Britain's Secret Spending

[ImperialBlether]

Anyone watching this?

I've already spotted someone I bet is a MNetter! Step up and reveal yourself!

I liked the London billionaire. He seemed a genuinely nice, down to earth bloke. I'm amazed he's single.

i think it was John Caudwell started up phones 4 u then sold and made a blardy fortune,he has a foundation and does alot for others

he was married till farley recently

thats if its who i think he is,pretty much a good guy

Yes that's him, couldn't remember which phone company it was.

He stressed about his foundation a coup,e of times.

Radley mum was awful, just awful. And sadly, her eldest daughter seemed to be heading the same way I would have been livid to be laughed at for making a quite sensible comment about the cost of a handbag, and I'm probably halfway between the two extremes.

Really liked cheap fashion lady and billionaire man. Thought the eco shopper lady was probably looking for control somewhere in her life and the family's finances were it.

I too liked cheap fashion lady, and billionaire man, his cooking was brilliant!

Eco lady seems like hard work, though totally agree about buying something for one use only. And 2K for curtains which looked screwed up and frankly ugly just so they weren't polyester
It's not like she was sleeping in them ffs.

Eco lady seemed a bit extreme but her heart is in the right place I guess. It is annoying when schools ask you to buy stuff that you wouldn't otherwise get, I dread book character day and refuse to buy into this buying something that will be worn once mentality.

Cheap fashion lady seemed nice, I did laugh when she thought Ann Robinsons coat would have cost £100 - it would probably be closer to £1000!

I would have thought that some variant of the iphone 6 costs £700 or more. Many people seem to overlook this because they pay £40 a month for it or whatever.

Of course the actual phone service costs nowhere near this and can be easily had for £10-15 pm leaving at least £25 pm x the average 2 year contract so at least £600 for the phone.

I wouldn't have £190 sunglasses either. I would lose or sit on them in no time at all.

Shopping for fun doesn't appeal to me at all, but then, what can I say. I generally do things like walk to the top of a hill just to come down again and call it a day out.

I hope that Radley woman is bringing her daughters up to aspire to successful and lucrative careers. Otherwise they are going to end up disappointed and bitter when they find, as adults, that they cannot fulfil their own materialistic wants.

I also don't know how you can afford £8k on a holiday, £190 sunglasses and other designer wear on £67,500 a year. I think it should be made clear if they're spending the bank's money, ie overspending, as that's quite important in the context of the programme.

I would be ashamed if my DC laughed at someone for being careful with their money.

Also loved the cashmere coat exchange. Loved AR then.

I think it's a given that they're overspending really. The budget books they do are presumably fairly balanced and theirs reported (very obviously wrongly) that they only spend about £40 a week on treats for the kids.

I haven't watched the programme yet, but I suppose the affordability of the holiday would depend on other bills. Our household income is about £55k and we probably spend about £5-6k per year on holidays.

However, our mortgage is tiny and there are lots of things that we don't really spend money on that other people spend a lot on like home decoration and furnishings, make up, designer goods, technology, appliances, clothes to name a few.

Yes Anne was hilarious when she firstly claimed to be clueless about how much her coat was worth and then when fashionLady said it was probably £100 said she didn't think it was.

WorkToLive.....that's the difference. Not spending money in gadgets and designer labels. if your lifestyle is generally careful and you prioritise holidays then you will be able to afford it.

If you're constantly spending on iPads, Gucci watches, Prada sunglasses, etc then you're not going to be able to afford 8k holidays on that income without either resorting to credit or possibly they've had an inheritance I guess.

I enjoyed both of these programmes, I thought Anne Robinson came across really well she wasn't nasty or patronising. I liked the way she was helping the fast fashion girl photograph her shoes, etc., I also liked the fast fashion girl much more than the fridge buying girl in the first episode.

