The Frugality #5 Weeks and months to tile a floor, we love to cosplay being poor

[EllsBellsWells]

My thread suggestion…

‘Secret Tory, who hates the BBC, easy to be Frugal when everything is free’

 

[youguyzzz]

There's no way Alex doesn't watch those Sally Rooney BBC dramas, and probably Dolly Alderton's new thing, or plonk Cato in front of Cbeebies, this is just performative. She needs to take "frugal" out of her brand, her life is unattainable to me and I earn good money and don't have kids, but I can't afford a big house in North London or Sezane dresses or Oddbox or frequent trips to Coal Drops Yard to buy £40 artisinal soap dishes or whatever she harps on about.
I can easily afford £13 a month so I can watch Love Island at the same time as everyone else, a £10-15 bottle of wine when my friends cook me dinner and my other half is allowed shampoo when he showers. Don't mean to brag, guys.

 

[PineappleQueen19]

Sorry but I’m still on the flowers. Another aspect I find galling is that flowers wrapped in brown paper is cosplaying that they are from a local independent florist. Which costs more because they are a small business and don’t have the supply chain / buying power of multinational supermarkets. If you can’t / won’t support small business in any particular aspect that’s fine but don’t ape their presentation to elevate yourself socially, it’s bullshit. Yet when Alex is flogging meal planners and matches it’s all #supportsmallbiz. One rule for me…

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Some ideas for content to bounce back with:

* save money by cancelling all charitable direct debits
* save on taxes by having two adults draw dividends & a salary from the one person’s earnings via a Ltd
* unwanted gifts from brands make the chicest dinner party gifts!
* super duper tax hack: ask your parents for your multi million pound inheritance BEFORE they pass!
* stealing hand wash from members only clubs: a victimless, but chic, crime!

 

[Dizzy]

Ah poor Alex, what a hard life she has owning a massive house in an affluent area, shopping and afflinking for a living, putting her children in full time childcare, going on gifted holidays, spending her days eating free food and looking for pictures of people in glasses. My heart bleeds, what a trooper. In fact, fuck it: I’m gonna start a GoFundMe for her poor disadvantaged ass.

 

[jaymie]

would you kindly fuck off. No one ask you to quit your day job to do full time influencing.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

As if her readers on that page even need to pinch pennies in that way anyway?!

This is exactly her brands’ problem! Nothing she shares is to do with saving, it’s all about how to redivert the most money possible from fixed outgoings to (already excessive) discretionary spending which is a bit when you consider she’s proposing defunding the BBC to… fund high volume plastic producers/polluters?!

Like all her content can be is how to keep up appearances with your more financially capable peers. Eg shove the kitchen on a credit card (!), refill or re-wrap cheap stuff expensively, and pray your parents pick up the tab when serious damp/structural issues are found in the house as you prioritised interiors for Instagram. The thing is there is an audience for this sort of content so go for it hun, but pls don’t suggest defunding things that help low income people !

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Another god awful tone deaf post. If these bargains are in limited supply then maybe leave it for people on universal credit or worse not entitled to UK benefits due to their immigration status, or just anyone struggling, not for people who want to rearrange their household budget so they can afford Aesop soap?

 

[BlairWaldorf86]

Is this a Tattler or 2 🫢 I hope not! More people need to be driven to this thread!

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

I’m surprised she’s not doing it as a printable instead - charge people for the downloaded template and they can print themselves. Saves her the postage and faff. Better for the environment, easier for her. Might sell more overall and doesn’t go out of stock.

This is a useful idea but defs far beyond the comprehension of someone whose business model requires 3 adults to spend all day counting matches

 

[maliceinwanderlust]

Absolutely agree! I was one of those kids who woke up with ice INSIDE the bedroom windows in winter. I've experienced periods of poverty since (homelessness etc) but am now fortunate enough to be a home owner, have a steady job, and a good household income.

