Interesting story this one, I’m musing it while I travel back on the train from filming in Nuneaton. This is a about a 25 year old dad/lad. The reason I say dad/lad is on the one hand he’s a doting father, who adores his toddler son. On the other hand it’s off to the pub with his mates and take-aways many nights a week.

The interesting thing here was until last January all was fine. Then he split with his girlfriend and it all went pear-shaped. In his words he thought “i’m going to have to go into debt as I’ve been left with the mortgage and other costs, so I’m just going to blow it.” Ten months later and £10k in debt, plus massively overspending, he deeply regrets it and wants a rescue.

I have to say the easy availability of credit is what made this happen. Normally as you’ll know I’m sanguine about debts – added liquidity if properly planned for is useful. Yet when I look at this case it makes me angry – Matt came close to ruining his life. Had he called Make Me Rich in a year and not now, it would’ve been too late – running at an annual overspend of over 20k.

Luckily he has the right attitude, with savings and spending reductions – I think he may just be alright…. scary how you can risk your financial security by just a few months of money madness.

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TV makes you do some funny things. When I drive up in the ‘Make Me Rich Smart Car’ often I have the window open. This is so the camera can see me clearly for the shot. Then I’m supposed to get out of the car, yet not close the window. It always annoys me as I turn round and lock the car but with the window open – people watching may think “stupid boy!!!!”

The other secret I’ll let you into is crumpled cash. Part of the programme involves putting ‘Martin’s Money’ (see earlier blog) into a special piggy bank. Yet often we don’t film in the same chronology as it’ll be shown (for various reasons such as light, and order etc). This means after the money’s first gone in the transparent piggy bank, we have to be careful that people won’t go “hold on wasn’t there more/less there before?”. Thus as soon as we’ve done the first one, lots of the notes are scrumpled up….. and then placed in piggy. That way the viewer has no way to work out how much is actually in it.

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I’m sitting in the back of a people carrier being driven from Stockport to Nuneaton. It’s 9.45pm and I’ve just finished filming Make Me Rich 9. Tomorrow it’s Make Me Rich 10 – and I’m shattered. Hope the energy is enough to take me through.

Today was an interesting day. Lovely couple, reasonably wealthy, but with manifoldly disorganised finances. To be honest it was a bit staggering at first, as David, the father, who looks after the money is a clever chap. Yet he struggles from what I tend to think of as a generational lag ‘loyalty’. They’ve been with the same mortgage provider since 1991, same home insurer too, don’t change bank, use BT for phone – you get the picture. In many ways it’s hands-rubbing in glee time, as the savings of course mount up in such a situation.

I find it interesting why people are loyal. Often it’s a comfort zone thing…… better to be safe and overpay with what you know than to risk doing something different. Yet with some reading and some research, you can get yourselves out of that zone and start to take companies on…. exactly what we did today.

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I was looking back at the wonderful new threads added to my ‘theme tune discussion’ when I remembered Hong Kong Phooey – whose theme tune is sadly missing. If memory serves it’s “He’s got power, super power, the power that just won’t stop, when the going gets tough, he’s super-rough, with the Hong Kong Phooey chop! Hi-ya!” Now I may be wrong, but do you think that’s where rap music started?

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Went to an event last night, and I’ve woken up this morning with my thighs killing me. There was this bucking bull thing there you see and I am ferociously competitive, always have been, it’s often my downfall.

Anyway once I learned it was a competition, that was it. Unlike most people I asked what it was being judged on – ’style, how long you stay on, and the level you ride’. So unlike most double hand rope holders, I gripped with my right and left the left up in the air as a counter-balance.

What a bonanza, needless to say, there I was after a couple of goes, on the top level, riding away. Whilst other people seemed to be enjoying themselves on it, I had stoney face and grunted so not to fall off. At the end of the evening, I was presented with the bottle of JD as the prize. In triumph talking to a few well-wishers, holding the bottle, my grip (now red raw due to the one hand technique, and shaking due to the strain) failed me and the JD was smashed – from victory to defeat in such a short time.

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It’s 9pm. I’m starting the 90 min return train journey from Eastbourne. I left home at 6.30 this morning. It’s been a tough day – in many ways the toughest so far.

Steve and Janice suffered the tragic bereavement of their son a number of years ago and it was quickly obvious money was a conduit for comfort. They’re a wonderful couple, both loving towards each other and their daughter. Yet Janice spends as her escape when she’s feeling low, and Steve works stoically hard as his duty to provide for his family – meaning he’s away mid-week, so the couple don’t see each other often – leaving some matters uncommunicated.

