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?

That's tax for £3 a month.

I've a family member like this. Severely dyslexic which wasn't picked up and supported at school. Now has well paid manual job, where literacy isn't key but they still bring in the money.

Its awful for them. They are aware but don't have the tools to deal with it. Oddly, it was picked up by a probation officer when they were arrested (GBH) who then put them on an adult literacy course, and it has helped. They still have a very high level of anxiety around it though.

I don't judge them for it though, its not their fault. They had a very chaotic childhood and no one picked up on their significant learning difficulties until adulthood.

@Gingernaut

The subscriptions!

£400 a month on gin, cocktails, food, face masks, razors, eco deodorant...where do they find these places?

Where do these subscription companies find these people?

Op is right, they are just stupid.

Financial planning, the very basics of it, is simple addition and subtraction. You have 5000 each month. If you spend 4500, you have 500 leftover. That's called savings in this situation. If you spend 6500, you have -1500 leftover, and that's called debt in this situation, usually paid for by credit cards. Simple explanation, you don't need to factor in interest rates etc at this point. A child understands better.

People like this can add and subtract, they are choosing not to. She wants her beauty treatments, gin subscriptions etc. He wants whatever it was he was wasting his money on (not seen the program and no one has mentioned his stupid buys).

Some people overspend, some overeat, some drink too much, some obsessively clean - this is not new. I've not always been perfect myself!

Lots of high earning people fritter it all, nothing has changed since the characters in classic novels were doing it.

They're not stupid, IMO, just humans.

These couples often seem a bit thick yet enjoy really high salaries. Beggars belief! What are their jobs?

It amazes me how there are enough dimwits of this type to make multiple programmes. Like other food shopping one with greg potato head

Oh wow, i didn't know I could save money by grating my own cheese 🙄

I had to turn over when they were talking about her beauty treatments. I always find these programmes a bit but my DH likes them. I can't believe people really live like that and throw money away on stuff without really knowing what they're doing if they are trying to save for a deposit, I suspect most of it is staged.

Whilst I agree with everything you say, I’m very tempted by the boozy book club 🤣🤣

I think some people just don't realise that others just have no knowledge whatsoever in certain departments. An intelligence dead zone.

Maybe some genuinely do, but with most it seems to be cultivated and reveled in. Wilful ignorance you might call it. Similar to men who never do housework or childcare because they just "don't know how". How very convenient.

A friend of mine had the attitude "oh dear, I just don't understand money and I really like nice things, ah well, what can you do". We all like nice things!

Its obviously put on....they know how they could save...they just don't want to sacrifice nice things.

I do like" eat well for less"...some useful tips but not exactly rocket science.

I'm a bit like this (altough trying to get better) I find it really hard to save money, very much of the "if I can afford it, why not" view. When I was younger there wasn't spare money for new clothes/treats etc... so as soon as I had access to my own cash (and credit) I went a bit crazy.

I used to watch Alvin Hall's "Your Money or Your Life" that was a good programme, very detailed, practical and not sensationalist (and Alvin kind) but I've just looked it up and realised it started in 1999! A different era really before social media when reality TV was generally less trashy.

Salaries weren't that high and could have been from manual jobs like plumber, builder, etc as one job and a general admin job as other, it didn't say they earned the same

These people are stupid. Just get a budgeting app.

Does anyone else find it very hypocritical on shows like this and Shop Well for Less where there are very wealthy TV presenters telling the public off for spending money?

On a previous series of Shop Well for Less, Alex Jones was telling someone off for spending on clothes whilst she was wearing a 2K Burberry coat

Does anyone else find it very hypocritical on shows like this and Shop Well for Less where there are very wealthy TV presenters telling the public off for spending money?

While that seems in poor taste, effectively they are teaching them to help their budget go further and live more comfortably within their means (which a lot if times people have and do struggle with)
For Alex Jones living within her means may well include a 2k coat.

I'll admit that I haven't watched the programme, and I have zero interest in almost all of "Reality" TV. (I still haven't forgiven my partner for getting me over-invested in Celebrity Masterchef)

This does however strike me as having similarities with the Red Top Hypocrisy thread on here yesterday... .

"Let's show some people in the worst light possible. All the viewers can feel nice and superior, we get terrific viewing figures, and our advertising revenue is through the roof!

Everyone's a winner!"

".... Oh, except those that we're making look like c**ts nationwide, and they don't count because we offered them fifteen minutes of fame."

@LolaRoses

Does anyone else find it very hypocritical on shows like this and Shop Well for Less where there are very wealthy TV presenters telling the public off for spending money?

On a previous series of Shop Well for Less, Alex Jones was telling someone off for spending on clothes whilst she was wearing a 2K Burberry coat

Not really. Unless she was in debt and was still buying expensive clothing.

@R0tational I hear what you are saying. Background plays a large part I think as very little of this stuff is covered in schools so what we see as kids/teens has a big effect.
Very little money about when I was a kid. Now I have a professional role and household income is in top 10%. But I still struggle to spend on myself in case it all disappears 🤷‍♀️ I dithered for about four months before buying a sewing machine for example in case I didn’t use it enough. I also still have to double check what gross and net mean 🙄🤣

Some people have funny ideas about money, my ILs for example don’t think £4.5k for fuel (oil, electricity, logs) in a year is wildly excessivethey also spend a small fortune on (v good quality) food. They are very frugal in other areas but they think they are hard up and find it hard to believe that others don’t spend these amounts on basics.

My Dad was a bit like this - he was v generous to me and my siblings (and DC) and was always treating us (and others) to meals out etc. He went on several holidays per year (health permitting) without giving the cost of them a second thought.
.. but he was really stingy about food and groceries always looking for reduced stuff and only ever bought clothes in primark or charity shops.

Programmes like these make me wish I was tighter than I am now.

@TheHouseILiveIn

Yeah it was very fake: they could save £15k a year by making the changes. Why not show a couple on £40k a year between them. Wouldn't make good telly because there'd be no changed to make!

I don't think it was fake. I think they were real people!

But I know what you mean. They're never going to have someone who has 2 stone to lose on a weight loss show. It's not interesting.

So on this, they will never have someone who wastes a little bit of money (all of us surely) because it is too mundane.