The Frugality #3 content is free, don’t care if it’s drivel, shopping in Sainsbury’s, pretending it’s Lidl

[PineappleQueen19]

Oh ffs these influencers. Giving yourselves an “allowance” of 35K each from the business to live on is *nothing* like someone on a £35k salary (or two ppl on 70k combined) and I really wish they would stop presenting it as any sort of equivalence.

All the influencers are doing is giving themselves a meagre but doable (in their eyes) amount of easily accessible cash to live on and keeping the rest slightly harder to get to so it’s not frittered away. In other words a basic self imposed budget

Living on 70k combined when it’s 1. Your choice and 2. easy if you need to access more in an emergency - that’s a piece of cake. It’s the never ending stress of surviving on lower & some middling incomes that grinds you down. (And I appreciate there are many many many hard working people/families getting by on a lot less, and also that 35k/year reads differently in various parts of the country).

Plus a lot easier to stretch a 70K spending pot when it’s constantly being topped up with freebies and #kindlygrifted vouchers and gift cards.

It’s just another way for influencers to play their followers - “I’m just like you, trying to make ends meet! Buy me a coffee!” Meanwhile the cold hard cash is stacking up.

 

[MeWithTheHair]

Ok so this is probably dorky and petty but has really pissed me off today. The postal museum “had a cute mail train” - it’s the feckin Mail Rail, Alex! You’ve just been to the whole museum and didn’t get it?! Sure, it’s open and rideable and fun for visitors but it’s SUCH a cool interesting part of London history. It was built in the 1920s! To move the Mail around in tiny underground tunnels - it’s SO fascinating (if you’re into that sort of stuff) - it’s not a bloody teddy bear funfair ride… ugh. A bit expensive…?! Yeah. It used to only be open once every few years as part of Open House or very specialist events and cost a LOT to restore and reopen!

 

[Libertine]

Another life long glasses wearer who doesn’t have a chip on her shoulder.

You can’t even tap through the bloody stories as there are so many you’d end up with repetitive strain injury.

A couple of years ago, Erica Davies and Alex had the best eyes on IG for identifying trends, mixing high street and high end fashion, and adding high street trending pieces to their existing wardrobes.

Erica has written a book, has a boot collaboration with John Lewis, has had a couple of furnishing collaborations, is on TV and that’s just what I can think of quickly. Erica also does Sunday Styling that relies on images (No actual clothes required! Frugal! Environmentally conscious!) and she talks through her styling choices, plus she does a great Friday round up. I really look forward to Erica’s stories and as a result I have no problem with her advertisements, particularly as they are usually a good fit for her brand.

That’s the ‘free’ content I want: entertaining, relevant and useful. Not bloody fence painting or styling with fifty million baskets and flimsy shelves.

I know Alex is in the thick of the baby years, but she has been well left behind.

 

[Polly Pocket]

Oh F OFF with the sanctimonious posting about renting a dress. She’s such a dreadful consumer. Literally 70% of her content is about buying stuff and the other 20% about storage to put the stuff In. (I’ll leave 10% on the table for the fence). I just can’t believe she’s claiming to have an ethical, balanced approached to buying?!

Cool, fine, it’s Instagram, being vacuous and consumerist is the name of the game. But please lord don’t then lecture us about your ethical consumption habits and get on the soap box about a headline that is a little extrapolated, or worse yet the irritant followers who have dared to message you about it. What an ABSOLUTE joke. The level of cognitive dissonance she lives with is extraordinary

 

[Dustye]

I cannot love this post enough, it sums up Alex and all the other instahuns to perfection. It’s all a shame, and it’s essentially gaslighting women.

When this is called out is met by a response of ‘troll’ or ‘be kind’. There is no kindness from these saleswomen that are pretending to be relatable to sell you things.

I am 15 years older than Alex, work full time as does my DH, my kids are now in school and I’m 27 years into my profession so I am paid well. We are now in a position to afford holidays, house renovations and also the odd meal out.
The idea that she achieves all of the above and more in their existing set up is a joke. Even more a joke that the suggests it’s because she meal plans and buys some second hand baby clothes.

So to those women who look to Alex and think why I am not doing all that. Please believe me when I say I’ve been there, and years when they are very young are tough. Your money goes on childcare, you are knackered and feels like there are little rewards for it all. It will get better, it really does once they are in school.
Please don’t be taken in by scammers like Alex.

Thank you for saying this. Before I discovered Tattle I would look up to these mummy influencers and think I was doing it all wrong, because we feel completely broke, spending all our money on childcare, the house a half-finished mess, and with no family help (financial or otherwise). I'd look and feel like shit, then see their feeds and feel ten times worse that I wasn't being 'savvy' enough to afford the lifestyle, outfits, homes and lovely holidays they have. It was only when I realised how many of them have family wealth to fall back on that I felt totally manipulated and that I'd been comparing myself to people with incredible and unattainable privileges.