On the money side, this was a real challenge for me. No debts apart from the mortgage, Steve’s bright, works in financial services and is already a MoneySaver. He knows of me, my work and this site which I quickly discovered meant a number of avenues were closed off as ‘Done’ before I got there. Remember the Make Me Rich challenge is for me to save a family as much as I can in a day.

It was a ‘playing the tricks’ kind of day to push the savings higher, and while the MoneySaving was interesting – stoozing got its first mention – this day was really about more than that.

One of the show’s main format moments is a ‘visual demonstration of spending’ (no details, it’ll ruin the surprise). For Janice this was a ‘eureka’ moment, a dawning realisation that her shopping isn’t to fill a wardrobe, but to fill a void.

This led to a discussion about ‘managing your money together’ which after a time turned into talk about their son. We switched the cameras off and chatted for a good time. It’s a tricky moment for me as I felt a fondness for the two of them, but am also aware I’m not a ‘qualified counsellor’ and in my head debated whether I should say “it’s not for me to talk to you about these things”.

Ultimately though, I think sometimes we all need to step up to the plate as a human being. The nature of doing a TV programme like this means you involve yourself in peoples’ lives. Money shows a lot of issues and sometimes sitting and listening, when people want to talk to you, is the right thing. Janice’s wry, smiling comment as I left was ‘wow, I thought it was about money, but it was better than being on Trisha!”

So now I’m off home, a good day all round. Draining, but my fingers are crossed the mere fact of doing Make Me Rich today will have been a positive thing for them both.

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I’m so pleased Jeremy admitted his poor MoneySaving on Radio 2 today. I had thought of doing a blog when this happened but decided against it (didn’t want to upset him).

I was in Manchester visiting my father when he called my mobile “help, I’ve had a guy at my door promising to save me cash. I’ve signed up for that and the phone”. Frankly I was flabbergasted (and flibbergosted) after all those programmes hadn’t he learned anything? Luckily the one time he’d been away and the lovely Kirsty Young presented was the day we did utilities.

Anyway I persuaded him not to do it and explained how to check who’s cheapest (see utilities section). And today on the radio he admitted it and I gave him a wee telling off (also got him to save money on his mortgage – about a grand a year. He’s made the call and it’s happening so he can’t be too upset!) (see Free Guide to Remortgaging)

While I’m here, a huge thanks to the MoneySaver who called the programme and said how I’d saved her money on laser eye surgery. The fact she mentioned the email means lots of people signed up so I’m really pleased. I’m not actually supposed to mention the website on Radio 2. They’re allowed to say where I’m from, but I can’t plug it, which is frustrating sometimes – especially with things like MOTs, callchecker, flightchecker, credit card shuffle etc – where the info simply doesn’t exist in any form anywhere else. So when people call up and say things like that it’s a relief.

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One thing I nearly forgot in the MMR7 blog below.

There was a lovely moment, when you watch it, you should keep your eyes open for (if, hopefully, Matt the producer leaves it in – if you’re reading Matt, please do).

For a stunt we were doing we had a wine glass and other props stuck to a MMR card (special cards for the show). At the end of the shot I poured Tracey a glass of wine and she drank it. We forgot the card was still attached, so this lifted up and pointed in the camera saying Make Me Rich. It looks like a really cleverly thought through (and slightly cheesy) plan, but it was pure accident.

Filming on a Saturday isn’t much fun after a hard day before. Luckily I developed a soft spot for Tracey who I did the Make Me Rich makeover on. To start with she is georgous (she told me to say that. She’s a lecturer and it’s one of the things she tells her students on their feedback forms!)

Having spent the night visiting my father and family in south Manchester (as it was near enough to where Tracey lived), I treked off at 8am this morning. After a mini-stunt by a cash machine in Macclesfield, it was off to do the filming and the makeover. There’s an enormous amount to cram into just one day.

To be honest I could probably do the full makeover in under an hour and a half if it were just sitting at a table, yet it’s all the ‘for TV stuff’ that takes the time, plus the things that knock you off track. This time it was an errant gas bill that meant Tracey had actually been paying for electricity in her old house by mistake. That was sorted, with a goodwill apology payment from them to boot (I got Tracey to ask and they didnt even know it was for TV).

Divorced in the last couple of years with two teenagers, she’s building a life for herself. This was a real case of jumbled finances, not knowing where anything was.

Funnily enough it gave me an idea for a new concept. The financial fact sheet. As I’m sitting on the train and have three hours to go – from the North West back to London, the slow route – I may just knock up an article about it and am mulling it over and thinking of creating an automated system to do it for the site.

Anyway – as I want to get some rest for a bit on the train, before carrying on with work, I think I shall cut the story short here and say the programme was a success, from financial mayhem to a chaos-chopped solution.

