The Vault with Financielle - “We’ve overspent this Christmas” & How to Reset for 2026 | The Vault Episode 96

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

Send us a textHo ho ho! Here’s a special Christmas Eve episode of The Vault 🎄🎁This week, we’re getting festive with a brand new game, “Jail or No Jail”, using your money confessions! We also share a Twixmas money checklist to help you reset between Christmas and New Year, and dive into a community dilemma we know so many of you will relate to:“We’ve overspent this Christmas” 🫣If money feels a bit heavy right now, you’re not alone, and this episode is here to help you feel calmer, clearer and more in control going into the new year.Links to things we mentioned in the episode:Reflect on 2025 with: UNLOCKED: How Looking Back at Your Money Habits Can Set You Up for Success Take back control of your money with our digital course: The Money Playbook Use code NEWYEAR for 25% OFF Send this to your self-employed friendsConnect with our Partners*🫶 Get life insurance with our friends at Lifesearch. Speak to a female advisor here.🏡 Meet our Financielle approved Mortgage Brokers.💸 Get cashback that reduces your mortgage interest with Sprive (£5 extra for you using code: FINANC)*The above are tracked links, which tells our partners we sent you and may in future result in a payment or benefit to our site.The Vault is an entertaining yet thought provoking podcast that answers our community’s dilemmas and confessions surrounding women and money.Visit https://www.financielle.com to download our app.Watch the podcast on YouTube.Follow Financielle for more:▶︎ TikTok▶︎ InstagramAbout Financielle:Financielle is a female focussed finance app helping women to take back control of their money, ditch debt, increase savings and invest in their future.Recorded and Produced by Liverpool Podcast Studios▶︎ Web ▶︎ Instagram▶︎ LinkedIn

Welcome to The Vault with Fine On Child. This is a safe space where we talk all things, life and money, and no topics are off limits. Happy Christmas Eve, guys. Happy Christmas Eve, what a treat for you all. Yeah, this is going out a day early, so it's Wednesday right now. Yeah, so this is an actual Christmas treat for you all? Is this because we thought people wouldn't listen to it over Christmas dinner, so we brought a phone? Right, so. Can you imagine me like, guys, you deal with the turkey, I'm just going to go watch this rabble talk about.

money. What's our go-to Christmas Eve plans? We're obviously pre-recording this a little bit earlier than Christmas Eve. We're not here in the studio today. That's because we're all spread around the country. Lydia, you're going to be in Wales, aren't you, on Christmas Eve? Yeah. Are you going to be driving home for Christmas with Chris Rhea? Yeah. Oh, the whole four hours, but like imagine if you raw dog dicked it was just with him all the way. I feel like I just want to drive around the village with that playing just because it's like an iconic. It's all the way to come home on Christmas Eve. So I'm like walking into the kitchen for Christmas. Yeah.

So you're doing that, Lydia. How about you, Lucy? I'll be going back home to my mum's. We're going to the cinema to watch Wicked. I'm delayed. I've had to avoid so many spoilers. Even though I know the story of this day, but I've not been watching clips. Do you want to?

Oh, so you've not pre-watched something on TikTok. No? Oh, my God. I'm so excited. I really enjoyed it. I've listened to some of the songs. I've listened to some of the songs so I can have a bit of a karaoke moment in the cinema. that's a great Christmas Eve thing

yeah I was about to say on Christmas Eve that's like a nice little ritual you've got going on well we'll be in the depths of chaos Laura and I go into a K-pop demon hunter sing along speak myself I'm excited I've been practicing I'm learning the dance routine

to soda pop yeah oh my god I could have got an outfit there's still time if you have pre-recorded this so you know watch self come to it come to the rescue yeah we're going to a K-pop demon hunter's sing along dance party in our village.

