A family was floored when they realised they had essentially spent £2,000 on a single trip to a transport museum.
Kerrie and Ian Fitzgibbon appeared on Channel 4's Secret Spenders on Thursday as they were hoping to save some money for a loft extension. After Kerrie lost her job during the pandemic, the family were still spending as if they had two salaries coming in.
The Fitzgibbons, who have two children and live in Kent, were hoping to turn the attic into a bedroom for their youngest daughter - but with it due to cost around £35,000 it wasn't going to be easy, the Express reports.
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The family has a yearly income of roughly £39,000 thanks to dad Ian Fitzgibbon's job as an IT engineer. However, their household income used to be nearly double this amount and the family had not yet changed their spending habits.
Mum Kerrie Fitzgibbon had lost her job during the pandemic and was concerned about her husband's spending especially, sharing their story on last night’s episode of Secret Spenders on Channel 4. She said: “He’s a bit of a shopaholic. He’s got his interests but they are expensive interests. He still wants to get nice things as if we’re both earning but we’re not. I want to be able to save money.”
Amongst these interests are vinyl record collecting, train memorabilia, spoiling his daughters and auction sites. One surprising revelation was the family’s expenditure after visiting a transport Museum.
Mrs Fitzgibbon said: “We went as a family once and it’s not really my thing so I was like ‘Get me out of here’.” Despite having only been to the museum once, the family had VIP ticket membership - which finance expert Peter Komolafe revealed was actually costing them £2,000 a year.
Neither of the pair knew the tickets were eating so much of their budget, with Mrs Fitzgibbon adding: “If I had known that would’ve been cancelled a long time ago!” However, it was Ian's auction site obsession that Mr Komolafe was most worried about, where Mr Fitzgibbon was spending roughly £100 per month.
He said: “You know what it’s like, logic goes out the window when you bid and you end up spending more than you actually intended.”
Secret Spenders airs Thurdays at 8pm on Channel 4 and All 4
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