Agree with the comments about Radley bag woman and her daughters, her comment about Kate paying off her mortgage in five years was just idiotic once Kate has done that she will have far more 'free' cash and the safety and security of a house that is paid for, what will Radley bag woman do if their circumstances change which can and does happen? Radley bag women came across as a desperate wannabe but lacked the spending power and nous to buy the designer/label items that are actually worth buying.

I also liked the man who owned the caravan parks and his honesty about his possessions.

The stay at home dad in the first episode did need a kick up the arse he came across as lazy.

I had no idea Radley was a designer label, I thought it was that woman's surname! Totally wasted on me. I found their snickering at the other ladies £5 handbag horrible. Totally lacking in any real class.

Has it finished now? Shame if so. I liked caravan park man, who was honest about his wealth; I thought Simon Heffer was a dick (knew that already); I liked fast fashion girl who, I thought, had a sense of style despite being poor; and as for Radley woman, well.....

I got the feeling that Phones4U man wasn't altogether comfortable with his wealth. He seemed a nice, decent bloke.

absolutely I think it was only two episodes and you're right fast fashion girl had an innate sense of style and there was something about her that I can't put into words that made me really warm to her.

Thought the Radley bag family were horribly judgemental and bringing up their children to have no idea of the value of money.
Heading for a fall if they ever hit hard times.

I liked he Eco lady, and thought she had admirable values, but I bet when her children earn their own money they will go over the top buying everything they've ever wanted!

I bought my iPhone 6 outright at £600.
Yes it is a lot on one go but it is less than paying for it on a monthly tarrif for 3 years.
I'm lucky because I can afford to spend that in one go.

Felt so uncomfortable when that Radley woman and her daughter were sneering at the other lady.

What awfully deluded, sad, materialistic people.

Didn't like them at all.

Liked the Eco lady, and the Baroness the week before.

I can understand eco lady wanting natural materials, she was well off enough to afford it. I loved her grey hair too.

Surely if eco lady cared so much about the environment, she would be better off, in real terms, spending £50 on curtains and then donating the other £1950 to a charity or research investing in sustainable solutions (or just your standard drinking water in Africa), i.e doing some actual discernable good rather than faffing around looking for special hideous curtains?

Don't understand why everyone likes fastfashion mum, she did have a warm personality, but I find it hard to admire someone who ended up letting her 10yr old daughter get evicted and live in a hostel because she kept buying cheap crap rather than pay the rent.

Radley!mum was a muppet. She said re: overpaying the mortage 'the mortgage is the mortgage, they're not getting a penny more out of me a month than they have to.' Presumably 'them' means the bank, but anyone with half a braincell would know that, by not paying extra you end up doing exactly that, by paying more in interest over the extended period.

I also laughed at the idea of Radley being a high-end designer bag that would change others' perceptions of you, and the idea of someone being too uncomfortable working class to shop in Waitrose.

I can understand the idea of your average person feeling a bit overwhemed or out of place in Chanel's London flagship store, or equivalent, but can't say I've ever felt uncomfortable in a supermarket, whether it has a wider range of quinoa or hotdog pizzas.

I mean, if you're going to be a ridiculous snob about something, at least pick something it's worth being a snob about!

I did feel Anne Robinson was being quite patronising with the bloke in the food bank about the toiletries and a saying something about him being ready for a date, and asking him how he felt about having food shopping.

I find people's differing attitudes to spending fascinating.

Radley woman in the end came across to me as being quite sad in her mocking of saver family. And deluded in thinking spending every penny they had on labels made them superior to people who didn't place importance on consumerism.

I thought saver lady was very dignified in her approach to their spending on the children and the husband was incredibly rude to her by suggesting that because she had one young child that she was ignorant to the materialism.
My dc are nearly teens and want for nothing but they don't have designer sunglasses or phones etc.
Their children have clearly been brought up to place value in labels and it shows.

I know another, I snorted when she suggested people's opinion of her would change when she put her radley bag on the table
It's hardly a high end bag!

It was also bogging. I don't frequent the Style & Beauty threads much, but I'm pretty sure that sage green Radley was screaming "Mum bag" from single one of it's leather pores.