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Just been reading an interview on a special closed website for personal finance journalists. The following is (reproduced with its kind permission) from one of the regular features interviews. It’s with Patrick Collinson, the personal finance editor of the Guardian where I have my new column

“Any other new columns?
On the back page it’s going to be Martin Lewis – we’ve negotiated him out of the Express.

How much are you paying him?
Not much – though he probably won’t like me saying that.

But he likes the publicity
Yes he does – he’s getting a very prominent position.

So he prefers Guardian readers to the Express readers – unless he thinks he’s now milked the Express dry…
Maybe – you’re putting all these words into my mouth. But I’ve got a lot of respect for him: his website (moneysavingexpert.com) has inspired me with regard to where I want to go with the Money section. A lot of money sections are still bathing in the glory from years ago when they were growing rapidly on the back of a stock market boom. I think we’ve got to reappraise where we’re all going now that investment advertising has fallen away – and even mortgage advertising is quite iffy at the moment.

What impresses you about Martin Lewis’s website?
What Martin is providing is, in a way, what Ian Cowie (INSERT FROM MARTIN – Ian is the pf editor of the Telegraph) describes as “news you can use”. People just haven’t got the time to read 1,000 words on what the Sipp rules should or shouldn’t be. They want to be told to get this or buy that and want short, snappy and useful stories. So our new columns like Money for nothing and Having a laugh are taking themes from Martin’s own website. It’s all about engaging with readers. What Martin has achieved is that all his readers have become his researchers. ”

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Forgive the language. But the stupidity is huge. I’ve just returned from the lunchtime news. This afternoon due to a faulty handset, I’m expecting a new handset; the delivery time of 1 till 5.

How are you expected to be in one place for the whole time? They came to MoneySaving towers, at 1.05, I returned at 1.10. They refused to leave the handset because they wanted to collect the old one.

So at 1.10 I called Orange – “can you get the chap back, he’s probably still in the building”. The reply “No Sir, we can’t, we don’t talk to the delivery company.” I explained how ludicrous it was, and that every second meant increased cost and hassle for me and them. Yet no, still no change.

So ‘may I arrange a new delivery” I conceeded, and having to spend £13 on-top. “No, Sir, not untill I get a delivery failure report”. The best thing of all this, when you call orange and are on hold it says “Orange are committed to providing excellent customer service”…. yes and my name is Tiara Noodlenose!

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Cycling to MoneySaving towers today, I got a call from ITV news. ‘Can you come on the lunchtime news and talk about store cards’. I said yes, then realised I’ve got two days of stubble on m’chin. I normally only shave when I’m filming as otherwise with heavy stubble and sensitive skin (bless eh!) I get horrid stubble rash.

So on the telly it was with my George Michael whiskers. Worse still I keep a shirt in the office to wear on such occassions, a typical black with white stripes, but todays trousers are also stripey, so I looked like Andy Pandy, thankfully it wasn’t viewable below the desk.

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A worrying fetish seems to have started in MoneySaving Towers, every day a new email appears about ‘the hoff’ – hassle this, hassle that. Photos, songs, video clips. The man is a pest. When did he become such a cult (yes I did spell that right).

There’s even talk (amongst the techies naturally) of calling our new back end content management system ‘the hoff’. This blog is officially to say – it ends now! Mr. T yes, David Hasselhoff – is out.

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I’m in the car on the way back from filming the latest Make Me Rich (don’t worry I’m not driving. I’ve been picked up and am in the back working on my laptop – just hope it doesn’t make me feel sick!). What a great day – this is what I really love. A beautiful family, careful with their cash, with two beautiful little girls and a third on the way.

They give a lot of money to their relatives in Sierra Leone – and wanted some spare cash for their daughter’s education – she’s a gifted child. To be honest I was a bit worried about saving them anything – but there were some great discoveries along the way.

One of the biggest was salary sacrifice nursery vouchers – something I’ve been aware of for a long time, but never really done much – yet I decided to check it out during the day and discovered it could save them £1500 a year!! Amazing!

Needless to say with savings that big there’ll be a full article coming to the site soon.

Over all I’m leaving happy, though at one point I was very moved. They discussed giving half the cash to their family in Sierra Leone to whom it was “enough money to keep 10 graduate school teachers in employment for a year!”

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Just watched Channel 5 news, where the lady from Energywatch urged people to switch supplier. Normally I’d approve, but actually we’re about to see a raft of companies change. The playing field isn’t level, it’s a bad time to do it.