It's just to get it's basically a ruse to get all the kids get all their energy out. That's a good idea. Then they go to bed. Like it works quite well and then we'll be going

to the local Italian which we do every year with the boys and then they see friends in there so it's kind of like pre-planned that they will go and spend time with their friends so me and Neil basically have a date night on Christmas

Steve. Oh that's good. Romantic meal for tea and send them to the other table. Who knew? It was like by accident one year and then we were like

so we're obviously doing it again next year and then checked him with our friends this year. You go? Yeah, perfect. Off you go. I might fancy a curry Christmas Eve. Yeah, I think that's a good shout. We usually do picky bits, but the fridge is always full because of all the food's usually

at my house. Yeah, I might do, I might do curry. I think that's a good shout. Well, if you all listen to this on Christmas Eve, enjoy your Christmas Eve. Try to chill the hell out. It's exciting that it's just one day, but it's also just one day. So you do you, and if you need to hide, go hide. Yeah, there's permission to hide.

Whether it's kids or aunties or grandmas or, your granddad found you one year hide it or last year hiding like you have permission to go hide with a treats just chill and we listen to this if you want to okay quick financial win one listener said speaking to chelsea at life search made sorting income protection and life insurance so easy and she finally feels like a boss with her cover sorted want the same piece of mind head to financial.com forward slash protection to get your free quote today. We have a new segment, Christmas Eve treat, you may say. We've got a game. This game was decided by Lydia. She's created this game for us. It's called jail or no jail. Oh my God. So we get a lot of posts in the

community saying, oh, am I in financial jail? So we've got some handy paddles here. If you're watching. Yeah. If you're not watching, if you're listening, we've got paddles on one side it says no jail. The other side it says jail. So I'm basically going to say a few confessions from our community and we have to decide if they're in jail or no jail. I love that. People have shared with your confessions? Oh, my God. Have you seen them? No. Sometimes she has, by the way. Not always. She says when she has, but I'm usually the dog. No, I'm well out of this. This is good. This is fresh for me. Okay. Are we ready? We ready.

I used Clorna on Christmas presents. Jail. Jail. Say out loud, Holly. Jail. There's no, there's no, there's no even caveats. No moment of hesitation from any of us. It was just like,

Oh, no context, right? So we could have a little chat about that. Did you see, this is the side chat? You knew this was going to go off piece already, sorry. The thing that we shared on LinkedIn were Clana made the error on their advert and it said the debt card. Have you not seen it? No.

They missed the ad. Do they've got this new card? Oh, maybe it was doctored. No. No, I don't know. Someone said, I've taken a picture of this on the tube, the printers or the graphic designer or the copywriter. And I was like, I wrote on it, oh, this is like an inside financial job. Womp, which one, I know.

Oh my God, maybe the person that did it is a financial member. I was like, I'm going to show them. The debt card, not debit. That's crazy. It's so strange, like the sentiment on Klarna when you know what it is. is really negative, but if you've not been privy to these conversations that we have or like get a full understanding of why it's not good or why it can be a detriment, like, you're just blissfully unaware.

And you, no, not just that. You're like team Klarna. Oh, pro. Yeah. I got sent, we got sent to the financial account. One of our community members sent it to us. And it was an influencer who'd done like a partnership with Clana. And she was like, oh, going about my day with Clana.

Like, oh, budgeted for my concert tickets and everything. And it was really pushed as a budgeting tool and it's insane. I remember Patricia Bright had her entire like a season of her podcast sponsored by Klarna. It was a boogey one. It wouldn't surprise me if like they had to pay for guests using some, you know, I don't know. But I remember being really disappointed. Yeah. And so she's a money gal like trying to help people.

