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

[Exhaustednurse]

Of all the things to ‘bring awareness’ to, picking glasses feels like one of the biggest possible shows of privilege. Is there really no other cause close to her heart that she wants to use her platform for?! It’s just all very bizarre.

it’s a joke is at it. Making out that she’s on some sort of crusade for glasses wearers.
The people who Alex should be championing is women with young kids, juggling work and getting through those Pre school years. That’s something that’s worth exploring properly

she can’t though because it’s those women that she gaslights in order to make her own living.

 

[VNaylor]

Cue incoming angry series of Instagram stories showing the world’s most beautiful women in large glasses, proving nothing other than the fact that the world’s most beautiful women can wear virtually anything and still look beautiful.

Ha! Nailed it - some pictures of people with glasses like hers in stories today

 

[Author123]

Me neither. Especially when the chances are that most (or at least 50%) of the posters here likely wear glasses or contact lenses. It’s such a non-thing. I can’t imagine anyone thinking less of anyone else whether they choose to wear glasses or contacts at all. Some people need them, others don’t, and it’s been that way since primary school: end of story.

(Also, surprise, surprise: good looking celebrities/models/influencers look good wearing glasses. Reposting all their pictures doesn’t prove anything, but then again I’m still at a loss at what the point/purpose is of all the Friday posts)

 

[Readinginks]

How can they relax with all that shit around them? There is no family living space for them to sit in!! Surrounded by boxes of crap. That must be so detrimental for their mental health.

Didn’t you hear they live in a minimalist home?

I think this is exactly what that poster implied with the question of visual fatigue.

 

[PineappleQueen19]

She’s seen Erica Davies range of boots for people with larger calves and wants a similar niche. The thing is Erica is clever at picking up on trends - seeing gaps where she can address an actual need. And being the conduit between her audience and brands. For example I think she did good work highlighting the lack of cool, age appropriate (ie not descending into gender cliche) clothing for boys and consulted for a few high street brands about it. (Apologies if I have remembered that wrong). Erica knows when it’s not about her.

but alex is genuinely baffling because strong statement glasses have been in fashion for a very long time from high fashion advertising all the way down. She’s not addressing a need except her own neediness over a few people on a niche forum saying they thought her glasses didn’t suit her? Such a weird thing to turn into the hill you want to die on.

 

[Polly Pocket]

The newsletter is bewildering. A ‘feature’ on free days out in London with kids includes the Tate and Kings Cross? E.g. two of the best known locations in the city? That’s the ‘meaty’ content she promised as justification for going to bi-weekly newsletters? My 7 year old could have whipped that up in about 20minutes. I’m honestly at a loss. Can she possibly believe this is meaningful content or does she just not give an F?

 

[Just watching it all]

She thinks everything is expensive if she has to pay for it!

 

[BatteredVeg]

Subscription services are not something I would expect anyone who is encouraging frugality to promote. They are the worst way to fritter money away without realising it.

 

[Bla bla bla yawn]

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.

She’s always banging on “free make up doesn’t pay the mortgage” aye it doesn’t but it’d save me a few £100 so would the free clothes/food/art/towels/bedding etc etc

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

It doesn’t matter how many old plastic bottles are in your hat. If you didn’t need a hat then not only is it not sustainable, it means you are actively contributing to the planet being on the brink of totally fucked.

Lmao the irony of sustainability messaging with (gifted)

Yes gifted so you can encourage us all to buy it, which is part of the reason we’re in the mess we’re in!

 

[Venuslurker]

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?

Yes we should all try and buy second hand if we can. It's a very old fashioned view that charity shops are for "poor people" and is very stigmatising . Charity shops are businesses and as such are
priced pretty competitively.

 

[BatteredVeg]

I’m not a fan of the whole thing. I don’t like the way she frugally saved money on white metro tiles (which are cheap as chips) and used square tiles set in a metro pattern. I don’t like the way the stripes line up with the tiles. I hate the pink colour on the woodwork generally (it’s quite something to make pink look depressing), and wtf is that lampshade? No wonder it looked gloomy. Thinking of the light patterns thrown off that shade against the stripes, the patterned floor just out of sight and the grouting of the faux metro tiles makes me feel ill. It’s just all too much. The ridiculous “non spon” disclosure at the end of the post too. Click bait. It’s dulux folks, not some top secret paint brand.

 

[Yoyolady]

I think she totally lost momentum when she split the accounts and turned the Frugality into Alexandra Steadman. Neither account had a distinctive identity and seemed a pointless move.

 

[EllsBellsWells]

It would be awful if people saw this and stopped donating stuff though- the shop I volunteer at is always crying out for stuff. If a charity doesn’t want the donations they will usually tell you when you go in?

I definitely agree about selling stuff yourself though- I’ve sold the odd thing on Depop and there’s something nice about knowing it’s going directly to someone who wants it. You don’t get that with charity shops and I know some stuff can sometimes end up sat about for a bit before being sold. I tend to do a mixture now, sell certain things whilst still donating to charity.

Also I’m starting to get really fed up of the narrative only ever being about what to do with clothes AFTER you’ve bought them. Would love to see influencers embrace and promote buying less in the first place- but of course that doesn’t make them dollar does it

 

[Boutros-Boutros Ghali]

Not Alex related as such….but the irony of her sister using her child to advertise a freebie book she got about teaching kids about boundaries and privacy….

 

[Boutros-Boutros Ghali]

Noticed in comments when someone asked for hotel recommendations she said “we stay in an apartment”.

imagine if she’d given the honest answer: “we stay in my parents apartment.... because I come from wealth, that’s how I manage to go on holiday after mat leave and live in an expensive house in London while working part time. Because, dear followers, it’s a lie that you can have what I do while doing what I do without some generational wealth behind you. So don’t feel bad if you’ve not managed to make do and mend your way to a house deposit, because the truth is no amount of supposed frugality could ever get you there. As a self proclaimed crusader for the average woman I’m just putting that out there so as not to perpetuate this harmful myth. The end. Love Frugal Alex”

IMAGINE

You forgot to add that we actually shop in Sainsbury’s but we like to pretend we go to Lidl so you all think we know how it feels to struggle too but theres no chance we’d actually really shop there through choice….

 

[Mustard]

Her persuading her followers to buy that £9 box of matches was something I still can’t understand.

 

[Exhaustednurse]

All her books that she plans on reading are freebies. They’ve been doing the instahun rounds this week.
Again - easy to be ‘frugal’ when you are gifted things like books that us mere mortals have to pay for ourselves

 

[Now What]

I don't think I can take much more of her. The unpacked suitcases in that pigsty sitting room! She doesn't know if it's the day to put the bins out! The kids are sick but at least the bathroom is painted. What are these work deadlines? Why does she have to take a picture of herself eating junk food?

She had her kitchen organised, maybe someone can take pity on them and clean the rest of the mess.

 

[AutumnDays]

Probably off to her parents house in Spain, I think she mentioned at one stage she hoped to go as they had flights booked from months ago that they had to push out a few times.

Her recent adverts with the wonder pot company and Gumtree probably have enabled her to take it easy for August. She increases her presence on SM leading up to adverts and then quietens down afterwards, so taking a break is nothing unusual - she won’t need her followers as much until the next Ad.