The key thing to consider here is that Britain was a mercantilist empire, and colonies were a means to bolster the wealth and power of Britain the state as well as the monarchy as individuals.
The real money in the colonies was made in the classic "triangle trade"; that is shipping slaves to the New World, sugar and rum to Europe, and manufactured goods back to the colonies. Traders were licensed and each European country had a monopoly on trade to its colonies. The climate in North America wasn't suited to sugar production, so hot market here was the Caribbean. North America was a backwater -- so much so that the French traded all of Canada to England for the island of Martinique, which was a huge sugar production center.
So in the short-term, the financial losses, while significant, weren't that big of a deal. The biggest impact was the loss of sales of manufactured goods, as Americans could buy tea directly from China, goods from France, Spain or domestic sources, etc.
Long-term, it was disastrous for England, as sugar declined in profitability compared to cotton-based textiles. Losing control of the colonies meant that the great mills of England in the 19th century would face competition from the mills of New England, and the US would compete globally on the sale of fabrics and goods for China purchased in trade.