Of course we're having to consider money with costs going up and uni costs to fund for my son. For me that means choosing camping holidays rather than overseas this year. Reducing our Netflix to the basic version. It doesn't mean deliberately getting to a shop as early as you can to take fresh fruit and veg away from those who can't afford it any other way. Or evading our TV licence. Maybe because I've been poor I have some basic respect for those going through it.

What's next Alex? How to tailgate on the tube? How to bag disabled discounts? Best clothes to wear for begging?!

 

[EllsBellsWells]

The TV License post is disgusting.

We look set to lose the BBC in the near future (cuts already happening because of the governments license fee freeze) and once it’s gone we’ll never get it back. It costs 13 sodding quid a month and is a lifeline for those on low incomes, people who are lonely/isolated and anyone with kids. I can’t think of anything else that provides thousands of hours of content (across several platforms) for anywhere near this price.

If you don’t have a TV then that’s different, and I understand that some people won’t be able to carry on paying for it and so cancelling seems fair enough, but in my opinion if you can afford the stuff she is constantly promoting (dresses for hundreds of pounds, expensive holidays) you should be putting money in to the pot for a public service that has been vital to this country for the last hundred years.

 

[Spiesandliea]

So here’s some tea tattle folk. I went to an event tonight and Alex was there. It was quiet a glamorous event, she looked like a bag lady. Wandered in wearing that gingham dress, raggedy old sandals and loads of bags. It was actually quiet embarrassing

 

[BlairWaldorf86]

Nothing to add re carbs in general, but maybe we could use a trigger warning for s*urd*ugh, seeing as it is so expensive and wouldn’t want to upset any poor people like myself who can’t afford it.

Spoiler: Don’t click if you spent all your money on tiger tat

 

[CornedBeefHashtag]

The whole ‘frugal’ angle for Alex stemmed from her wanting to budget & economise in order that she could buy luxury items (Bella Freud jumpers, diptyque candles etc) as a low paid fashion assistant in London (which is a whole other discussion that has been touched upon here before - the vast majority doing these coveted jobs come from a privileged background because how else can you afford to).

That’s all well and good and there is a place for that (although maybe not so much in today’s climate as opposed to 5 years ago). But trying to twist this frugal concept to align with today’s cost of living crisis (which it truly is for those on a genuine low income/means tested benefits) does not sit well at all. Trotting out these ‘frugal’ suggestions of not paying the tv licence, buying up the budget veg boxes, sacrificing sourdough etc to her audience is crass.

 

[louderforthecheapseats]

Also most people have to fit 5 days work into 4 if it’s a bank holiday…isn’t that what happens in all jobs? The work doesn’t just disappear because it’s been a bank holiday

 

[pandysbox]

How can you not afford sourdough, but can afford a two story extension?

Thread title!

 

[Avocadoontoast]

I’m sorry, she is not someone with money issues. There are people in this country with serious money issues stressing about how to pay their basic bills and afford groceries. She is so out of touch with reality. She’s basically teaching middle class ‘white’ folks how to live a ‘champagne lifestyle on lemonade money’. Her using the term ‘frugality’ is just plain insulting, especially in the current climate we’re in.

 

[Pegsypog]

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would you kindly fuck off. No one ask you to quit your day job to do full time influencing.

How about all those days off in ikea, tiger and buying plants??

 

[Readinginks]

Why did they have to lay that grass last year if they knew everything would be ripped up in less than 10 months. Why do they need superficial wasteful quick fixes for everything and then keep replacing them by equally wasteful improvements rolling on every few months. I know most people are impatient when planting and want the full luscious greenery effect from day one, but do they not realise these are plants that will grow and need space. Alex loves to pretend how eco-conscious she is, but her attitude towards the garden has showed to me her worst side. Fair enough not everyone is into gardening, but then those people usually stick with simple design. Somehow cutting down the lovely trees and tearing everything out of the garden every few months has made me really dislike Alex. She claims to love original features of places but in fact she doesn’t seem to have much real appreciation of them. She is not nurturing the place they bought simply using it all as reason for her sickening consumerism.