A frugal life is an easy life!

Last night was episode 2 of the series, where four "stars" move in with a family and attempt to live "on the breadline"

Mel B has to look after six kids on a limited income. To her credit she tried to use her influence to help them out, free gym membership (instead of the £300 gym membership at the local gym) for the mother and children she was teamed up with. A 45 minute journey to get to the gym though didn't make sense, a common sense approach would have been to hit the local school? where they let the public use their facilities? or exercise without the need for a gym on tennis courts, swimming baths, etc?
I am not going to knock her though, because she is trying - that's all you can ask really.
In episode 2, Mel tried to sort out the girls bedroom by black bagging all the clothes that were everywhere in their room, but way too much washing to be done in the home, so she took it all to the launderette, a service wash for all these clothes cost £100, which she made the camera crew fork out for hehe.
Mel then went to Asda instead of the nearby supermarket, as it would be cheaper. (All us common sense users know that NO supermarkets are cheap, it is a false economy, what you get for a reasonable price with an offer, they more than add on to the regular products that are bought every week)
Unfortunately, Mel took one of the children to Asda in a taxi, which costs £6.50 one way, £13 just to pick up shopping is not a great way to save money, using the free bus from the supermarket would have been! (At least she got the camera crew to pay for the taxis!)

Next up, my favourite one of the four celebs, Keith Allen. A family of six living in a two bedroomed house (if my memory serves me well) and the front room doubles as a bedroom for a 17 year old.
I was impressed last week with Keith's approach, he didn't try to lay the law down, he didn't use his celeb status at all, he looks right at home.
Whilst the other three celebs went to bingo or went to the gym as a treat, Keith got some ingredients together as a treat and let the young children in his care make their own pizzas (see what I mean? good old common sense Keith, well done!)
The home has a problem with rats, which Keith tried to resolve, ringing the council twice but receiving no reply, so he tried again a few times a day later and finally got a call back. Stressing the urgency, they sent someone out to have a look around and Keith made the teenager pick up the dog muck in their back garden, "Don't give them an opportunity to put down in their report that there was dog muck and it is attracting the rats!" Simple, effective words of wisdom, you should never do anything to let the authorities get off the hook without doing anything.

Keith then arranged a meeting with the local council, about rehousing. Along with the single mum of the family before going in he provided her with information on what the law says must be the case, forwarned is forarmed and all that.
It highlighted for me a failing of many people, they envy others for simply knowing their rights and making sure they are enforced, help yourself appears to be Keith's way and I agree with it.
Keith introduced a keyboard into the front room for some fun, he told the cameras that "If you leave the instrument in the room and the kids are around it, they will mess about with it!" which they did.

Next was Trinny, who was caring for a lady who couldn't walk very well. She introduced her to a mobility scooter which is free for the day to get around town, using the benefits on offer which the lady had no idea about.
Trinny also talked to the lady about being rehoused, to a place without steps to help her get out more, another good example of helping yourself I thought.

Finally we had Austin, the former England rugby player. He was dealing with a young offender on a tag and awaiting trial for stealing a car.
As with all kids/teens, there is a good side if you take the time to look for it and we found it this week, as this rebel teenager who has caused so many problems for his mum, it was revealed he visits his grandad everyday and clearly has a soft spot for him.
In this episode, Austin went along with the teen to have a game of footy, down at the local astroturf pitch. Playing there was a group of Iraqi lads and Austin asked them if they wanted a game with the estate lads.
All seemed well as they had a good game, but two of the lads refused to play, they didn't want to associate with them as they were, "arrogant!"
Austin picked up on it straight away and rightly so... sport has no barriers, which is why it should be used to solve problems everywhere. Why not fly over afghanistan and drop thousands of footballs instead of bombs?

Next week is the last episode I think, personally I would rather have seen 4 politicians take part in this for the week, as it is they that control the country and create the climate these people live in.