Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe's Parenting Hell - S05 EP8: Martin Lewis

Episode Date: August 12, 2022

Joining us this episode to discuss the highs and lows of parenting (and life) is perhaps our most requested guest of all time! The brilliant financial journalist and presenter - Martin 'Money Saving Expert' Lewis CBE. Please rate and review. Thanks, Rob + Josh. BIG NEWS.... we're writing a book! ⭐ All the stories we can’t tell on the podcast – in depth. ⭐ What it’s like to raise a stiff neck and a loose neck – straight from the horse’s mouth (our parents) ⭐ And.. the BIGGEST REQUEST WE’VE EVER HAD FOR THE PODCAST… Hearing from our wives, Rose & Lou. They’ve got a chapter each and YOU can submit your burning questions to them... [e-mail] What's it really like to be a parent? And how come no one ever warned Rob or Josh of the sheer mind-bending, world-altering, sleep-depriving, sick-covering, tear-inducing, snot-wiping, bore-inspiring, 4am-relationship-straining brutality of it all? And if they did, why can't they remember it (or remember anything else, for that matter)? And just when they thought it couldn't get any harder, why didn't anyone warn them about the slices of unmatched euphoric joy and pride that occasionally come piercing through, drenching you in unbridled happiness in much the same way a badly burped baby drenches you in milk-sick? Join Josh and Rob as they share the challenges and madness of their parenting journeys with lashings of empathy and extra helpings of laughs. Filled with all the things they never tell you at antenatal classes, Parenting Hell is a beguiling mixture of humour, rumination and conversation for prospective parents, new parents, old parents and never-to-be parents alike. Find out everything you need to know, including how you could win a pair of tickets to the Parenting Hell LIVE tour & an overnight stay in London here: https://www.bit.ly/ParentingHellBook We're going on tour!! Fancy seeing the podcast live in some of the best venues in the UK? Of course you do, you're not made of stone! Tickets available now on the dates and at the venues below. We can't wait to see you there... ON SALE NOW 14th April 2023 - Manchester AO Arena 19th April 2023 - Nottingham 20th April 2023 - Cardiff 21st April 2023 - London (The O2) 23rd April 2023 - London (Wembley) 28th April 2023 - Birmingham Utilita Arena If you want to get in touch with the show here's how: EMAIL: [e-mail] TWITTER: @parenting_hell INSTAGRAM: @parentinghell A 'Keep It Light Media' Production  Sales, advertising, and general enquiries: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, I'm Rob Beckett. And I'm Josh Willicombe. Welcome to Parenting Hell, the show in which Josh and I discuss what it's really like to be a parent, which I would say can be a little tricky. So, to make ourselves, and hopefully you, feel better about the trials and tribulations of modern-day parenting, each week we'll be chatting to a famous parent about how they're coping. Or, hopefully, how they're not coping. And we'll also be hearing from you, the listener, with your tips, advice, and, of course, tales of parenting woe.

Because, let's be honest, there are plenty of times when none of us know what we're doing. Introducing Tim's new Savory Pinwheels. The perfect flaky and flavourful snack for those on the go. Like me, who's recording this while snacking. Ooh, delicious. Try the roasted red pepper and Swiss or caramelised onion and parmesan pinwheels only at Tim's. At participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time.

And if you're just joining us, we're live from Evan's living room. It looks like Evan is about to purchase tickets to today's match. Kate, the real test is, will he use the BMO Toronto FC cashback mastercard? Well, if he wants to earn cashback on his purchases, he will, and... Oh, hang on. He's at the computer with his card, and he's done it! Oh, clicky-click magic trick! The clicker around the room. You guys just about finished.

Sorry, we got excited. Thanks for snagging those tickets. Make every purchase highlight worthy with the BMO Toronto FC Cashback Mastercard. Hello, you're listening to Parenting Hell with... Rex, can you say Rob Beckett? Rob Beckett. And can you say Josh Widdicombe?

Josh Widdicombe. And can you say, we love you, Rob and Josh? I love you, Rob and Josh. Oh, that's nice. Very good. That is a winner, isn't it? That is a good one. Hello, Sexy Rob and Sexy Josh.

This is my son, Rex Rainey. That's a cool name. Introducing your brilliant podcast, Rex Rainey, private detective. Rex Rainey investigates. What a great name. Rex is two and a quarter and was born during the first week of the first lockdown on March 25th, 2020. Rex lives with mum, Kim, dad, Josh and Fergus the dog. That is an absolute anxiety bomb, that, isn't it?

We're going into a national lockdown. I'm just having contractions um can we do it one thing at a time please have you bought enough rice have you got some toilet roll oh my word because people would be like do you know what it'd actually be quite a good time to have a kid this first lockdown because you're stuck in your house anyway but then also anxiety in your brain will always find the worst thing about that the good thing about that is you can just focus on your baby you're both at home you're indoors yada yada yada you can't go on holiday but actually holidays hard work but your brain goes they're not going to socialize they

won't they won't have seen anyone they won't have seen anyone's mouth it'll only be their eyes i was in labor for such a long time when i had rex that we weren't in lockdown when i went into labor but we were by the time he was born five days later. Oh, my God. You're sitting between lane having contractions going, they've shut the ears. Well, she says, my husband had a nightmare trying to pick the right moment to break the news. That poor son. Oh, man.

That is incredible. Thank you for being so sexy and relatable. Kim Rainey, Horsham. How are you, Josh? All right? I'm all right, yeah. Good, good. Any news?

Anything you want to report? Not really, no. It's, you know, it's all trucking along all right. I should clear up because my TV works with iPlayer, Rob. Oh, sorry. Yeah, so basically we spoke last week about your telly not working and you're not knowing how to watch the football. Then we spoke about you watching the football and loads of people have said,

how did he get his telly working? What was going on? What are all those wires doing? So I tried to get the garden TV working. Yep. Didn't work. Didn't work. Gave up.

Just doesn't work. Well, I need to, I just couldn't work out how to tune it in. And I realised whenever I've done it before, someone else has tuned it in for me because like someone else had been around yeah like big boys that come to watch the football do you know what i mean yeah and so are you really like is it you can't be bothered and you're busy or like if you had an hour and a half with no one in the house could you do that do you think or is it just so out of the sky yeah i think if i had an hour and a half in the house, could you do that, do you think? What, so out of the sky? Yeah. I think if I had an hour and a half in the house, yeah, I could easily do that.