She's meant to be helping. But she took the money. She took the money, which no judgment. We'll never take them. We always, we always say we could be on a desert island right now. If we sold credit cards to free men. to females we wouldn't If we're on a desert island you'll know

If we don't turn up to the pod in the new year We took the money from Clana If you are someone that did It's in financial jail It's no judgment But you've got a year to get your shit together You've got a year to build that sinking fund To build that emergency fund

Like I'm hoping that if you did something happen That meant you had to But I have seen some of you share Like you got carried away with the moment pressure to feel like you have to buy a certain thing and when i've been looking for a treadmill and we've got a lovely 200 quid one from um facebook marketplace which was in our right said jim i'm very very excited but it knew the internet knew that i've been searching for treadmills and then

there's a high value items aren't they so then it's presented to you with buy now pay later you know dividing like a one two thousand pound purchase into three still a hell of a lot of money but it's much more palatable and you're like oh it's for this big thing like you start you start And you go, no, no, no, no. So, you know, I was a marketplace purchase, and I love it. But you are forgiven until next year. But you're in jail. How long in jail?

Like Chloe Kardashian jail vibes, like three days. Do you know when she went to jail? And a really good headshot. She cried. She cried. She got a headshot. So iconic. Do you remember that moment?

She was crying. And then Kim's doing a selfie. Yeah, a selfie. Your sister's going to jail. Stop taking selfies. So iconic. That is iconic. Okay.

I charge my family for Christmas Day. no jail no jail and I so I did that I did know about this so we were on a call the other day I don't know where you were

we do that we're on a good we're on a good chat about it because this has come from a certain Instagram account it's like a Huns one that Lucy and I obviously follow because this whole Gemma reacts

like Gemma Collins vibe content and a woman was like right so I do charge my family for Christmas dinner and I charged them this because it's this ahead. She was like, but children are half price and blah, so she did it in a very, like, it probably came across in a bit of a, oh my God, she's charging a family. Yeah, it was very sophisticated and formal and official.

And whereas our family, I was trying to position it to the girls of how like we do it because we've got a mixture of people in our family who have got my mum and dad who have no children, but want to pay for all the grandkids. Me and you that have got, you've got three kids, I've got two. and then my auntie's like single person coming to the meal. If we like went to Auntie Roof House for Christmas Day, we would be like, we need to pay you. Like you cannot host us.

It is so expensive to host for Christmas. And if you, listen, I think it's different if there's like a rotation element, right? And so it's like I'll host this year, you host next year, Antirutath aside. If we could evenly share that out, then you just do take the roof with a smooth. But we host at mine because mine's the biggest like cooking and entertaining space. and then everyone bakes what they like and what they're good at, so it's all separated out. It's the meat man.

He is the meat man. So imagine if it was like, so could you pay for the meat then, please? Yeah, if you were desserts and wear meat, we might feel aggrieved. Or if you were bringing the alcohol and you're bringing the starters, there's only one winner in that situation. So what happens is there is a list that gets done by my mum and auntie, and then it just gets divided by people and we pay for all the people in our lives. that's good yeah so it is but it's not ticketed i wonder she's got multiple

sittings do you know like oh my god bring the in-laws in the afternoon yes yeah oh my god do you get discount if you wash up oh my god definitely 10 cent discount for washing up i always disappear into the living room i don't i'm like sleeves up like i want it to be clean like i can't enjoy this year soos our friend suz has had the most amazing renovation big big kitchen and diner and living room extension she her her her pantry utility room is bigger than most people's kitchens yeah she'll hate me saying that but i'm saying it anyway she's got two dishwashers she's got a backup dishwasher so with one's on the other one can be being loaded and then we empty the other one you could just absolute goals the operation and logistics

of that house the utility room is hidden behind what looked like cupboard doors but when you open the cupboard doors there's a full room cloak room it's an air fryer in there so it doesn't smell in your house i once put alley in there asleep in his pram and everyone kept shutting the doors thinking that it was a cupboard. And I was like, no, no, my child's, we're at a party. My child's. I mean, it's like, Harry Potter. Literally, literally. So, but yeah, double dishwash of Christmas Day is elite. Oh my gosh. Okay. I've done two already. Sorry. I stopped talking. I bought matching pajamas for the whole family, including the dog. No jail. No jail. No jail. All of us. I've got a caveat though. Go on. It needed to be paid out of a Christmas sinking fund.

