My Frugal year

[youguyzzz]

I really like her, but she did do spon con for Klarna who are honestly one of the worst offenders for targeting women and pushing them to buy things they can't afford.

 

[marjorytrashheap]

Tattlers comments have clearly hit a raw nerve. As @melonsandlemons said she doesn't want to admit to her privileged position as it doesn't align with her "frugal" brand image. She must be making a tidy sum with all her constant affiliate linkss dressed up as helpful advice.

You can’t resell Kelloggs love.

Look, anyone who is effectively just off maternity leave and with a baby in childcare, who also has other kids AND plans to save ten thousand pounds in between trips to Centre Parcs is rich. Sorry. They just are. There is absolutely NOTHING in her posts that shows how you can save that level of money on an ordinary wage through her “frugal” tips. She spunks hundreds and hundreds of pounds on unnecessary fashionable items all the time and just because she doesn’t buy them brand new all the time we’re meant to think this is a money saving tip. It’s fucking not. Buying all branded food items is also fucking not. Buying personalised journals from Papier, eating Hello Fresh, bespoke carpentry in your house instead of banging up some shelves, Elemis skincare - NOT FRUGAL. Take that out of her brand and address the actual problem - a spending addiction and struggling with the urge to follow every fashion trend and have a house fit for Instagram - and I’d be interested. I just cannot relate when she says “well with THIS baby I didn’t buy the latest version of every single thing brand new! Some of the baby stuff doesn’t even match, tee hee” and thinks it’s advice.

 

[melonsandlemons]

Yes, always justifying, getting defensive and uppity when someone dares ask a polite question, despite saying she enjoys a healthy debate unless someone's arse licking her she has a meltdown over the slightest criticism - definitely gone full on insta wanker!

She ends up in debt and poor money situations because she doesn’t address the root of the problem- her addiction. She is just lucky that right now other people are funding her lifestyle. She isn’t working an ordinary job, she is monopolising vulnerable people in order to benefit her. People who she once was, trying to find way to solve money problems.
The trouble is she encourages spending still but doesn’t see this. People don’t need to sign up to hello fresh, or gousto they need to just cook homemade meals. They don’t need to use snoop to see where they spend, they just need to sit down with a pen and paper. She is encouraging people to spend needless money as she gains from it and until she addresses that she is part of the problem.
There have been no frugal tips this year. Frugal does not mean saving £10,000 in a year, or putting away £1000 a month. No normal salary can do this. Buying expensive items second hand so they hold their value for resale- no just buy cheap and cheerful fit for purpose. Why expensive brands?
She is a snob that has got addicted and drawn into the instagrammer lifestyle. She has struggled with contracts and disappointment during this maternity leave apparently. This should be an insight into what happens when Instagram becomes dead. How will she fund her lifestyle then?

 

[Sure. name changed]

I really don’t like what-aboutisms but surely she can see how fortunate she is? Her kids have got a sickness bug or a cold or something incredibly minor in the grand scheme of things. She works from home, full time, for herself. She has the ability to push deadlines or work in the evening, during naps or presumably since her boys are older while they sit on the couch watching TV. Imagine how much work she could get done if she wasn’t raising her eyebrows on Instagram several times a day.

 

[D78]

It's weird with her because I loved her in the beginning.. and was genuinely happy that they managed to buy a house after renting.
I went off her a bit when she did a spending diary and I saw that she spent so much on eating out etc, she justified this with being busy/ pregnant and didn't take well to peoples opinions if they didn't agree. If she was still in the early days of her account she wouldn't have been spending like that.. obviously she's a lot more well off now but the people that followed her in the beginning, are prob still in a place where they have to be frugal with money if they are paying debt etc, as they probably haven't had quite the cash injection that she had to help her out of debt
And I guess she's not so relatable to them anymore.. it's a blessing and a curse if Instagram I guess

 

[Brightlycolouredbowels]

I am so glad she has a thread. I think I started following her early on, (around 2019?) after seeing an article about her in a Sunday supplement. She’d only just worked out she had 27k debt and hadn’t really started paying it off. If I’m honest she was a bit of a ‘hate follow’ from the start because she seemed to take no responsibility and blame social media for her debt, I remember something about a £250 rug she couldn’t afford but bought anyway because she saw it in a nice house on instagram or some nonsense. My memory is hazy but I think she also got pregnant with her second whilst in a sh!tload of debt which seems so irresponsible as children are so expensive. I accept that I am in the fortunate position of never having been in debt but she wasn’t struggling to make ends meet, she was just wasting money on sh!t. I eventually unfollowed when her book came out because every post made me angry.

