets overlooked,” she says. “There needs to be help for those people in that middle ground. How can they get on the mortgage ladder, for instance, when house prices and rates are going up? It feels impossible.
“My advice to the new PM would be to tackle affordable housing, find ways to stop food costs rising astronomically and please, help get people working hard on the property ladder.”
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