It couldn't have been. I've wandered into M&S. And oh my God, how cute they've got all matching PJs when you haven't got your money shit together and it's just an impulsive purchase. Laura does matching PJs in her house but I can guarantee she's done a Christmas sinking from from the first of Jan saved up all year and consciously gone what do we like to do as a family we like that vibe of having the matching Christmas PJs therefore we'll get them because we've got a Christmas sinking fund but for someone that can't get the end of the month with money left over is not on top of the bills is not on top of anything and

spending their money on matching Christmas PJs I'm really sorry but I have seen a lot of hacks people go invented so you can hack it as well you don't have very co-friendly but I mean we were house all year round yeah yeah yeah you have to wear the red gingham pyjamas that I'm wearing in like yeah you have to wear them all year around if you can get them for a vinted or whatever it might be but if you can afford them and you've saved up for them yeah they were really cost-effective charges I was a max and expensive ones and they've got like percy pigs on them and like M&S biscuits and stuff and they were cost-effective ones they weren't expensive I think this

this time of year like it's Christmas Eve now the the could have been so many things throughout this month, even the end of November, that you either did and regretted or didn't do and regretted or felt like you missed out or that you got excited and then you didn't go and you were annoyed and then the moment passed. Have a little think of that needs to be next year sinking from. So for example, and some people have loved it by the way, and there's different levels of this, but whether it's overseas LAP land, whether it's Manchester Lapland, or whether it's going to see your local Father Christmas, there's different levels of expense.

it to there that can really like throw you off if you're on a money journey there's Christmas Eve boxes or not like we do not do Christmas Eve boxes but if you have and that's your thing and you've been able to fund it through your sinking fund go ahead and do it have a think about what you did and didn't do and put that it's not just a gift fund it's a doing fund so last year we underagged our Christmas fund I think because we didn't realize that oh between Christmas and year if I want to go out for like dinner or want to go to take the kids I don't know. You talked to the market's this year, didn't you?

Oh my God. Oh my God. Not spoke about it. It was literally 200 pounds for us to go. What? Like we spent 200 pounds. What? Probably nothing.

We went on the train. So that was like whatever. We would have driven our parks and whatnot. We got three trays of like pancakes. I knew, right, this morning when we're getting ready for pod, I was thinking, I've got something to tell. And I can't remember what it wasn't. It's all coming back to me now.

So thank God. Helter Skelter Oh my God The kids wanted to go on the health scalter How much was the helter skeletal per child? Fiverr How many times do you get to go down? Three times, five pounds

It was four pounds a child They went down once So that How many times did they go down? Once I was like Yeah, go for it Because I was like

It was a surprise treat They didn't know they were going I picked them up from school earlier I was like We're going to do Christmas market They absolutely loved it you know what it was fantastic and we will do it again and then it was like what else hang on we've not hit 200 quid yet you've done train and you've done food food so it's like food

or no the pancakes would have been pancakes were like 25 quid for three trays or whatever it just you just don't realize and it stacks up so by the time we got back i think we worked all out and it was like we did get chinese on the way home so that was part of it as well believe that that's like a takeaway chinese like you didn't get food like main food from the market well i would he's like Mr. Hot Dog that's his, if there's nothing else, I can get him a hot dog

and I know, but the hot dogs are literally like 12 quid or something sat in the middle of the thing and I'm going, there's too much flavour, they'll taste too good, he won't like them

because he wants like rubbish. So I walked past the chippy and I was like, I'm going to get him a hot dog. A sausage. So that's my hack.

Sossed from the chippy in a barme. Take them on a walk around and then go to the chippy the markets. We had to pay the busker man. We had to go into like, oh, just it all.

We had a fantastic time though. I forgot where I was up to you now. But like last year you under-eged it, this year you've over-eged it and you've not done as many activities consciously. For years, we used to put Christmas lights in, so going to like a Dunhamassie or going to whatever. Chester zoo and it rained. Jesus Christ. I think that was the year. I got wet feet. It broke the camels back and also at the zoo. Dunnassie. I remember my kid just kicking off and I was like, do you know what? This is cost a little cost, I bet it was 150 quid. For the tickets.