It seems from what I’ve read here that nothing has changed, she still spends money on sh!t, she just has more money. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has a massive panic over an unpaid tax bill at some point because she never realised that self-employed people have to submit a tax return and can’t just spend everything in their bank account.

She has proved nothing as she paid off her debt by getting lucky with a book deal like others have said. I put her in the same bracket as the 20 year olds bragging that they’ve bought a house through saving and budgeting carefully whilst conveniently forgetting that they live in an area where a 3 bed semi only costs 150k and mummy and daddy gave them 100k for a ’deposit’.

 

[marjorytrashheap]

Childhood (ironically considering how exploited they are by influencer parents) is the least aesthetic/Instagrammable going but they are all absolutely delusional. Lean into it, kids see their peers wearing character clothes and covet that type of stuff not artsy scandi brands - and you can pick the stuff they want at Asda et al for <£10! It’s adults pushing their own status anxiety on kids introducing them to aesthetic ££ Maileg mice etc. We have some aesthetic Grimms etc stuff but it’s sporadically played with and certainly not worth the cost per play, sorry for rant but you’d think a frugal account would be the first to keep it real and liberate us from the bullshit around kids lifestyle content! Not everything has to be aesthetic the fashion police don’t do home visits with the HV ffs.

I live in an area that used to be cheap (which is why I could afford it!) and suddenly became very very expensive and trendy. I am utterly surrounded by people who work in media/fashion/god knows what, and all their children are dressed in neutrals, greys, beiges - and these clothes are EXPENSIVE. Like £100 jackets. FOR SCHOOL! You should see the lost property, ISTG I could start a Vinted empire. So I do get being influenced by all this and wanting it too. But you have to put the kids first. What do they want? What do they like? I get tons of hand-me-downs from family and richer friends and my kids genuinely love getting them and picking what they want. Which are often the least trendy, instagrammable things you've ever seen haha. Why do none of these people have kids who want to wear Arsenal tops from three seasons ago, it's a mystery. Why is there never a pile of loom bands or LOL dolls with their hair cut, or an action figure with an arm off. Why do the kids never want to stick pictures they've drawn/posters out of the Beano/Taylor Swift stickers on their walls. It's such shite.

But that's my ongoing frustration with bloggers like this - I'm always looking for tips or info on saving money from people who say they're in my position (mortgage about to shoot through the roof when we come off a fix, multiple kids, both working parents etc) - and I get crap like "write down all your finance goals in a £25 notebook with an £80 pen! Sip from a £45 earthenware mug as you do it. Invest in wooden toys that will last forever" (course they'll last forever, they'll never get touched. And guess what else lasts forever? Plastic).

Sorry for this rant, I'm just....rrrrargh.

 

[Debarkle]

I follow as like others find her advice really helpful and the idea of mindful spending etc. However having seen her baby list tonight I'm quite shocked at some of the thingsbshe thinks are nessecary / essential purchases especially as this is her 3rd baby. But maybe she had to be more tight before with her budget

I saw that spreadsheet and finally understood how she got in to so much debt in the first place.

 

[WhyYouCry?]

Basically… shall I make loads of cash through #ads and freebies, or shall I carry on whinging about being skint?

 

[Neverheardofit]

I can't stand this pretence that buying expensive clothes is some sort of virtuous investment. A £14 dress from asda can last years too (speaking from experience!)

 

[ohcomeon99]

I wondered if there was a thread and if it was just me that was feeling a way and I’m glad to see it’s not just me.

She has a problem with shopping and spending. She was forced into a position to address it but the second she was able to monitise her content, she did and the spending started. I’ve yet to see any actual money saving tips as of late and it’s been replaced by her justifying her spending.

I was done the second she partnered with Klarna. I think it’s despicable when the average influencer with a following does it, let alone an apparent frugal champion.

