To want to shake the couple on Secret Spenders?

[SophieHMS]

How can people be this dim?
It's not that they spend a bit ... they spend a LOT. They don't know how much they spend. They "treat themselves" non stop. They don't have a any idea how stupidly high their loan interest rate is. They are FUCKWITS.

How do people - perfectly nice, working couple - behave like this?

*Changes

I agree with the pp who said about secret eaters being the exact same. Now I understand a few extra calories you might not notice (a biscuit at break time, a nibble while cooking dinner) but these people will be saying ‘I don’t know why I’m so fat I eat only 1300 calories a day and never snack outside of meals’ then you’ll see them eating a McDonald’s on the way home from work and they’ll be shocked.

If you’re overweight and dieting you don’t ‘accidentally’ eat a takeaway. It’s so daft and it happens every episode. I know it’s set up specifically for entertainment but it’s just stupid. Then she takes them in a room and really patronisingly shows them a big mac and then a big lump of salt or a cup of oil something and they’ll act gobsmacked that cheeseburgers are high in fat and salt.

I don't watch the show but I agree in general about the term/idea of being "bad with money". Some people don't have a good knowledge about types of accounts, interest rates etc - that's one thing, and they can learn. But others are just greedy. Spending all your money and taking out loans to buy restaurant meals, cocktails, designer gear, jewellery, basically whatever they want when they want it. That's not a lack of understanding, that's just plain greed.

Its the same with over eating really. People know they can't afford it calories wise, but they just want it so they have it. There is no point pretending later "oh does butter have calories in it?". Before you @ me, I can say this because I am fat and to be honest greedy.

I've just put this on thankyou for the morning viewing tip

@Gingernaut

The crazy thing is they are capable of earning £5k a month between them.

WTF do they do to earn that kind of money??

They must manage budgets at work??

Not necessarily. £5k pm is £2.5k pm each, or £40-45k pa depending on pension and student loan deductions. I earn that in a specialist technical role, which doesn't include any managing any budgets.

I didn't see this episode but agree that it's all very staged in that they couldn't possibly not see that all the doing and buying obviously adds up to a huge amount.

Yet you never find out much about their budget, like what they're paying on a mortgage or rent, which is surely the biggest item in most people's budget, and must make all the difference

Well our mortgage is less than their £400 pm subscriptions spend for a start, although I have dabbled in the gin subscription I didn't keep up with it because its expensive for what it is and I'm perfectly happy with £16 Lidl gin and never bothered reading the magazine or using the garnishes that come with it.

Sounds like fun 'outrage' TV. I had a friend who was on a reality show about ten years ago and just lied to get on it. She knew the sort of thing they were looking for and gave it to them. Was fun watching it. Hilarious when they intoned 'and she has not had a date for nine years,' we all fell about.

I had a friend who was the same. Brought home lots more money per month than I ever did yet moaned about no holidays or nice things but couldn't explain where the money went each month.

I actually wonder how they advertise for programmes like this as I'm sure they're edited to get just the reaction you're talking about. (A bit like tabloids - I watched a programme the other day and a tabloid editor said the easiest best headlines were ones that made people angry)

I saw some shitty programme on channel 5 about people who apparently didnt know how to clean. They were clearly an intelligent couple but the programme showed them apparently looking gobsmacked at someone using hot soapy water to clean surfaces. I'm convinced that what they signed up for was something entirely different.(as in how the programme appealed for candidates) I cant believe anyone would willingly make themselves look that stupid.

The people who feature on these shows are just an extreme version of many people, because there does seem to be a lot of financial illiteracy about, as illustrated by the popularity of the 'save the change' type apps where people marvel at how it squirrels away a few quid a day and supposedly magically turns into hundreds of pounds of savings that they otherwise wouldn't have.

They don't seem to be able to see that if it didn't move the money around, it would just build up in their current account instead, so it must be that, for a lot of people, they just spend money without thinking until it runs out, unless you have an app that hides some of it from you .

@Antsinyourpanta

When I was younger I was approached as I was leaving a children’s centre by someone who was looking for young mums to talk about being a teen mum and the struggles of living on benefits. I declined and just kept walking but saw the programme which was set in my area. It basically went out of its way to promote the benefits scrounges/teens having babies for council housing stereotype.

They’re on an average wage for 2 people earning, £30 is average in uk

I had an ex like that. His net was somewhere around £8K pm, but he was constantly in debt and had a portfolio of payday loans. Genuinely had to go to a soup kitchen a couple times after spending his salary, borrowing up to a limit and having nothing to eat. Had a prepayment meter and really poor credit. That all with no mortgage or other commitments, just impulsive buying of various shit.
I came to view it as a mental issue, similar to an addiction.
I have a little bit of that myself (not to the point of bankruptcy, but probably unreasonably lax). I'd actually probably pay for someone to go through all my financials and point out odd subscriptions / add up all takeaways had / etc. Not to be shown on TV, obviously

@MiddleParking

Ah, I remember my first time watching TV.