Oh, so you're not like completely, it's just that when you're busy, No, no, it's just a time thing. There's a sky in the house. I know exactly what's happened. You've seen all those wires. They're in the picture. Everyone complained about them when I put them on Instagram. Yeah, if you go to Josh Widdicombe's Instagram,

you can see the photo of the telly and his daughter cuddling her mates and all the uh the wires hanging down the side that people are very triggered by by the way John yeah and my son has obviously just been throwing those that box of wires around for the last six months when he walks over there and it's obviously dislodged something or something's gone wrong you know one of the wires is broken or something but I just haven't got the time so I haven't got an hour and a half and if I have am I going to use it for the Skybox? I mean, for me, that's an absolute priority.

So how do you watch that on iPlayer? And what are you doing on your telly to get iPlayer up? Because you've got a smart TV. So it works smart TV because it cuts out the Skybox. Oh, so you just press the button and you could always probably log into Netflix or something that way, couldn't you? Yeah, exactly. But what we can't do is watch live TV or watch Sky Sports or any of those oh so

you can watch Netflix and like Disney Plus well I can't watch Disney Plus because my I got a new debit card and I haven't got around to changing it over

on the Disney Plus account so what does your daughter watch basically like iPlayer CBeebies bloody really she's just

yeah all about CBeebies has she had a go on Netflix yet no she's she's into there's a loteebies has she had a go on Netflix yet no she's she's into there's a lot of Bluey on Disney Plus isn't there

yeah she likes that yeah there's a new series of that coming out yeah I've heard but yeah so that's the situation I'm in

I reckon I'll probably you know four or five weeks time I might have time to sort out the live TV you gotta do do you have the football

yeah of course before you didn I might have time to sort out the live TV you've got to do you have the football yeah of course before you didn't have much time to no no but I have access to it in the hypothetical universe in which I get to watch it right okay

okay the alternate version of Josh Willicombe that didn't have kids is watching the football basically as we speak to be fair I'll watch it of an evening

do you know what I mean so the Champions League or a pointless game on we speak. I'll watch it of an evening. Do you know what I mean? So the Champions League or a pointless game on a Monday night, I can watch those. But it's the Sunday afternoons that I find almost impenetrably impossible

to try and put on the television. I would recommend a trip to the toy shop in the morning and get something to play and you open it at the strike of 4pm when the game kicks off.

Oh yeah. Is it worth it? That's the way round it. I've got a baby, a booming story if you want that before we introduce our guest. Yep. Here we go. Boomer parenting. Hi Rob and Josh, this is from Tracy Kim Brown. Even though my children are now 28, 23 and 20, I love being reminded of those parenting joys that come with having small children. The worry never goes away. It just gets different.

If that helps. Does that help? No. Cool. The boomer parenting thing. You always seem to have horror stories, so I thought I'd give an example of my amazing parents who went above and beyond on many occasions.

Okay. Yeah. Left field. I left home, moved an hour away from home when I was 19. I had a little unreliable mini that was always breaking down. On one particular occasion, I broke down on a petrol station four call and had to be pushed out of the way i called my dad the only person

i trusted and he drove that an hour to where i was hid his car and called the aa pretending to be driving my car so he could get it mended on his account the guy arrived and argued that he had passed me broken down so knew it wasn't my dad oh no. No. Dad stood firm and got the car fixed. He once drove the hour just to change a flat tyre for me. I should say I'm not sport, only child, but what an example he has been. Hard act to live up to. That's from Tracy Kim Brown of her dad being lovely. That is.

That's nice, isn't it? A very nice. Is it funny, though? That's the issue, isn't it? Well, only when they got caught. Yeah, that helped a bit, didn't it? That helped. That sugared the pill, didn't it only when only when they got caught yeah that helped a bit didn't it that helped that otherwise that triggered the pill didn't it of someone being nice because the problem is someone may be listening to this broken down there's no one

coming to pick them up and you know what they're thinking at that story fuck you kim do you know who would be interested in that story rob who's that a money saving expert oh that's clever it was tracy kim not kim anyway thanks tracy kim brown thank you for listed a money saving expert yes if only we had one that had a child we could talk to well why don't we hear from them i mean we haven't got that we won't be giving them that story because this was already recorded this interview so it doesn't yeah no yeah i don't yeah i don't know what your rights are there that's something you have to sort out um but uh yeah this is great because it's a really funny interview he's really funny martin lewis i wasn't expecting him to be so funny one of our

most requested guests yeah and he gave some good advice about money with kids and kids as well as being a very funny guest um so enjoy this is martin lewis martin lewis welcome to the podcast me and josh are very excited about this thank you well thank you very much for having me. I don't feel I had much choice, to be honest, because you put it on a previous podcast. And then, you know, social media, pester power and walking down the street,

you're going to go and do pirating hell. And my dentist, I mean, it just kind of brought me with a urologist or something. It could have, it had ferreted out. So, so it's a delight to be on here, guys. It's an absolute delight. OK? To those on social media, I've done it now.

Are you happy? Are you here? All right? This is our first hostage. Amazing. Well, it's a pleasure having you on. Thanks for speaking to us, Martin, and we'll see you again soon, yeah?

So, is it just one daughter you've got, and she's ten? Is that right, Martin?'ve got and she's 10 is that right she's nine and a half and as you know halves are important at this point in her life she's nine and a half yeah she's called safa or mini mse as i sometimes refer to her and absolutely and we are we are private about her generally because i feel you i mean you'll understand you make that call with your kids when you're in the media are you are they going to be exposed or are they not going to be and we we sort of our decision is when she's 18, she can make that decision,

but we'll try and keep her a bit protected from it for now. Yeah. Well, yeah, that's the sort of decision that I tried to make. And then I ended up doing a podcast about it when the theatres were shut. And as you know, you're trying to be a bit frugal with money. But I don't put any photos of my daughters up or even say what their names are. But I do sort of talk about them from my parenting parenting exactly that i think photos are especially important they're

private and we we try and be really careful because i mean as i'm sure you know once some if somebody puts something up on social media the law is it's the social media platform that owns it yeah yes and therefore they have a right to redistribute it and it gets it gets all tricky so we're just very careful not to do that. And we use in every newspaper article then because it's like, that's it. That's the that's now the library photo of that person, basically, isn't it? Totally. So, yeah, you can't find any pictures are on online anywhere. We do the same thing. Yeah. Yeah. And how do you find it, though?

