We're all Secret Spenders some of the time, after all who's never got the end of the month and wondered where all their money has disappeared to?
But Anita Rani is determined to help people whose overspending is getting out of hand in this new three-part C4 series.
The Countryfile presenter will be secretly filming the spending habits of three cash-strapped families in a bid to help them control their excessive spending and the hidden cameras soon throw up plenty of surprises!
Anita on the idea behind Secret Spenders (starts Monday 23 August on C4 at 8.30pm)...
"Me and my team are called in by one person in a family who’s slightly concerned about the spending habits of their partner. We set-up cameras in the house to secretly film them, follow them around a bit and show them both what we’ve discovered. Then my crack team, financial advisor Emmanuel Asuquo and lifestyle expert Anna Whitehouse, go through everything with them and leave them with a much better understanding of how they could save money. It's basically what we all need in our lives! I could do with Anna and Emmanuel coming into my life and telling me what to do in my finances!"
Anita on the first episode of Secret Spenders
"Helen and Andy are from Southampton and she calls us in because she thinks he’s spending all their cash on expensive collectibles. They've got a decent income of about £5,000 between them every month, but they just seem to have nothing left at the end of it and they can't figure out what they are spending their money on."
"As with most of the cases it wasn’t quite that simple! Andy was spending a lot online, but Helen was also spending hundreds of pounds on beauty products, which is linked to how she feels about herself. That’s something many of us can relate to and it made me a bit teary, but it also highlighted how our spending is linked to emotions."
Anita on the emotions of spending money...
"You get a rush of excitement when the doorbell rings and something arrives, but it’s stressful when there’s no money left at the end of the month. Buying stuff online is the modern way though and the pandemic has only made that worse. When you get an Uber or order a Deliveroo there’s no cash involved, so it’s easy to trick yourself into thinking it’s basically free!"
Anita on the biggest overspending pitfalls..
"Food was a massive one. We met people who were spending a lot of money at the supermarket, but then getting takeaways all the time when they had hundreds of pounds worth of food in the house. People ignoring their finances was a recurring theme as well.
"In the first episode we found out that Andy took out a loan to buy a camper van because it was Helen’s dream to go on road trips around the country, but they’ve only taken it out twice! They’re thinking one day we’ll live our dream, but in the meantime they’re hemorrhaging cash! We have two experts, but I joked that we should have brought a marriage counsellor along as well, as some people are together for years and never have a conversation about money!"
Anita on allowing Secret Spenders cameras into her house...
"Me and my husband are pretty straight with each other over our spending, although I have to say he does love a power tool! I always know where he's going to be when we go to B&Q. My guilty pleasure is expensive scented candles, I would never be able to tell my mum how much I spend on them, she would be furious!"
Anita on her new book 'The Right Sort of Girl'...
"I loved writing that in lockdown and there are so few stories about growing up as a South Asian girl in Yorkshire. I asked my mum for permission to write it and she said I should tell my story for all the women who didn’t get to tell their story!"
