Super Scrimpers

larmy16

Anyone remember a programme about saving money with someone called Jane Furnival? She dressed like a complete dingbat too!

I remember her making people throw out all the food in their cupboards because it was much cheaper to make your own. Doh! (rolls eyes) Why not use it up first you crazy lady? I don't think I imagined this programme did I?

alec_eiffel

larmy16 wrote: »

Anyone remember a programme about saving money with someone called Jane Furnival? She dressed like a complete dingbat too!

I remember her making people throw out all the food in their cupboards because it was much cheaper to make your own. Doh! (rolls eyes) Why not use it up first you crazy lady? I don't think I imagined this programme did I?

No you didn't imagine it, it was on BBC 1 and was called Smart Spenders. Or Smart Spending. No, smart Spenders it was.

candygirl

Just watched it on 4OD, and what a total lot of crap it was.A takeaway here costs at least £12 for 2 of us and we don't eat a lot, and that Miss Moneypenny needs to get her clothes sorted asap:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

belfastgirl23

dealhunter wrote: »

SPENDAHOLICS was a much better show and offered better advice.

That was the one I couldn't remember, thank you!

a far better show definitely...I liked the fact that they took the view that the overspending was part of a bigger issue that the person needed to tackle - I think most people can identify with spending money you don't need to spend in order to make yourself feel better about something (whether its 50p on a bar of chocolate, £10 on a book or £1000 on a designer bag)

angela110660

fiscalfreckles wrote: »

I'm sorry, but that pasta looked disgusting! Slimy & horrible, it needed at least rolling out thinner. It was just boiled pastry!

Don't think we actually saw them eating the stuff - only it being carried in on plates so maybe it was yuk?
All the other shows mentioned before were great for different reasons and loved Alvin Hall. This new show really needs to take a peek at some of what has gone before and recycle some of the ideas with up to date information.

Living_proof

I too was disappointed. I had missed it on Wednesday and watched it on 4oD but the flagrant colour clashing, big bottoms and bizarre underwear tips just couldn't be taken seriously.

Hardly a soul on the programme seemed to be healthy. It swung from one absurd extreme to the other, when really it would have been much more helpful looking at different situations e.g. old person on state pension, graduate trying to repay loans, young couple saving for house, etc. and pointing out how things could have been done differently to achieve a better result, and how to make the very best of what life has dealt you.

A lot of us become hooked on thrift, of having money behind us and no debt and it would have been cheering if the programme had encouraged that streak in viewers instead of being a laughing stock.

lostinrates

I'm really disheartened that so many people have been critical of clothing. I think one of the things about being a bit old style is comfort about being slightly out of step with pressure to conform. I love fuschia and orange together personally and other clashes, and often walk around my little domain in outfits for a ''weirdo'' but I'm not harming anyone, I make myself happy and I am thrifty! I think there is enough to criticise in the programme without needing to resort to style critique.

TudorRose

I too thought it was a waste of time. As others have said if we all had 30 acres of land we could aim for self sufficiency.

My Mum's comment on this programme would have been 'Teach Your Grandmother to Suck Eggs'

mrbadexample

I keep thinking that maybe we're doing the programme a disservice, because we're already pretty thrifty etc.

So I consider what I learned from the show:

Don't buy 5 takeaways a week, every week.
Don't buy loads of clothes that you'll never wear.
Don't use a 2.9l 4x4 to commute from Birmingham to Devon.

:think: Nah, we're right. It was codswallop.

These are exactly the people that should have been featured, rather than a privileged minority:

Living_proof wrote: »

e.g. old person on state pension, graduate trying to repay loans, young couple saving for house, etc.

Living_proof

I have just watched the Panorama Big Squeeze programme and that seemed a bit more useful, although it's a one-off and not a series.

There was quite a bit about how much less disposal income we now have in the so-called recovery relative to the recession itself - as much as 20% less in some cases. It featured middle-earner, Middle England families who are afloat now but will struggle as the expected rises come in, particularly if interest rates start to rise again. It also featured people whose businesses had failed or who had no work due to accident.

What it did show was how these people took advice, worked a way round the problems, how CAB could help in some cases. Anything that takes the head and shoulders out of the sand is a plus in these circumstances.

But this was Panorama, whereas the Channel 4 programme felt like cheap jokey, tongue-in cheek entertainment. Remember all the house renovation programmes, designed cooking ones? There must surely be a real need as a result for just as many and varied ones on thrift, finance education and coping the best in a bad situation.