Because we only ever get the sort of serious sort of money saving side for you. And you're so passionate with it, Martin. And I hope you don't mind me saying that you've obviously done very well for yourself. You're very successful. Really like this. What you do is amazing. But how much are you doing those money saving tips as well yourself? Or is it you're just passionate about finding the loopholes? Is that the kick you get of finding the little ways to do it and manipulate the system? Well, it's morphed over the years. I mean, I started i was very lucky i'm one of those people i invented my own job

i mean this did not exist before i did it and i did it based on a sort of codification of the way i'd always lived my life and then trying to make it a bit more scientific with proper research and and and you know the difficulty in my job you know people say well i'm really good with money i'm a money saving expert my job is to save save other people money when it doesn't apply to me. And a lot of the stuff no longer applies to me. But that basic mentality, you know, if I'm about to buy a bottle of soft drink, I'm just not going to pay more for it than I think it should cost. And I just I will walk a long way to go and find it at the right price because it really annoys me.

Now, that doesn't mean I don't go and do nice things and I don't spend money and have a nice time all that but there's just there's something about essential value which is still what i do and you know when i try and keep on the best providers and try and work the system i still do do all that but clearly in my position i got a time and money equation going on as well so sometimes you have to try and try and avoid the way that you act when it comes onto that basis you can't spend a whole morning trying to get 10p off a bottle of Tango. Do you know what I mean? No, but then I just wouldn't have the Tango. I'm just going, I'm not paying for it.

I'm just not having the Tango. I don't have time. I'm not having the Tango. I'll slow it with a 7-up or something. We can manage this any way you like. And so that's really interesting when it comes to parenting because parenting is an absolute money pit at any point in my life.

And it's also a money pit because you're tired and you're like, sod it, it's 2am, I'm just going to buy that thing on Amazon Prime. I'm not going to read any reviews. I'm just going to buy the dehumidifier that arrives tomorrow that's top of the list because it's 2am or is that not your experience it's not how i operate i know i know you're doing it as a bit of a p-take he's definitely ordered that no no that's that's my life that's my life but actually

there is a big issue about spending between midnight and about six in the morning. With another hat on, I set up and chair the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute. And we did a lot of research on this. And people who have impulse control and mental health issues involving spending, it's often night spending that's really difficult. Right. And one of the things we've actually campaigned on, and my own website now, we send a weekly email, as you'll know. And that email, we won't send it between midnight and seven in the morning some people before they come playing you might get it then because your service providers delayed it but we don't send it

because many people at that time and night make bad decisions we actually try and campaign marketing emails should not be sent at that time because it's really difficult for those who have impulse control issues in the middle of the night people spend. I do that. I do that sometimes. If I'm, like, going back from a gig late and I can't sleep, I'm on my phone in bed, you're scrolling through, I'll end up with a pair of trainers that I want, Martin.

Yeah, you see, that's where, I mean, clearly because of reputational issues and because it's how I built, that's the stuff I just don't do. I mean, if I'm going to buy something and it's something, I do way too much research, I drive myself nuts with it sometimes. You know, sitting there, it's like, well, no. And, you know, am I actually going to go through it? Now, obviously, it's a financial product.

It's easy. But, you know, I've got slight overprenation when I run and I run a lot. Which of those trainers is actually going to be best for me? That one's good. It's going through that hustle. But that's my issue. I just spend way too long making a decision to try and get something right the impulse spending i've only i only did it when i when i sold money saving expert and i still run it before anyone gets

into that but when i sold it everybody kept saying you just made all this money what are you going to spend it on and i got so fed up with that question that i thought i'm gonna go and have to buy something on impulse just so i've got an answer so i bought two things yeah i'm so excited about these the first off ebay i bought a vandegraaff generator what is that do you remember at school in physics lessons it's had like a big dome on the top of the metal dome and you turn a handle and it generates static electricity the hair i brought one of those that was my first impulse purchase it cost about 45 quid yeah the second thing i just ask on that how much use are you getting out of it i occasionally turn the handle but i'm afraid it's sort of the whole static drive has gone a

bit now so that the shock you get is very limited but it was mainly done to answer you must have bought something on improv and i just thought god i've got to feed feed from martin i think that i think that invites more questions martin than it solves to be honest you want the second one yes please because the first one wasn't the weird one right really the second one is i bought a theremin a theremin that's a musical instrument right it is is that one of those things

where you put your hands around it and it makes a sound it is and it was really crap and it didn't work very well but and it wasn't very expensive

at all but I bought a theremin because I thought I like Star Trek I'm not a Trekkie but I like Star Trek and that was done on a theremin

I believe oh yeah I thought I'm going to have a go at that there you go I'm going to go do something totally frivolous and I bought a theremin i believe oh yeah i thought i'm gonna have a go at that there you go i'm gonna go do something totally frivolous and i bought a theremin those are my two lifetime impulse buys wow are you that would be one of the great final questions on who wants to be a millionaire what two impulse buys did martin lewis make when he sold his company. So how does that affect yourself as a parent? Because parenting, so often, you know,

you've got that added thing that obviously you are trying not to make impulse buys, but a child's life when you take them out is impulse. Do you know what I mean? And whether it's a magazine or an ice cream or stuff. So did you have the same thing going on there? Would you buy... Those magazines, the biggest waste of money,

as a parent, would you buy them to have? It's interesting because my little one will spend hours going through them and reading them. Oh, really? She doesn't just get the toy on the front. She actually likes to read them. He's in the jeans. He's in the jeans. So I'm less bothered about...

Yeah, I mean, sometimes in the jeans, sometimes any clothing jeans so i'm i'm less bothered about yeah i mean sometimes in the jeans sometimes any clothing but um actually i'll leave the funniest to you just take that i liked it my stand-up comedy days were a very long time ago so there we go um yeah and i did that's true i did yeah i know you've got your friends with gary delaney are you yeah gary gary wrote for me that's how he. He was my writer when I did stand-up. No, really? The story of me and Gary is we were both at uni together. Gary was the funniest guy at uni. Yeah.

And I was into student politics. So we ended up, I was general secretary, which is president of the uni, and he was the end sabbatical in the same year. So we were sabbaticals in the student union. And we both loved... Prescott and Tony Blair. Exactly. I'm not sure which one I am um yeah I know which one I am I don't know which one Gary is um so um so we did

this and we brought this comedy club to to our uni called the chuckle club and because we both love comedy it was in the student union bar and it was really great um and when I left I then went to a serious job, which I just thought I need an outlet and I needed to go in because as uni president, you're on stage, you're doing lots of speeches and I love that type of stuff. So I thought I'd try stand up and I got together with Gary because he was funny and we just sat there and he wrote

and I wrote and then I did the material and it worked pretty well. And I did it for about a year and a half. I did all right. I think I was runner up in Hackney Empire New Act contest. Oh, that's really good. I'm the first round of that. Oh, did it for about a year and a half. I did all right. I think I was runner-up in Hackney Empire New Act contest. Oh, that's really good. I'm the first round of that. Oh, did you? I'm sorry.

