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?

@SophieHMS I'mquite baffed by this kind of nonsense on TV. There seem to be about 5 different programs about people too dim to buy their own house/move to Spain etc.

I don't know what's worse, that that people are so dim they need the help, or that people actually watch this garbage.

@vampirethriller

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 find it strange that so many people don't think that people like this exist. They very much do. How do you think some very average people afford audis and bmws for example. Its not because they have great jobs and are brilliant with money.

I know people like those vampirethriller talks about.

One I know said to the parent group chat "we should set up a class bank account and we can all save up using it for the Y6 leavers do as I know its going to cost a lot". As if saving was a revelation. Our children are Y1 for starters. Someone had to politely say that there are lots of other things we need to put money towards over the next few years. I know her well. She lives from paycheck to the next benefit date and frequently borrows off her mate to fill in the gaps. She definitely has a spending addiction and spends hours on the internet looking for the latest bargin she doesn't need, but it was 'such a good deal'.

The concept of saving anything is a mystery to her. She is into her deals, but has such a poor credit history she struggles to get big necessary purchases - like a new washing machine. Instead she ends up paying through the nose on specialist high risk lenders which totally goes against all the bargin hunting she does for everything else. The problem being she doesn't prioritise the 'boring' things over the fun hit of 'getting something'.

I really think it is an addiction for her. She just doesn't see that she doesn't need all these things. She doesn't have room for it anyway and I think she's a borderline hoarder.

She uses it as a substitute for love imho. She has to demonstrate she loves someone by giving them stuff and she feels better about herself if she gets stuff.

@lannistunut

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.

Such a great response

If anyone loves these programmes check out Til Debt Do Us Part on YouTube. Filmed in early 00s Canada. Brilliant trash.

@CBUK2K2, I don’t know what’s worse, people who watch this garbage, or people who go to forums to comment on people watching this garbage

I don’t think people are saying they’re acting stupid because they spend a lot of money, more because they stand there shrugging and saying I don’t know where we could possibly cut back, and then the tv host says hmm you get Starbucks four times a day. Could you possibly cut back by making your own coffee? I get it’s for tv but it’s daft. Most of us if we were struggling with money, can easily look at our bank statement and say okay take out food, taxis instead of buses etc etc. And these people could too, but it never seems to have occurred to them to look at/track what they’re spending their own money on.

Sorry, I'm with @sophiehms on this.. They were the definition of ignorant. The woman's spending on subscriptions was disgraceful.

Most of the people I know wouldn't be able to tell you how much their regular outgoings are or how much their total debt is. Many people find money issues too stressful so the way they manage it is to bury their head in the sand for another day!

£400 on subscriptions is insane. I have one streaming TV app and I am always thinking about it cancelling if I haven't watched anything for 2 weeks on it.

I'd love to see them helping people on lower incomes who already buy supermarkets brand/budget food, who cook what they can from scratch, rarely eat takeaways and have already tired to reduce costs as much as they can. Even if they only saved them £25 a month it could really help people. But that wouldn't make good tv...

There's this show on Youtube, an old canadian shpw called "Till debt do us part" its people having thousands in debt / line of credit and spending 50%+ more than they make every month.

Those british secret spenders are very reasonnable in comparison.

Anyway I thought this couple was very nice.

@takehomepay ha a couple the other week even had an amazon prime subscription each, I nearly fell off my chair!

@BarbaraofSeville

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 agree. I have a family member that wastes tons of money on takeaways and they then complain that they can't lose weight and have no money. It's not the odd one here or there either it's pretty much min of 3 a week and that's every week! They have tons too where as we might have one once a month twice max and we tend to share as it's just too much food We are so lucky with the variety of food there is available in the supermarkets. You don't need to be able to cook or like cooking. You could get a posh ready meal with sides every night and you literally put it in the oven. It's ready before the takeaway would be delivered. Yes it's more expensive than proper cooking but still a lot cheaper than takeaways

@Wbeezer

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.

@Wbeezer his programmes were the best, gutted he stopped doing them, they were so informative and non judgemental.

To be honest- it plays into the stereotype that younger people have the money for a deposit, but waste it on crap. Probably what older viewers want to see.
If you are genuinely financially struggling I can see how ‘it’s so easy to save 1k’ shows like this are infuriating.

[quote MarleneDietrichsSmile]@CBUK2K2, I don’t know what’s worse, people who watch this garbage, or people who go to forums to comment on people watching this garbage [/quote]
What about the people who go onto forums to complain about people going on forums and talking about garbage?

@Gingerkittykat 🤯

@ChiefInspectorParker not always...
Depends on the term of the loan.
For example £1,000 at 5% over 5 years will have a repayment of £1,155
But 7% over 3 years will cost £1,143
[Simplified here to annual repayments - in reality would be monthly and total slightly lower, but the same principle applies]

Alvin Hall was very good.

I'm not sure what the point of the more current programmes is. Ridiculous rather than relateable, like most current TV really!

What about the couple the week before, they borrowed £20k to buy a VW camper van and they have used in twice in 3 years! They are still paying the loan off. Van just sits on the drive, not used at all. The husband said something to the effect of "I bloody hate camping". They never thought to rent one first and try it out? I dispair!

I love programmes like this, hope it's on YouTube as I can't get channel 4 in Germany.

What is the program called

@TakeMeToYourLiar

What channel was this?

It’s on All4 Sorry if someone else has replied Sounds a bit like that ‘bank of mum and dad’ that used to be on but bonus not with ‘life coach’ Benjamin Fry