 

[PineappleQueen19]

It is wild that Alex made frugality her USP because she felt *so* disadvantaged compared to her more wealthy colleagues. Life’s so tough when you’re not the most privileged young person working for a glossy magazine in London

 

[CyberNannies]

I haven't seen the front of the house, but from the way everyone describes it, that would be one of the first things to work on. Not tiling the back patio. Hopefully, she's saved all the shards of tiles that match her front hall.

I was under the assumption she lost the twins due to falling down her stairs. I just read the blog post, very sad for them. This is none of my business but why wouldn't they have waited to have children when the home is safe and secure?

Because they wanted children? Plenty of people build/renovate with kids. Alex will likely be menopausal by the time they’ve finished the fence nevermind done the rest of the house.

It is uncalled for to criticise them for the home safety while talking about their unrelated baby loss. Having to make the decision to end the pregnancy must have been horrific for them.

 

[knickerbocker glory]

Thread suggestion: The Little Match Girl.

 

[Exhaustednurse]

They’ll have been gifted a massive deposit, she’s previously disclosed her salary and his can’t have been too dissimilar of giving up work to be her admin assistant makes sense.

I don’t begrudge her that as it’s literally what I’m organising for our daughter but idk if it’s a hangover from the budget’s harrowing reminder of wealth inequality in this country but I just find it insane that I’m her target audience as someone that could actually pay for Aesop alongside my mortgage, school fees, child’s savings, all the shit she’ll be given by her parents…. And yet she’s still moaning about money? And writing about it as if she has any authority? I want to hear from first gen everything who’ve built something for themselves from very little, not her. This content is just in such bad taste now, surely? Maybe I need to tune out of her content for a bit

I get it fully. Alex fails to acknowledge the privileged position she finds herself in. The idea that neither of them have salaried jobs from an employer, live in London and are doing expensive renovations means that they are not the ‘norm’ at all.

She also fails to acknowledge the impact of her gifted products on herself. She probably never gets that urge to ‘treat’ herself because she’s often sent free luxury goods. She has no concept of going months without a ‘treat’ and how difficult that can be especially when your doing a 50+ hour week and literally all your salary is on rent/childcare/bills.
Ive mentioned it before here but these years are the hardest ones (I found) where you have literally no spare cash at all. It’s bloody relentless and hard going on you individually and your relationship. Alex’s life of rented designer dresses, gallery walls, trips to Spain and Aesop soap is not reflective of the majority of families. It’s a sham.

But it does get easier. Childcare costs come down, and mentally I had the space to focus on my career more and a few years in my earnings increased. Only then did we start to have the odd holiday, meals out and finally some renovations to our home.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

I hate the m/c Insta bullshit, it's not even limited to the actual influencers either. The mums I met in the baby groups are all trying to become #reno #makingmemories #mummylife accounts, and it's driving me nuts. Filtered to fuck images of their perfect, boring as hell houses, separate accounts for their hideous extension projects, kids always perfect angels in designer outfits. Meanwhile my ankle biter is whacking me at bedtime, will only eat marmite on crumpets and refuses to bathe

Omg YES! Yes yes yes yes!!

#makingmemories huns, it’s never ending content too, you just have to see everything they do from a shit swing to bath time. And the influencer style captions that ngl tend to be poorly written so even cringier, it’s always a naff format like oh [trending middle class child’s name] how we adore you and your ferocious bravery [a load of emojis seemingly assigned to this child]. Conversations with them always the same, they always open asking what you and husband do so they can rank you in the mentally maintained hierarchy of ppl useful to them.

The extension accounts kill me too, like I’m all for an interesting or historically sympathetic reno but fuck me does a bit of B&Q laminate and a Howden’s kitchen really warrant a separate account? No one gives a fuck!

Sorry I’ve turned absolutely vile on this thread

 

[Exhaustednurse]

Lots of the Red magazine crew used to wax lyrical about the need for a Smythson diary. I reckon they were all gifted / heavily discounted and in Alex’s here is just undeclared.

This makes the whole frugal angle a total joke. Imagine receiving hundreds of pounds of free gifts and clothes regularly? Easy to appear ‘frugal’ when you don’t pay for clothes, stationary, beauty products, candles etc.

She is not skint and constantly saving up like she portrays. I’ve lived in London with two kids at her age (somewhere far less desirable too) and there is no way we could live in a self employed salary in the way they do. We couldn’t do that to put food on the table, never mind to go out for meals, go on breaks and do expensive renovations.

it’s all a sham.

 

[snarksnark]

Her old flat was in Tooting, not Clapham. They bought it for £238k in 2011 and sold it in 2016 for £500k, having gone up into the loft and converted (and also taken advantage of the hike in propery prices then). So they made £262k profit on that place, less whatever they spent on doing it up.