I lost to Paul Zerdin, won it, and I was second. You know, when America's Got Talent. I actually did it in Vegas. And I won Comedy Cafe New Act of the Year as we're going on that as well. This is top-level stuff, isn't it? Yeah. I'd have killed for these credits. Yeah. Most people that get new material at new act finals,

they definitely could have had a career in comedy, almost all of them. Yeah, I wasn't that good. Gary was good. He was a good writer. No, you must have been to get that far, Martin. And you know what? Can I just say with what I do now?

I am so glad people didn't have cameras on their phones. Oh, God, yeah. I am so glad. Here come the carrots making their way upfield, followed by the whole wheat bread, over to the two dozen eggs. Sir, do you do this every time? Sorry, I've been a little excited

ever since I got this BMO Toronto FC cashback MasterCard. Oh, and the broccoli boots it over the line. What a goal! How would you like to pay, sir? Credit, please. Make every purchase a win with the BMO Toronto FC cashback mastercard

with up to 5% cashback on your purchases in your first three months. Terms and conditions apply. I like the performing bit more than the comedy bit. And then what happened, basically at the end, I decided it wasn't for me anymore. I didn't want it as a career. It was good fun, but it wasn't what I wanted.

And Gary was like, but I love comedy. What am I going to do? He will tell a totally different story at this point, by the way. We fundamentally disagree. He claims this was about a bet. I bet him. I don't believe that's true. We are both right within our own echo chambers.

So let's just go on that. He's still a mate. It's not a problem. But I believe what happened is he got frustrated that there was not going to be any comedy. I told him he needed to go on and do it. He was way too nervous and scared because he wasn't a performer. So we spent a day where I taught him where to look and how to stand and how to turn. And he wrote all his stuff.

And that because I said, you've got to do it yourself. I'm not doing it anymore. And that's how he started in comedy. Oh, wow. What a story. That is is incredible surely you wouldn't do a bet like that that seems like a money waste i agree it's just it's just it's counter brand i could never do it it just simply wouldn't work oh but do you know what you've traded it i'd say i'd say you've made the right decision in the long run your accountant would say so too as well i think martin yeah go back to your your daughter and stuff like that with the magazines and stuff does she get pocket

money and she does if she does do you allow her just to have her own journey of spending it or you sort of itching to sort of help her she chip up the old block she doesn't spend it just get most of it gets saved away and she occasionally spends a little bit. She's got an ISA. Yeah, she does. She does. She has an ISA. She has a pension as well. So there we go. Wow.

Oh, God. Yeah, she has a pension. Obviously, she didn't set that up herself. She's nine and a half. But yeah, if you're lucky enough to have your ISAs and to have enough money for yourself, I always say on parenting, I'll come back to my daughter and how we do that in a second, just a rule on parenting and money.

Yeah, no, we need this. This is what people are desperate for. Okay, but it's actually more a philosophy. I get a lot of people who ask me questions about saving for their kids. And then you talk to them about their finances and their finances are in trouble, but I need to save for my kid. I've got to save for my child's future. And I actually tell them to stop.

For me, parenting and finances is like that moment on the airplane. You know, when they go, if the air mask come down, please make sure you fit the air mask over your own face before fitting it over your child's face. The same is true in finances. You've got to keep a roof over your head, keep the debts down, feed the children and pay the bills before you start saving for your children. And you've got to have your own financial future. So make sure the household finances are right. And that is a priority over saving for the kids' future.

If the household finances are right, then you can save for the kids' future. So it's the air mask. You've got to look after yourself first, because if you don don't you're not in a position to look after your child so yeah i mean clearly my finances are very strong so a pension if you can do it you can put money up into a pension for a child you can put it in and it's effectively tax free up to 3600 quid a year and they'll get it later and if you've done the icer and you've done everything else it's not a bad thing to do but my philosophy when when saf was born i talked about it with my wife because my daughter is in a much more financially privileged position than i was growing up i think i think um you know i'm not going to do the story that anyone in politics you know we had nothing when i was a kid you know

yeah not liz cross i didn't know i couldn't do anything i used to work at my mum's pharmacy. My dad was a GP. I don't know how I coped. Rishi, Rishi. You know, my dad was a head teacher of a small boarding school for special ed kids. I got my older sisters hand-me-downs. I got some new toys. We weren't poor. We weren't rich.

We were somewhere in the middle. But my daughter is wholly different. And so my wife and I, who were very paranoid about, oh, we don't want her to be spoiled. We we wanted to have a proper attitude to understanding what money is so the rule I came up with when she was born is everything she needs not everything she wants and that was my rule and then she was born and then we were so rigid on this and we were very careful and not to buy toys and too many and stuff and we kept it really to a limit when she's about three or four we'd go to friends houses some of whom weren't in the same financial position that

we were in and they would all have 20 times the number of things that our daughter had and we looked i remember the conversation about we're overdoing this you know yeah we are being way we are basically being way too tight on this. She has nothing. She has nothing. We're going to have to do something. So we loosened it up at that point. But I am very, very keen. I think pocket money is pay is the rule. You have to learn that you earn.

We don't learn handouts. We learn that you have to give some time and some effort to get your pocket money. So there are chores that give some time and some effort to get your pocket money. So there are chores that she has to do in order to get her pocket money. And I'm a great believer in that. I'm also a great believer it shouldn't be cleaning your own bedroom. No, that should be a standard, shouldn't it?

That's a standard. So it's other things. There are chores she has to do. At what age did she have to start doing these chores for pocket money? Well, they were different. But when we started, pocket money was probably exactly about five or six. No, she was about five or six years old when we started but they were just little things i mean it's tokenistic it's knowing yeah it's just her knowing you're not getting the money without doing

something that you have to do and the chores obviously change as they get older as the money changes as they get older but i'm a firm believer in that pocket money is pay idea yeah i've got a question so when i was on holiday there was some lemon in the drink and it was really bitter and i said to my daughters if you um put that in your mouth and squeeze it for five seconds you'll get get some pocket money is that allowed hello martin i mean i'm just i was just wondering that is the message i'm going to be subtle what i say here is the message not from that you, if somebody asks you to do something unpleasant, even if you don't like it or don't want to do it,

if they'll pay you for it, it's okay. Yeah, yeah, I am wrong. Because I'm not sure it's particularly good parenting, if I'm honest, Rob. I'm going to agree with you there. It wasn't good parenting, but it was funny. But that's a lesson for me there. But that was wrong.