Goes to show her “I’m one of the people” act was just that. She was quick to sell her soul.

 

[rather not stop]

I really like her, but she did do spon con for Klarna who are honestly one of the worst offenders for targeting women and pushing them to buy things they can't afford.

No way! Didn't she campaign against Buy Now Pay Later? That's an eye-opener.

 

[Missymoo92]

Anyone else in the same boat as me here?

Used to be relatable, now it's just posting about being frugal with "I know I'm lucky because I've had a slight increase of income".

Good for you, not everyone gets handed a magic Instagram book deal to clear their debt though

Also just seems a complete snowflake and can't handle any questions which isn't blowing smoke up her arse. And is clearly on the beg for baby freebies given her latest stories.

I'm not alone in this am I?

 

[marjorytrashheap]

Just read her post about buying baby items and clothes second hand and not necessarily the most expensive and new.
No shit Sherlock, it took you 3 kids to realise that? It is just common sense whether you are on a budget or not

It's so weird to me that she had to buy so much for this baby as well - was she a surprise maybe? I don't read all of her posts. You'd think you'd hang onto some bits from your older kids otherwise. And also, does she not have any friends or family with kids who give her hand-me-downs? I honestly got given SO many things secondhand from friends who'd completed their families, or things on loan if they were between babies. Some of my friends said they'd thought about selling them but the resale value is so low (if you've just bought ordinary stuff and not Mori) that it was easier just to pass it on to someone else. It was funny, I was helping out on a school trip and the woman running the workshop (whos is also a mum at school) asked my 5 year old daughter a question and said "I'll ask you because my daughter used to have a cardigan just the same as yours. But she's 14 now!" Then another mum said "actually, that is your daughter's cardigan, you gave it to me years ago and I gave it to her after my two were finished with it" LOL. The never-ending cardie. And I've now passed it on to another friend so it lives on! And it was only a Tu one. You don't need to spend £100 on something for it to last!

 

[D78]

Tips on how to pay off debt of £27000 in 2 years.. and get a house deposit... umm get lucky on Instagram

 

[LavaFlake]

It’s insane to me that she posted about the “financial burden” of a daughter who can only use pampers whilst using Elemis skincare herself. For people on low incomes the price difference between own brand and branded nappies must be a lot but when you’re spending £££ on your skin I’m sorry but it’s inexcusable to then publicly moan about something your infant daughter can’t control? It’s kind of giving Jack Monroe vibes.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

There’s not as much cash sloshing around but influencers are used to a certain level of income so the bar is going lower and lower.

This is 🤌 and exactly it! The game is up for most of them, one travel blogger was complaining about influencers taking unpaid trips… because this game is and will always just be a lifestyle job for the intergenerational wealth girlies or for those who’ve married well. Smart normal women have made hay whilst the sun was shining but anyone with a bit of dignity will be looking for their way out now as the only way is down, one influencer who claimed to not get out of bed for less than £500 a day (total shit her companies house filings were… sparse lol) has since flogged frozen fish on her Insta grid unless you want to do a Lisa Rinna and star in ads for incontinence pants then the time to exit is v much now.

Even the platforms these influencers are flogging on are dying, the economy is fucked, and people are rejecting excess in favour of deinfluencing and anti overconsumption content. The funny thing is if Clare leant into all that she’d grow an audience and remain well liked, just one she can’t monetise so clearly not interested.

5 odd slides flogging hello fresh though - fuck me!

 

[LavaFlake]

Someone needs to tell her to stop using her Instagram as a Dear Diary.

 

[rather not stop]

She'll be hoping for a #kindlygifted holiday.

We're going on our first abroad holiday in 5 years. Saved and saved and saved. She's so fucking judgemental. Used to love her page but now she's just another influencer.

 

[WhyYouCry?]

I followed MFY from the start and really rated her. As soon as she got the book deal she became less relatable to me… like, we could all get out of debt if we got a massive book deal to pay it off? I stopped following at that point as she just wasn’t relevant to me anymore.
I started following again about 6 months ago after she popped up on my Instagram and was shocked at what the account had become TBH. All of a sudden she seemed to be someone with a pretty luxury lifestyle, panicking that she might have to cut her cloth a bit. And her inability to take any form of criticism infuriates me.