I'm not going to say I was as bad as the examples of here but when I first started working I was nightmare.

I was living at home with little overheads. Changed to a bank account with an overdraft and that was spent before I'd even had my first wage paid in. Stores offering discounts if you take out a store card... before I knew it I had 3.
Then a credit card. I passed my driving test so got a loan for 10k a car...

You come out of school with no education in financial planning, and unless your parents teach you about money then you are left to learn for yourself.

It's taken a long time by now DH and I are lucky to be debt free ( exc mortgage.... which we originally got as a 100% mortgage... because we could) we actually have a good amount of savings and look at ways to make our money work for us....

But all the debt from my early years would've had a knock on effect for years! Decades even! But I really didn't know any better.

They were a pair of bloody idiots, you're right @SophieHMS

I had a friend like that. Takeaway most nights, date night in a fancy restaurant, night in a hotel as a treat every month, drinks after work, drinks at the weekend etc etc. Couldn't understand why she never had any money at the end of the month. She'd be skint, get paid and the first thing she did wouldn't be a food shop, it'd be a new exercise bike or something. Then she'd complain she couldn't afford to buy food and it just went on and on.

I am not financially educated and waste money and have a decentish job. I am single parents and tired so get take away, dont have much money so feel like I will never have anything nice so buy small things to keep me happy (books, coffee etc), and too scared to face reality of not having enough / doing what I want. All the kids clubs, clothes etc add up. And there is an element of I want what I want (e.g. nice quality clothes or whatever). Just offering an insight into the type of people lots of PPs are mocking....

I turned it off, can’t watch such stupidity. If they need a tv show to show them where they are going wrong and are prepared to look absolute fools to their friends, family, work colleagues & neighbours, let them crack on.

@ivykaty44

They’re on an average wage for 2 people earning, £30 is average in uk

2.5k take home is more like £40k.

Avoiding takeaway is an easy one. If you know you're at risk of getting takeaways, just get something similar from the supermarket during your normal shop and have similar food for about a third of the price.

No-one can say that they're too tired to put a frozen pizza in the oven or microwave a curry if they're also able to manage to order food on an app and go to the door when it arrives.

Then it's simply a matter of prioritising. Separate out your bills, savings for annual and irregular expenses like holidays, Christmas, insurance, car repair/replacement etc etc and then put what's left as your spending money into a separate account. That is what you're allowed to spend and pretend that the rest doesn't exist. When it runs out, you have to wait until you get paid and then repeat the exercise.

If you want to maximise your spending money, you need to cut costs further up the line, eg by swapping around your utilities and broadband/TV etc. You can save loads like this and every saving directly increases your disposable income. Moneysaving expert has even provided step by step instructions on how to go through everything.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

If you want to

I have an acquaintance like this although she doesn’t earn much. I can’t see how people blame the fact they aren’t financially literate, surely you know to spend less than you earn? Really bizarre! My friend is always complaining she has no money yet is always forking out for activities like clip & climb, paddle boarding (she doesn’t own one, she hires them), escape rooms, day trips, weekends away. Then complains she’s in debt and can’t afford £400 to fix her car. One day we were out and she rang her boyfriend to transfer her £20 because she had no money and yet the very next week bought a brand new car on finance when I had no money I was driving around in a £500 car, I wouldn’t ever dream of buying a brand new car unless I had money to waste!

I think some people just don't realise that others just have no knowledge whatsoever in certain departments. An intelligence dead zone. I don't see it in budgeting very much because most my family and myself are on low incomes, so while we all make silly choices, we couldn't spend £400 a month on subscriptions because that's a massive chunk of income and means we couldn't afford to pay the rent.
But I have seen it ALOT with food, nutrition and calories.
I know people who think bananas don't have calories because slimming world says they are free. Or liquids don't have calories because its a drink, not food. At some point they said pasta was free on slimming world and ate about a 500g plate in one serving. Or don't know how to check calories on a packet, and if they did, what relevance it would have compared to other foods and your own calorie intake, a few different examples and not all of the same person. If people haven't been properly educated in something then we can't expect them to just know how to do it.
I do think proper budgeting and nutrition should be taught in school, because then these knowledge gaps will happen less.

What’s the name of the program?

NavigatingAdolescence £30k gross is average income, I saw that it was £5000 per month sorry I didn't see it as being net or gross, so assumed it was gross

when I had no money I was driving around in a £500 car, I wouldn’t ever dream of buying a brand new car unless I had money to waste!

I was someone who always drove really cheap second hand cars and a friend sat down and did the sums and over time it is cheaper to have the new car and run it for 10+ years than have a succession of older cars.

I bought a 1 year old fiat panda (or grandad car!), ex display model for £5000 on finance. The is was onlt £3 a month, no MOT needed for 2 years.

I'm four years on now and it's been great. I finish paying the finance next month and intend on putting that money aside for repairs and an eventual replacement. I've only needed to replace the oil sump and battery, and of course have had the normal brakes and tyres I would have needed anyway.