One of the worst periods of like, where I was just like spending frivolously and being a parent was initially before my daughter was born. And you've got this list of things you need. And I was very panicked that if I didn't have every single one of those things, do you know what I mean? It would be,'re you're trying to cover yourself you're you're trying trying to give some control to this situation that you're

terrified of and so we went to john lewis and we bought everything on the list and we're loads of things we ended up never needing did you and nasal snot and pickers and those yeah all that kind of stuff and you're like oh you know, I will get the cup holder for the pram that I'm never going to use. Or the cot six months before you actually need it. Yeah, exactly. Did you fall into the same trap? Not quite to the same extent, no.

And I credit my wife rather than me for this. There isn't another person going on in that. And she did a lot of research and was very sensible. And we had some good friends. I think part of it is I was 40 when we had our daughter and my wife was 33 so quite a lot of our friends had already been through it yes and and had the skills and and we spoke to you know we spoke to some of some of the super mums and super dads who seem to do it all and they were pretty sensible about how to operate it so we did base it on that level but you you clearly get some stuff wrong and i remember what happened to me i remember once we got i don't know if i should admit this but hopefully none of my friends will be upset we got so many presents when

my daughter was born and so many useful things and we got so much and i remember you know you have to have the visit from the health visitor so we had the visit from the health visitor and the health visitor came in and it was just like doing a checklist and we went okay well we're doing all this checklist and everything's fine here but obviously i understand why they do it and it's absolutely right we started talking and i was saying where it's going next to a 16 year old uh single mum whose parents had disowned her it was and we were just like and we just and we're just like okay what we got and we just piled up half the stuff we were given

and put it in a bag and said just take it yeah because we didn't we weren't going to use it yeah so I mean it was almost it was almost the opposite and I hope my friends

don't mind but I just thought I think if one of your friends kicked off about that that would be that would be incredible texturacy where'd she live

where did she live she's 26 now I wanted back she'll be alright you know but so we had we had a lot more stuff than we needed. Yeah. We had so many stuffed rabbits.

Like, just rabbits. I still, I mean, she now, now, she just, she sees a cuddly toy and it's like morphed automatically gets to her. And she can name all of them. I find it, do you, I i don't know do you have daughters yeah i've got two daughters and the one and the cuddly toy thing is off the chart and you go to like maybe get one to take to a charity shop and they go no not that one i'm like you haven't looked at that one for weeks how do you still care and she knows the name i'm like 126 of them and i

might get the name wrong it's like how do you not know that one's name i think i'm like i guess i mean every single one of them has a name and a personality it's it's a whole mind cave going on in there do you just get get a whole different load of credit cards to learn instead i think the problem with the soft toys and because they're they're personified they're human being do you know what i mean yeah it's it's impossible it's not like going oh you've not used this jigsaw in two years. It's like, there's an emotional attachment. Can I ask you if your take on this parenting that me and Rose did, which was...

You always do this. This is what Josh does all the time, Martin. So when we had Philippa Perry on, he'll basically run through things he thinks have done wrong to try and get you to say it was okay. Okay. Is this what they call mad, bad or sad sad it's a psychological thing where people ask questions to work out am i mad bad yes exactly that yeah maybe i'll grade you in one of those three should we have a sting

mad bad or sad with martin lewis so i thought this was good but i'm interested in your take no josh did you think it was mad bad or sad i well just good well glad you're glad i was glad but then it did go wrong at the end so um we my daughter wanted a bluey doll's house and um she's got loads of toys uh because i'm weak and so we said if you give three of your toys that you no longer use to the charity shop, we'll get you a Bluey Dolls house. So we kind of made this deal that if you got rid of some of the old, like three of the old things, then you could have one of the new ones.

So far, I'm liking the message. Yes. More so than the lemon eating? Yeah, much more than lemon eating. That was definitely bad. Noted. eating yeah much more than lemon eating that was definitely bad noted um no look i mean clearly in your case and i applaud it you're giving it to the charity shop equally in another case you could say you have to sell it to get the new thing and we then make the money and we bring the money back

and that's the lesson that items have value and there's opportunity cost which is really important uh kids understanding opportunity cost it's one really important. Kids understanding opportunity cost. It's one of the basic lessons I teach them when they're young. So give me an explanation of opportunity cost. You can buy, if I give you a pound pocket money, you can have a choice that you can buy sweets with it, if you allow that. You buy sweets with it every week and you get your sweets or you can not spend it.

And then after 10 weeks, you can buy that lovely, whatever toy you like for 10 pounds but you can't have both so which one are you going to choose and that delayed and that's the whole delayed gratification conversation which is also really good to teach kids and to try and get them to learn about delayed gratification and to learn that actually waiting for something is really good for them so in your case i like the idea of trade-off just starting to understand those basic concepts of you can't have it all and things have a cost to them and while you did it for the charity shop i think that's not bad messaging so i'm glad so far i suspect there's something coming to the end of the story well no i i was really pleased with it um but the other day, I did notice that one of the toys I just forgot to take to the charity shop.

So she's still got one of the toys in her room. Oh, no. And that's bad. That's bad, isn't it? Because you didn't follow through on it. You didn't follow through, so you messed up the message and you told her that you can have your cake and eat it. And you know what?

There are problems with people who think they can have their cake and eat it. Oh, no. Should I write her off? This is great for people who think they can have their cake and eat it. Oh no. This is great for me now. What are you turn? No, no, yeah. Shall we just leave that one there? We won't get into the whole cake-ism issue, but cake-ism can be very difficult, you know. Yes. Oh no. Just think what

happened if your daughter, for example, went on to leave the country and had those type of vicissitudes drilled into her. Is it bad that I'm really enjoying that Josh did it wrong? Is that bad? Yeah, I thought you enjoyed that. I thought you did enjoy that.

