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

[Chocolate2008]

She is such a witch. One question re: visually tired and she has to be snarky about it in her sign-off. I’m prob going to block her instead of unfollow so I don’t continue to see any of her things on the explore page and won’t be tempted to check in with her.

I really struggle with this aspects of influencers & Alex is far from alone, they run a business account like they think it’s a personal one. The professional thing to do would have been to either ignore the question or just respond saying my style is max. Not have a dig 3 times in a short Q&A.

 

[uberoblique]

She’s not stylish enough to be a house influencer. Her renovations are average and look a bit cheap, and her house is cluttered & not particularly aesthetically pleasing unless you’re 5 years behind and still think gallery walls are the height of chic. She doesn’t seem to understand value and what’s important to get right and/or spend money on.

vs.someone like Katherine Ormerod who cosmetically renovated her rented house with a baby the same age as Cato and a husband that appears to work full time. It looks brilliant, so good the Telegraph took photos this week. I’d take Katherine far more seriously if she told me something was worth buying.

 

[uberoblique]

I criticise her for lots of things but you have to give her a pass for how “correctly” she talks about her termination of the twin pregnancy. It’s a terrible situation and a huge psychological scar to carry around.

Reading between the lines it sounds like the doctors were unthinking & left the twins for her to see as products of conception whereas in her mind (and quite rightly) they’re her babies. It would have been traumatic to see them like that.

 

[Spiesandliea]

fuck off mate
This is what a lot of us do, it’s called working from home or even just working. I worked 8-6 today, got home fed the kids and myself, put them to bed and now I’m sat working on my computer and probably will be until midnight when I’ll start all over again.
You and your husband are work shy

 

[BillieR]

I don't know how I feel about not buying from charity shops if you're not skint. There is so much stuff in charity shops, surely it's best to buy second hand regardless of your income?

 

[Readinginks]

The reasoning of a comfortable middle class: “You can’t buy a dress for £40”. Yes, Alex, you can. It may not be designer but are you really frugal if you don’t consider options other than high-end priced designer clothes?.

 

[Polly Pocket]

She’s made some good points about renting though. About mindset change and how actually on a smaller scale (if you had a local “clothes swapping” model rather than generic online renting) it is effective. I am guilty of buying so many clothes I never wear and have about 40 occasion dresses that either don’t fit me right now or are too fancy to wear very often. If there was a good option for me to loan them to people locally, I would!

Totally - I just find the fact that she’s making those points whilst almost constantly flogging/upselling really nauseating. Imagine the positive impact if she stopped affiliate linking her every move? It’s great to try and shift your behaviour but suggesting that you only buy ethically and for longevity when 12hrs before you’ve posted about the fast fashion summer dresses you’ve bought for a possible holiday when there’s like 2 weeks of summer left and you clearly have enough clothes for a life time is just wayyyyy to disingenuous for me. She rented that dress for effect not because she has any sort of commitment to shift her own consumption habits or to encourage those around her to do the same.

 

[Venuslurker]

How amazing it must be to be so privileged that the only way you can claim you are disadvantaged in the world is the fact you wear glasses. Very expensive, probably gifted, glasses.

 

[Smallwomble]

So yesterday she did a paid ad for the anya hindmarch sample sale at the box, gushing over handbags. Today she’s at a handbag exhibition saying she’s not bothered about handbags and showing us her next tote she uses most days
I don’t get her.

 

[PastorBake]

She’s mentioned babyproofing a lot lately. My money is on an - ever so organic - advert coming next week on this.

Otherwise baby proofing is simple - move stuff, get lock thingys for drawers/cupboards and move dangerous or breakable stuff!

I absolutely cant listen to any baby proofing advice from her after that ridiculous post with the bookshelves above the cot that loads of people rightly called her out on.

 

[Libertine]

The Frugality we all wistfully remember, with the beautifully put together outfits and stylish home, was firmly an aspirational lifestyle account. It featured lots of travel, weekends away, meals out, on trend clothes and gorgeous, impractical interiors.