I was meant to be interviewed after the package. In fact I was in the car on the way to the studio, but London is storm-ridden. There’s water everywhere and traffic everywhere else, so after 15 minutes I realised I wasn’t going to make it, called the studio, cancelled the interview and turned back.

So no “DONT SWITCH NOW” call to channel 5 viewers…. shame.

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What an interesting day today. Went to film a Make Me Rich at the house of a woman who has 4 horses, 11 sheep, 3 dogs and 18 cats. No this isn’t a farm, these are all animals who have been mistreated and she takes them in. Not only that but many of the animals, including the pets, freely wonder in the house. It’s strange trying to talk seriously to someone about their finances as their pet sheep nuzzles your leg.

To be honest this was the most painful Make Me Rich so far. I walked in and very quickly discovered it was a financial danger zone. Jenni (who was lovely) is a classic ‘head in the sand, if I don’t look it won’t hurt me’. Yet she’s recently downscaled from a very good job to live off her widows pension.

In my book this was my first proper failure. Yes I saved her loads of money, but the finances simply don’t balance. She still spends massively more than she earns. I knew I was on to a loser from very early in the day. Without giving the whole programme away when you have take-home income of £12,500 but spend £8,500 on your animals – never mind the mortgage, your son, locked-in contracts for phones etc. the sums will simply never add up without getting another job.

Yet as you can probably guess – suggesting ‘get rid of the animals’ was a simple no-go – they are her passion and her commitment. It’s an interest one (I won’t say what I actually suggested) but I’d love to know your thoughts.

Someone who can’t afford such animals, and can’t give them away, yet can’t afford them… what would you suggest?

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For those on the chat forum who keep starting these, ‘do you know who Martin looks like?’ threads – I would like to state here and now I look like me.

I DO NOT resemble Evan Davies (BBC Econ Editor), Phil Spencer (Location, Location, Location), Jude Law (OK no one actually said it, but thought I’d throw it in there) or Steve Thingy (last year’s X-Factor winner who’s name I can’t remember – but is probably the least worst of those suggested).

The Phil Spencer is the worst, I’ve had people come up to me on the street and say “excuse me, aren’t you……. that guy from Location, Location, Location?” I don’t see the resemblance myself (I’ve got more hair!) though I think it’s more the “seen you on the telly, can’t place you thing”.

My favourite of these was the rather attractive woman who came up to me in a nightclub and said “do you know who you really look like?”

“No” says I expecting John Prescott or something horrible.

“That money saving guy, Martin Lewis” says she and then proceeded to tell me that I was much better looking than him though!

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I’ve just got off the phone with a press officer for a bank. For the sake of his career I’ll let him remain anonymous. On the phone he admitted to me that he has substantial credit card debts… “But you used to be a credit card PR, you know all about how it works” “Er… yes” says he. Then it all comes tumbling out, thousands of pounds from an inheritance earning 0.1% in a current account, sitting on a standard variable rate mortgage.

It staggers me. Clearly this is £3,000ish a year being wasted, by someone who can’t use the “it’s too complex, I don’t understand” argument. Why do people do it? One day off work for £3k savings.

My head is in my hands.

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Forum users will be familiar with the fact Argos/Homebase had a TV on offer for 49p plus delivery (a total of £5.44), which of course was a mistake. It’s unsurprisingly not honouring the bargain, though 10,000 forum users had a go. You can see the original thread here and my views on this thread.

Many people are annoyed, though in my view this is a ‘have a go, nothing ventured nothing gained’ loophole. However tomorrow morning (it is 23.45) I am going to speak to Argos and ask if it will donate one of the TVs to a children’s hospital as a gesture in the name of MoneySavingExpert users…..

I’ll keep you informed

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Been in Runcorn for two days and just got back to London. I was filming with a family who’ve just had triplets. Quite a story. She found out she was pregnant at 8 weeks and was told she’d immediately have to stop work.

Now there’s not much more of a bigger strain on the finances than going from a dual income with one child, to a single income with four children. It was an interesting but tough day. The readjustment to the new situation had been tough for the family. The savings were hard work, a lot was locked in and the lower salary meant their credit score was no longer what it was.

I enjoyed the programme overall though. Hard work, lovely family. I had the odd row with the producer for this specific programme (hello Anna, I know you read this), though we row as she cares passionately about making a great programme, and I care similarly about making sure we get the full money makeover in and sometimes these conflict. It’s one of those ‘row for five minutes’ then two minutes later it’s all forgotten things.

The one thing I haven’t mentioned about Make Me Rich yet on here is ‘Martin’s Money’. They created this entire system of bank notes with my face on them. It’s quite strange. I now know how the Queen feels. Counting up your own currency is a very strange experience.

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