It's Schadenfreude. Oh, Martin, sorry, we interrupted you a little bit about the pocket money, the chores. What are the chores you set for her from about the age of six? Yeah, well, we set,

well, they just, they move and they morph all the way through, I think. I mean, the difficulty I have is while I come up with this all everything you need, not everything you want um i don't know like like other fellow dads i mean my daughter has superpowers in her eyes yeah she looks at me and i'm just like whatever you want but my wife is more the sort of attila the hun of mothering i'm sure she'll love that in a positive nice way um she's very strict she's strict on food

i mean my daughter thinks that that like a celebration is a full chocolate bar that's that's and you're allowed one of those a week that's basically and i'm so much trouble i love i love the panic it's wonderful panic but wonderful but she's wonderful as well she's a wonderful and a brilliant mother but she is strict so yeah i'm the weak one who even with all my money saving that i mean basically my big money saving weakness is of course my daughter because i just like to give her everything but you can't do that it's a really really bad messaging for life yeah so we do restrain and thankfully um lara my wife helps me keep my feet on the ground with that one so if if you're out and it was you and your daughter yeah and it's a

sunny day and she's like can i have an ice cream but the answer is mummy's not here daddy is in charge and she'll sometimes say do you have to mummy? Because we all know how it's working in that basin. And I'm like, no, mummy said that daddy's taking you out today. So I'm allowed to take you out. So we're having an ice cream and we will have an ice cream each. I wish there's a way of communicating to people who bought ice creams off without the child hearing. Just do a small one because they're not going to notice the difference. If they start to notice as they get older that's the problem you know my six-year-old is getting very clever and

it's it's frustrating for me to deal with her in an argument and does here's a question is um uh and we should we'll put a uh we'll put a um warning on before the interview is father christmas in your house following money savingsaving rules? No, because we have a Hanukkiah instead, which makes it a lot easier. So we don't do Christmas in our household. I have, and so if we're talking within a no-kids zone here, I, as someone who wasn't brought up with Father Christmas, we just didn't do it at all because we're Jewish, for those who didn't get the Hanukkah reference.

I always slightly struggle with this concept that uh really hard-working parents work very very hard and then give the credit to this old fat guy with a beard yeah um for the presence they get and I find it even more difficult and a slightly more serious point on this one and I know people manage it different ways and many people manage through this the concept that there's this message that you get presents if you're good yeah and johnny down the street whose parents are a lot richer it's obviously been a lot gooder than you've been because they got many more presents and many more things so i mean and as i say i know lots of parents talk to their kids about it and they manage and they change their messages and father christmas only buys one present and they buy the big present.

But it doesn't seem to have walked us as a society. No. But if you were to set it up as a concept that you were going to do it today and take the tradition out of it, it's a bloody awful concept. Yeah. Right, it's a really awful, that somebody else, some stranger

is buying your kids presents and judging whether they're good or bad and the richer children tend to get bigger and better presents. not it's just not a good concept i'm mad bad or sad i would go bad but of course it's a wonderful happiness tradition that gives everybody joy joy and and loving life so i'm not criticizing it too much no no i totally agree in our house father christmas only ever brings one present well i don't know if you know that I've run for years this campaign against unnecessary Christmas presents. I mean, it's a really big issue for me. Present giving was originally a form of social banking, right?

So let's take ourselves back hundreds of years ago. You'd be in a society, the main time you'd give presents when a couple got married, and what you'd effectively do is when a couple got married, older, stable members of the community who had acquired more stuff or money would then give items or money to younger members of the community to start out their married life together and as those people then aged they would effectively give it back to new younger people as they got married in a form of social banking and it was actually quite a good service ceremonial gift exchange is quite a good anthropological service that happened in society

the problem that you have with christmas give giving is it's a zero-sum game i give to you and you give to me and i tend to give to you something of the roughly the same value that you tend to give to me and we're talking outside immediate family and for children here yeah and therefore what you effectively do is i am choosing what you spend your money on because i am buying you a scarf and you're going well i'll buy him a tie so i give you a scarf you give me a tie would you and therefore the 20 quid that we both spent you have effectively spent 20 quid on the tie that I gave you. Would you have actually chosen to spend your money on that tie? And when, especially when people are skint, then Christmas gift giving can be really difficult. And one of the greatest gifts you can give

is the gift of releasing people from the obligation of having to buy for you when they're skint. And people always say, what about the gift of giving though? What about the gift of giving? Well, if you put pressure on someone who's got less than you to buy something back for you and don't say, you don't have to. Oh, you don't have to. It's fine. They're going to. You are obligating them to do it. Actually, you're potentially misprioritising their finances and making them buy a tie when they would prefer

to feed their children with the money. So we have to be careful about spreading the web of who we give gifts to when it comes to Christmas. And I talk about, I mean, even now, even though we're way before it, when we're recording this, when you start, we're going to be building up to autumn and winter. Make a no unnecessary present pack. Yeah, that's a good idea. No unnecessary presents. With the cost of living crisis coming up, don't buy for me.

I need my money. I won't buy for you. Let's send each other an e-card or something or make something or even just give a gift to charity in the name of all your friends. But Christmas has become a retail festival. It's great for the kids

and parents giving to their kids. Not all parents can afford to give their kids gifts. So we have to be careful about that, which is why the language that we should use is really important. It goes on. And one more. can i go one more thing totally i once genuinely for my show did this experiment to prove a point about christmas with young children we went and we got some huge boxes cardboard boxes and we wrapped them and i went to a class of reception kids we had permission and we gave them these amazing boxes and i said to them there's nothing in them and

i said i said there's nothing in the boxes and they knew it was okay and i said do you want to open them they said yeah i said do you want to yeah and uh they ripped the boxes open and they ripped the boxes open and they played for 47 minutes with the empty cardboard boxes until the end of the class and they absolutely loved it and thought it was the best present they ever had and parents of younger children you are going to be under a hell of a lot of pressure to spend lots of money on gifts as they grow up before they become retail snobs and don't know the value of things don't judge the present you give them by the price tag yeah yeah judge it by how much they enjoy it and when you can get away with not spending too much money when they're very young if you're under financial pressure don't spend too much money on it no i totally agree we we

sometimes um buy them like a something that will be useful for the rest of the year so like a slide or a trampoline or something or even if something for the rest of the year so like a slide or a trampoline or something or even if something for the garden then you can it's got a bit more of a lifespan it's basically it's an investment philosophy isn't it yeah because it's long it's longevity i mean i think that is the right way to go well you get the problem is kids often want something that seems and incredibly exciting and then they get it, and you know it's only going to have five minutes of use. You know it's a one-trick pony. And it's the advertising,

which is often the only sort of financial education some kids get, is the adverts. Yeah. And that really pushes them in to buy stuff. And it's not good for the environment either, plastic-wise. The amount of plastic things that I've bought, do you know what I mean? It's just like landfill stuff, isn't it?

