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Telly addicts

Christmas shop well for less

27 replies

NRPDad · 12/12/2018 19:46

Currently watching

£3500 on baubles for multiple trees. £1800 spent on memory baubles bought on their Disney holidays! £300 rugby tops for their twin boys

Lo and behold I bet Steph and Alex if they had a 'normal' Christmas like most people they'd save £15k+. What a surprise!

Anybody else watching?

OP posts:
DixieDarling1 · 12/12/2018 19:50

Yep I'm watching! They seem to be minted!

Dermymc · 12/12/2018 19:51

They have to be loaded! I can't believe their level of spending. Their house is huge too.

EffOrf · 12/12/2018 19:54

I’m watching, nearly missed it as it is on earlier because of the vote.

Those expensive baubles, we just have a multipack and then a few bit more expensive individual decorations. I’m surprised they have room for all those trees and life size figures, either they have moved stuff out or their house must be really minimalist.

WhatsUpHun · 12/12/2018 20:00

They seem to be lovely people though

Foster parents, adopted 4 children
No debt, and want to save to take the boys to Florida

Dermymc · 12/12/2018 20:10

They seem incredible people. Very genuine and are happy with some of the swaps.

NRPDad · 12/12/2018 20:20

Yeah agreed top guys they are doing great with the fostering and adopting! It's just a shame this show always goes to such well off families where clear savings are apparent and the vast majority of us are already buying supermarket PJs and decorations rather than focusing on the more difficult savings e.g. Good ideas for free/cheap gifts

OP posts:
EffOrf · 12/12/2018 20:23

They always have nice houses on this programme.

ILikeyourHairyHands · 12/12/2018 20:55

I'm not watching but I'm not sure I get it. They have plenty of money, no debt, so are spending within their budget.

They're great people who foster and adopt.

What's the problem then?

Or is it just a feel-good Christmas jobby?

Dermymc · 12/12/2018 21:19

It was definitely a feelgood one. Like a pp said, no actual useful ideas. Most of their swaps were above my normal level of spending. 48p per bauble, more like 99p for a pack of 20 from B&M.

CurlsandCurves · 12/12/2018 21:23

Fantastic guys, amazing parents and fosterers.

But the nosy part of me still wants to know where their money comes from 😄. Coz they must be earning a LOT. And to be honest it sounds like they don’t need to rein in their spending, unless they want to.

Dermymc · 12/12/2018 21:26

They did say they'd made money on a house sale but that wouldn't last forever... One or both of them must have a brilliant job.

Mayra1367 · 12/12/2018 21:33

Lovely people but some of their spending was insane . Likewise wonder how people afford £18 a bottle soap .

WhatsUpHun · 12/12/2018 21:36

I have jo malone and Milton Brown bottles that I 're fill with Aldi and bayliss harding Grin

PizzaPlanet · 12/12/2018 22:14

I turned this on a little way in to the programme and assumed they had no kids as they wouldn’t be able to waste money like that if they did (£800 dressing gowns?!) but they had what appeared to be two sets of twins. They seemed a lovely family but I too would love to know where they got all their cash from. The advice in the programme was just common sense, I could have given them that but it was worth watching anyway.

WhatsUpHun · 13/12/2018 07:50

Why would you need to replace a £360 toothbrush every year? Surely just the brushes need replacing?

WhatsUpHun · 13/12/2018 07:50

And what would you do with your old dressing gowns if you got a new one every year?

BarbaraofSevillle · 13/12/2018 08:05

The new dressing gowns every year and designer pyjamas for children was bizarre. There's probably not a child in the land of the ages of those in this family (except possibly pre-teens in super super wealthy families) who will appreciate the extra cost of such items.

Same with expensive Christmas baubles. I do fully understand them wanting to make Christmas magical for the DCs, but children would get just the same magic at probably a tenth of the cost.

Their house might have been huge, but house prices in Barnsley are comparitively low - it could easily have cost them around £2-300k (also prices took years to get back to pre crash levels even when south east prices were racing ahead) so if they benefited from London price increases and buying and selling at the right times, they could have had savings into six figures.

Maybe their previous careers had also been well paid, and they'd saved money too, so were effectively 'retired' SAHPs? I assumed that, as well as living off savings, their income was DLA for the older twins, plus payments for fostering, although they did say that they'd also adopted the babies, so they wouldn't be paid, but they also mentioned fostering other children too?

A lovely family, but very odd approach to spending. Ten trees? Stupidly expensive everything when 'normal nice' is plenty, new Christmas decorations, dressing gowns and bedding repeatedly - I wonder what they do with all the old things? I only buy things like that every 5/10/20 years and it would just not occur to me to buy new every year.

But in the end, this programme is about the real excessive cases, but it does seem odd that the people featured don't seem to realise that their way is not 'normal' and they need to be shown how average people spend their money.

hypnotizzz · 13/12/2018 08:21

I thought they were doing a great job with the older twins. Buying a brand new toothbrush, dressing gown, bedding etc every year is excessive - just replace them when they break or fall apart. Guess we all occasionally could benefit from an outsider with a bit of common sense pointing out our mistakes. I'd be ok with a bit of help so long as it was done gently and didn't involve being on tv.

Theoryofmould · 13/12/2018 08:39

I saw half of it so had no idea what they did for a living butsaid to my dh that I reckoned they fostered.
They were very affable but dear god the amount of money they wasted was unbelievable.
I'm never buying cheap candles though especially those Aldi ones again.

WhatsUpHun · 13/12/2018 08:45

why not Theory?

Theoryofmould · 13/12/2018 09:03

Because I tried them and they just don't have the punch of a Jo Malone or white company candle.

WhatsUpHun · 13/12/2018 09:06

i've got both, and i dont think there is much difference if i am honest

WhatsUpHun · 13/12/2018 09:07

athough my 'smelliest' candle is a Yankee candle "crackling sugared vanilla"

nevermorelenore · 13/12/2018 10:11

But the nosy part of me still wants to know where their money comes from 😄. Coz they must be earning a LOT. And to be honest it sounds like they don’t need to rein in their spending, unless they want to.

Sounds like one of them sold their house when they got together. If they bought it years ago and owned it outright, they could have made quite a big profit. Fostering seems to bring in OK money if you are willing to look after children with more complex needs.

They were a lovely couple but it was an odd episode. What’s the point of going on about saving money on baubles? It’s not like you chuck them and buy new ones every year. Their Xmas was insane though. Professional wrappers? I’m jealous!

StayAChild · 13/12/2018 11:22

I'm wondering whether they could be lottery winners. The house, although lovely, beautifully furnished and pristine clean doesn't quite match up with their excessive spending. I didn't quite believe their 'astonishment' at how much average people spend on Christmas decorations. Surely they can't always have been so well off?

How on earth do they have the time to source all this expensive kit? 2 babies alone would be completely time consuming, let alone the loving care they give to the older twins with special needs. How do they get through meal times and bedtime and still have the time and energy to shop, even online? Where do they get the time to put up all those decorations?

It was a daft episode and I can't imagine what the producers were aiming for. Christmas entertainment I guess. Such a loving family though. Good luck to them.

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