They bought their current place for £630k. So, not including any money they’ve paid off the mortgages or adding any for the works they did to either place, they would have had to have a mortgage in the region of £345k. Which means they have either had family help or she’s telling porkies about their income.

And Alex, you might be worried that I know all this, but it was easy enough to find from the information you posted on a public forum (rough locations, moving dates, pictures of both places).

 

[Polly Pocket]

I love your post + generally posts, I recognise your name. Agree re treat - the way they live is just SO bizarre, she may as well admit it’s a continuation of rich student life and just write for that cohort? They exist, so go get them!

I’m not doing an Alex and whinging about a lack of money btw as it’s not the case, it’s just as someone who’s worked our way into her position her advice/content for us is laughable, it really is. The cost of our childcare will never go down as we’re not eligible for any schemes etc (and we shouldn’t be, but let me land on this!) but what makes me laugh is this low level influencer set using their free hours or tax free vouchers to put their kids in childcare so they can compare Lick paint samples to tell us to buy? Seriously fuck off the government should look into gifted cash as part of income and give these rich kids’ allowances to mums on UC who have found the cost of childcare prohibitive to returning to work.

The whole thing is a joke. Tbh in the same way I had no interest in being friends with these spoilt brats at uni I don’t know why I’m now viewing their “grown up” content on Insta.

This!! I spent 3 years at my fancy university avoiding this nonsense (mainly because I worked practically full time) and here I find myself on my precious minutes off pondering her life?! But whilst I’m on the subject....We’ve also worked ourselves into a position of real privilege, high salaries, good area to live in etc but without parental support we’ve got a gigantic mortgage that will likely be with us till retirement. We earn way more than she claims to buy don’t seem to have nearly as much disposable income. I’m certainly not buying cashmere hats and hall mirrors at anywhere near the rate she is, takeaways or meals out are still considered and holidays planned and saved for. We’re not even particularly good with money and we’re generous with family (most of who have a pritty different set up). I absolutely wouldn’t claim to be frugal. There’s something that just absolutely does not add up about their set up, unless that is they have a tiny mortgage and aren’t thinking about things like pensions because they know they’re going to inherit? I honestly quite enjoy the lives of the rich and famous on insta when they’re honest about it all. It’s the hidden wealth that makes everyone else feel a bit shit about themselves that is just the pits.

 

[Polly Pocket]

But the caption. “Working around two kids and full time work”. WHHHHAAAAATTTTTT. WHATTTTT. No seriously she doesn’t think that’s full time work does she?! No seriously but SERIOUSLY!!!????

 

[Bleurghgram]

Saying she’s got a free trial of Amazon Prime just to watch Nine Perfect Strangers is pretty rich. Aren’t we supposed to pay creators for their content Alex?

 

[Boutros-Boutros Ghali]

I think Alex is retiring The Frugality brand and now it’s all about the Ads, one or two big brand Ads are probably enough to cover all bills and live well and also enable both herself and her husband to work petty much part-time.

The old Alex would never have advertised towels or saucepans but it’s ok now as it’s enabled her to take a month off work.

I think it’s time to unfollow. I liked her original style and content but now I have no interest in over-priced homewares and useless items, £60 candles, £25 paper placemats?!?! The bloody fence, I mean I can’t believe she did a blogpost about how to paint a fence and thinks that’s good content, yet it still isn’t finished. The begging for cups of coffee, hiding the extension and the Lidl deception….what a strange way to live your life….will rely on tattlers to keep me updated

 

[Boutros-Boutros Ghali]

IKEA is a fun day out for the kids…really. No offence to anyone that takes their kids there but there’s nothing worse than trying to find your way out of the place only to have someone’s kids trying to trip you up at every turn. Stick them in the crèche and get them a hot dog by all means but when I’m trying to get some malm drawers onto one of those springy trollies without putting my back out the last thing I need is trying not to take out someone’s little darling who is being allowed to run around like it some sort of soft play.

 

[I drink lemon juice]

I've just watched her 20 second house tour reel. I always thought you guys were being a little bit over the top when it came to how messy she was (I don't pay that much attention to her stories) but oh my god, the MESS. It's unreal. It's literally EVERYWHERE.

The living room. Jesus wept. How do they live like that?

 

[Spiesandliea]

Oh poor Alex how exhausted she must be to have a lovely holiday in Spain with her family, my heart breaks for her!
Christ! I’d bloody love to have a holiday this year or even next but that’s not happening as we are super skint from my husband being made redundant at the beginning of the year and being unable to find a new job yet. Also she didn’t even have to pay for the accommodation!
Ugh fuck off

 

[880411]

So she bought a flat for 238k and done a Reno on it when she was an intern/earning 18k
And had the cheek to start an insta page called the frugality
The gigs up Alex, it’s in bad taste to be cos playing a poor person