We don't mind if they're playing with it loads. You know, you get a slide to the garden and they're on it every time a friend comes over. But like, when it's just like little plastic wrappers of nonsense. And birthday cards and Christmas cards. I don't know what your view is on this, but I think sending another adult a birthday card

that don't, you know, some people really like them, but I think it's an older generational thing. Just send, if you send in a heartfelt message on WhatsApp or a text message. For me, it has way more impact than a bit of card that says, to Rob from so-and-so. And the money that's spent on that is ridiculous. Here's a question. So I've got a financial, which I got from my dad,

which is a financial theory I have. I'd be interested in your taste, which actually I find very helpful. Mad. Just going for it in advance. Yeah, well, I think it's a good theory. Do you agree with it, Rob? You know what I'm going to say, right? I think it's quite a good mental health strategy. Yeah. Which is that you'll lose £1,000

a year to being an idiot. The £1,000 is neither here nor there. It's just a way of phrasing it. But you will lose a certain amount of money a year to missing a train or parking in a you know putting the wrong date on your parking thing and getting a parking ticket or breaking your iphone or whatever and if you admit yourself that these things are just going to happen it makes it a lot easier to deal with i i don't mind it as a concept although of course we should

be trying we should be no i don't mind it we should be trying to prevent it yeah i mean there's something similar i talk about on a different angle which is we have to we have to let ourselves off but i think what you have the key to it though is do you get the learnings when it happens the only thing i slightly worry about in that philosophy is that it gives you permission not to learn from past mistakes. Yeah, that is a problem I have. And that's real. So I'll play a little game.

The thing I was thinking, which is a little game. Right, here you go. So I'll play with you both. As you can see in our conversation where we're all on video games, which are turned off, I have in my hand a coin. You can see it, can't you? Yes. Thank you.

It's a perfectly normal coin, heads or tails. This is the bet I am going to offer you. I'm not really. This is the bet. Okay. If you win on the toss of a coin, I'll give you 100 quid. I won't. I'll give you 100 quid. If I win, you have to give me a quid. I won't. I'll give you 100 quid. If I

win, you have to give me a quid. Right? So that's the bet. Toss of a coin, 100 quid if you win, 1 quid if I win. Would you take the bet? I would take the bet, yes. Good bet. Can I see the coin? And it's not a fake coin or any... Well, it doesn't

really exist because I'm just making it up as we go, but let's in this ephemeral... Josh is up for winning £100. Can we do it six times? Right. So here we go. So I toss the coin. I do it really hard.

Did you use a Furbinator thing then for that? It's in my hand. Call heads or tails? Go on, Josh. Tails. Never fails. It's heads. Oh. Was it a bad? Go on, Josh. Tails. Never fails. It's heads. Oh.

Was it a bad bet? No, because the odds were good. Rob, good bet, bad bet? I'd say, well, it was a bad bet because it didn't come off in hindsight. But, yeah, I wouldn't have regretted going for it. I would argue it was a good decision. It was a good bet. You had 100 to 1 odds.

The downside was you lose a quid. The upside was you gain 100 quid on 50 50 chance i mean absolutely it was worth taking it and what you had there is a really clinical idea of the difference between a good and bad decision and a good and bad outcome you made a good decision yeah you had a bad outcome now in that particular example that's's really, really easy to understand. When it starts to get, you know, at the moment, should I fix my energy bills at 40% more than they currently are? Or should I get a fixed rate mortgage? Or these are all decisions based on uncertainty. Should I marry him or her? It's a decision based on uncertainty. Should I have children? It's a decision based on uncertainty. And all we can do is weigh up the information

that we have available and try and make a good decision. But what we as human beings are prone to is when we make a decision and we have a bad outcome, we then assess it as a bad decision. So people in 2017 fixed their mortgage at 5% based on the fact that they didn't want mortgage rates to go up. And they were really scared if they did, they wouldn't be able to afford them. So they wanted the certainty of locking in for five years at 5%.

And then interest rates went down and they all made the worst decision. I locked in interest rates at 5% and I could have, if I hadn't, it'd have been 2%. No, you made a good decision. You had a bad outcome and unless you're capable mentally of separating the two yeah and understanding it what happens is we start to make worse decisions in future because we become risk averse because we confuse decision and outcome now that's it's not quite the same philosophy as you're doing but i think what you have to do always is make sure that you you assess the situation i'm not talking about trivial things but you assess the situation to make sure that you assess the situation. I'm not talking about trivial things, but you assess the situation to make sure that you understand what went wrong

and could you have done anything to prevent it? And if you could do something to prevent it, make sure you do prevent it in future. But if you couldn't, don't beat yourself up about it. Yeah, yeah. That's great. So the differentiating between bad outcome and bad decision, good decision, good decision good outcome yeah exactly

and you have to work that out which one was it which one was it i mean and some because a lot of questions i get from people and permission questions when i do my road shows or stuff where they come to and they explain all the things that i would tell them if they'd ask me the question you know they go through it but this could happen and that could happen so should i do it and i and usually it's like, you've thought everything through. All you're actually doing is asking me for permission. And they go, well, I suppose I am. And I say, we don't know the outcome,

but the decision you're making is perfectly rational. So yes, if you feel this is the right thing for you, I can't see any reason you shouldn't do it, but that doesn't mean it will always work out for you and in in finance like in life there are many uncertainties and the biggest thing that we struggle to deal with as human being is uncertainty so you have to understand what's certain what isn't certain and how to make the best decision around that and and so on that do you think um i should stop buying AirPods

because I keep losing them? Well, the best answer would be stop losing them. Wouldn't it? I think you need ones that have got a little cable on, Josh, so you don't lose them. Yeah, I mean, the headphone issue is a particularly difficult one. I mean, are you losing them because they're dropping out of your ears when you're on a run,

or are you losing them because you just misplaced them? Because I'm scatty. Well, can I tell you a secret? Yeah. I'm a loser too. Are you? I am a loser. This is a scoop.

It's not. It's been on my website since about 2003. They actually phrase I'm a loser in the mobile phone insurance article. But it's a scoop. It's a re-scoop. Yeah. I lose things uh mobile phones keys headphones i mean generally they're found because i haven't haven't actually misplaced them but i'm i'm classic my brain is very very organized but everything else is very disorganized that you

know i'm you must have a messy desk do you have a messy desk or a messy place? Yeah, mine's actually disgusting. Mine is. I've been burgled. Again, luckily, Mrs. Money Saving Expert is incredibly tidy and sort of forces me to get things in order when I need to do so. So I'm a messy desk person

and I lose stuff all the time. But I've started to try and have places where I put things. Right. Right? So, and try and teach the habit that when I take my headphones off, I will always put them in the same spot

so that I always, and I must not take them off unless I'm putting them in that spot. And I think clearly, maybe if you're losing them all the time, you might want to find a cheaper brand. Yes. When do you wear your headphones?

In the house or out of the house? It sounds like some sort of headphone intervention. Let's do it. It is. Where do you wear your headphones? In the house or out of the house? It sounds like some sort of headphone intervention. Let's do it. It is. When do you wear them, Josh? I wear them out of the house. I've got a key saucer. A key dish.