On reflection, probably 90% of that lifestyle was achieved with gifted or discounted stuff. Alex was just in the right place at the right time and she rode that influencing wave hard.

I feel businesses are becoming more discerning with where their influencing pounds go and that combined with the constraints of small, demanding children means her lifestyle is no longer enviable for her audience. It’s very ordinary and boring actually.

Alex seems resentful that her influencing career and lifestyle have been impacted so much by having children and I know I didn’t follow her for bib recommendations. She’s no longer frugal, stylish or interesting.

 

[Author123]

Looks like she got her longed for ad with specssavers… maybe now the onslaught of glasses every Friday will stop?!

 

[Readinginks]

Please - the bathroom ‘needs’ a refresh…it looks perfectly fine; they’re just stuffing around for ‘content’

Yeah, repainting the bathroom secures them at least another 6 months of painting content

 

[BatteredVeg]

Your secret two storey extension

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Don't blame the baby years either, most women would love to have the extra flexibility she's had being freelance and, regardless of what she puts out on social the finances to take extra time off!

I really struggle to understand why influencers complain about “juggling” child care and work and AS isn’t the only one by far.

Without remote working I probably wouldn’t have bothered going back to work after mat leave. I work a well paid 9-5 PAYE job but my salary isn’t necessary in the grand scheme of things, the LO’s stuff is more important. But thanks to wfh we can wake up whenever she wants to wake up, have a gentle morning, walk her to nursery (or go to the park beforehand if the weather is lovely), drop her, read / breakfast / skin care, start work, do chores around my day, let workmen and cleaners in, get my post delivered (and take it in for neighbours), if I’m on a company wide call at end of day collect LO early and put it on the tv so we can play and I can listen. I am SO grateful I don’t have the pressure and stress of mums before me who had to get their kids rushed out the door to hit narrow windows of drop off time & specific trains, dreading the x line being down or delays across xyz. My quality of life is brilliant and it’s been such a lovely gentle way to ease back into work, and that’s with a technical and skilled job that requires quality output (that I receive feedback from, no #bekind in the ~corporate world~!). I cannot understand how influencers can complain about it, their work isn’t even challenging? They’re copying and pasting sales spiel into Insta posts? Are they alright?!

 

[Dizzy]

Oh this ‘I give you free content, aren’t I a fucking saint’ bollocks triggers the living shit out of me. It’s your choice to dick about on Instagram all day, YOIR CHOICE.

 

[AutumnDays]

I know people say she's covering Peggy's face because she's in school, but she should do the same for the boy. It gives me the impression something is wrong with her.

Not wanting to start an argument but using a phrase such as ‘something is wrong with her’ is an awful thing to say and would upset any parent with a child who has special needs.

Alex probably has decided she doesn’t want to share Peggy’s face anymore now that she is a little older and would be more recognisable.

 

[Polly Pocket]

It’s way more calculated than that. She started posting about bras a few weeks ago so the Ad didn’t feel completely random while she was on holiday. She’s trying to create that frictionless feel between sponsored posts and her personal content but she’s way too clunky to manage it.

I also can’t believe she’s quoting Michaela
Cole’s very poignant speech from the Emmys. She’s literally no idea what it really means. Alex thinks taking a two week break from Insta then posting pictures of her dirty plate on holiday is “disappearing for a while then waiting to see what comes in the silence.”

 

[EllsBellsWells]

Also to recap- her deliberately covering up the fact she actually had a two storey extension when she’s claiming it was only the kitchen.

Asking us to donate cash to her and her husband who choose not to get jobs.

Greedily grabbing all the £1.99 fruit/veg boxes when she can afford not to.

And using her miscarriage as an excuse to let her baby sleep in a really dangerous setup

 

[LyraBalaqua]

I do not know anyone in real life who would think it acceptable to leave that patio like that, it’s a day’s work , tops!

They are so frustrating as a couple , totally limp like there’s no backbone to them.