A key dish. Yeah. And I try and put them in there, but I always forget and they're in the pockets and then I can't remember which pocket they're in. And then they're... Can you not pat the pockets down? That's sounding a bit of a raw excuse there.

No, but... Are they going in the washing machine you had, though? No, but... How are they disappearing if they're in your pocket and going to the washing machine? You love other people's problems, don't you, Mark? You really get into it. It's frustrating me.

I'll lose them in a car or worse. No, no, no. You just said I bring them in and I leave them in pockets. No, no, no. But then I find them and then I'll go out and I don't know whether they're in trousers or they're in a car. I love it when Josh is the worst one. And then here's another thing I do.

I think I've got them and I go out and then I haven't got the headphones. I've just got the little packet that looks like the Tic Tacs packet. Oh, who takes them out and doesn't put them in the packet? I mean, come on. I know it's bad. This is really bad. I know it's bad. But it is.

It is. But one should stop one. I don't know why I've done one, but let's go with it. One. Josh should. Josh, stop boasting about it and stop commercialising it by using it as a good story in your podcast. Yeah.

I've got to make the money back somehow, Martin. And fix it. He's using comedy as an excuse, isn't he, mind? Oh, what am I like? I'm scatty. Grow up, you loser. Exactly. Another bad. This is not, you know, you need to start by...

OK, are you ready? I'm not sure I'm ready. I'm not sure are you ready? Yeah. Let's get the guilt trip out. I'm not sure I'm ready. I'm not sure I'm ready for this. Can I take this? Each time you buy a pair of headphones, I want you to imagine that instead you could have given that money to starving children.

Oh, mine. And therefore, by your loser ability of losing headphones, the opportunity cost of buying those new headphones is children going without food to eat. OK. Oh, that's good. Martin, you know he's quite fragile. This will haunt him forever.

Do you know why that's... I just want to say, because I'm a nice guy and I try and help things, I am absolving you of the past headphone issues. OK, right. You don't need to feel guilty about past headphones. Okay. But from this point onwards, because you've come to the money confessional...

Yeah. Right? From this point onwards, that is the attitude you have to have when you are taking your headphones out, to remember that if you're going to be careless with them, the impact it has on the starving children. Can I say how I worry this isn't going to be a money-saving tip?

Because now if I lose a pair of headphones, I'll buy the headphones and then through guilt, I'll donate some money to a charity. So I'm actually paying double for the headphones. Yeah, but your loss is the world's gain. Let's not worry. Exactly. I'm sure you'll be fine, Josh. Martin, the last question is, what's the one thing that Mrs Money Saving Expert does at home

that frustrates you parenting-wise? You've mentioned the chocolates and sweets, but is there anything else? We understand she's a wonderful woman and a wonderful mum, but is there any things you clash on over parenting? Strictness. Strictness. It's the strictness, yeah.

Because the strictness, you know, TV time and all that type of stuff, watching one more 15-minute programme, all that type of thing. She's just, I don't know how she does it. I want to appease, I want that little, but she wants to teach and to learn and to educate. That is our friction point. But to be fair, and I would say this, because we're on here and it's public, but it is true.

We do not argue very much we do not argue very much about this occasionally i will mention it and equally she'll say to me did you have to do that did you have to give her that yeah and it's like so but it's not a big deal for us okay brilliant martin thank you so much that's so good thank you for having educational and really funny a doubleammy. And sometimes we don't have either. Is that Josh or you? Depends how we've been that week, really. It's a never-changing thing. It's flux.

Thank you so much, Ryan. You're welcome back whenever you want. We love having you on. Our audience will love that. Well, I'll have to come back and judge on the headphones. Yes, exactly. Martin Lewis, money-saving expert, MSE. It's the first time I've taken notes, Rob.

What did you take notes about? No lemon? I wrote down the words needs and wants. I wrote down pocket money is pay. And I wrote down pension for child. That sounds like some sort of Slipknot album. Yeah, I'll be honest with you. Those are the notes for psychopath.

I wouldn't have them on your body in case there's a road accident and they just whip that out of your pocket. You get sections. Widdicombe's suicide note was very cryptic indeed. Needs and wants, quite clear. Needs and wants. But he does feel like his life insurance would be a pension for his child. That's what we're getting at.

Thank you to Martin. Thank you to everyone who bullied him on Instagram and Twitter and his dentist. In the street. Big up, Martin Lewis's dentist. Big up, Martin Lewis's dentist. Shout out to the dentist. Oh, that's a tough, though. Tough haggle.

He's there with, like, the mouth guard thing on. And he's like, right, let me have a quick clean. He's like, how much is that going to be? Oh, leave it out, martin you've got plaque by the way we know that dentist is absolutely offering the best value for money if you if you're in the dentist you see martin lewis walking out you think i've made a good decision here yeah that's it wherever you are you see martin lewis like this was i've done i've done well today imagine being on the same flight as martin lewis i've definitely got the best value flight available today.

There is no... I just saw Martin Lewis. What car is he driving? The same one as mine. Yes. But my advice would be, I always thought about this. I had a routine about this where I was sort of trying to lose weight. So what I started doing was, the routine was following someone

who was really fit and healthy around a supermarket. When they weren't looking, just nick their trolley and pay for all that. Because it must be the good food. And that's what you're going to do with Martin Lewis? Whatever Martin Lewis is doing, I'm doing. I think that's a good idea. And can I just say, as one last appeal, if you are the dentist or a famous person you think will be good on this podcast,

do, when you've got their mouth open, tell them they need to do it. Yeah, because I do whatever my dentist says. Yeah, exactly. You're going to need to floss and you're going to need to be on lockdown parenting on lockdown parenting hell oh do you want i hate the most is when you're going for you know you have to go for that deep clean because you can brush your teeth every day but plaque will build up over time you haven't got the right equipment have you and i go oh god these are a bit dirty there's a bit of plaque here i went yeah that's why i'm here for you to fucking clean them. I don't turn up to a car cleaning service with a clean car, do I? Well, I don't.

I had to pay extra. What? For what? When I took my car about 18 minutes ago, they made me pay extra because it was so dirty. Dirty little hobbit boy. That's what they said. It was quite weird. Big old ears, headphones dropping out.

I didn't know when he said that to you and he went, well, your ears are too big and they just drop out. I was like, that's quite offensive. A fucking dumbo. I wouldn't, they wouldn't fall out on a jog and then I'd lose them. I'm not scrabbling around on the floor like I'm someone looking for loose change. Anyway, good bloke. Listen to what he says.

We know nothing. No. We'll see bloke. Listen to what he says. We know nothing. No. We'll see you later. Bye.