And then there's food. And there's a health skeleton at the Dunham Massey when everyone all know. Like there's rides and stuff. And my kids were just kicking off, crying. They were cold doing it.

And I was thinking, I'm not enjoying myself. Every light that we're walking past, they're just trying to get to the end of it. And I'm literally going, stop. Look at the Light up penguin. You won't feel the benefit.

That Light up penguins, five pounds out of this trip. Like, look at it. Enjoy it. Embrace it. You will like this penguin. And they just don't give a shit. So I've taken that out of the budget.

You were like, you were the problem, not them. Yeah, we sign up to too much stuff. Forced fun. It made us go like, what do we actually like? They're like trains, so you took him on a train this year. That was 20 odd credit. It was like, Woody's mind blue.

And we spent 20 minutes because you were in Manchester that night. Laura was at a wreath-making event of which she doesn't make the wreath, everyone does it for her. And then, Rincent P.S. Square in Manchester. And the trams are there. There were lights. What did he say was on the building I was in like, is it Batman or something? Oh, no, there's a blow-up T-Rex in one of the offices.

So he was like that. no idea. He kept saying there's a T-Rex on the building that you're on. I'm like, unless this is a Godzilla, I don't know what you're talking about. So that was 20 minutes of fun. You know what I mean? Like, I think we build everything up and spend so much money. Yeah. And we just walk around Manchester and it was literally like, mind-blown. So just also, like Laura said, I think it's really good advice. On your notes, on your phone, maybe score things out of 10. Good idea. Like Christmas lights, zero out of 10. Driving around the village to see Christmas lights, 10 out of 10, free.

You're in your pajamas, take snacks. I have done that, really. So that's like a good way of gauging your sinking fund for the following year. Christmas night out, two out of ten. Yeah. I am, oh God, this is the worst game ever because you're like, how long have we got allocated for this chat? When I was picking wrapping paper for the presents that we buy,

not that Father Christmas brings this year, I am all, for Christmas and under Christmas tree, I'm about aesthetic, right? So, and it's really hard at the moment with it, with Instagram, with interiors for things all looking at the art, everything looks the same, everyone's got the same you know, interiors and it's like no originality and that's me all the for all the crowd, which was then I end up doing nothing. And for

Christmas I've always been about paper that matches and um, I told us to someone's my family and it was, it was, it was tiny. It looked like like, it may have been a napkin, it was so small and I was, so we went, we went to to home bargains, what were getting? Oh no, we were getting we needed some cash for our holiday actually, we needed some euros went i was like a good home bargain see if we can find i wanted like green and gold

green and gold sorry cream and gold cream and gold cream and gold and you know what they had they had really cheap but big lelo and stitch christmas they had dinosaur christmas and then they had grinch christmas and i was like those will all be divided up into like the different presents for the different kids 99 p a roll huge perfect so you succumb to the 99 p because it's not about me it's about them and they will not remember the cream and old or isn't that nice. They'll remember that like they'll love the paper. So you wanted a Kardashian Christmas. I did. I did. And what did I get? Home bargains. But it works. It's okay. It's okay. And it was it was checking in that it's not about Instagram and it's not

about it can go on Instagram. I'm all about that. But it was more focus on them and really what they will enjoy. And often that costs a lot less. Yeah. It does. I saw um, I think Sarah and the community shared a video of the Greek mother, I think she's called on Instagram, a really good reel where she said, for years we struggled, we were in consumer debt and we really struggled. And as a family, I don't know how we got through that time. But she said at Christmas, she, her kids still remember the Christmas when they were in the most debt, when they had the least amount of money because she did things like she made vouchers and she was crying on the reel. So then I started crying watching this bloody thing.

And then she's saying, and I'd make a gift vouching. It was, and Mommy's going to play Lego with you for an hour. Mommy's going to come to bed with you like an hour before bed and we're going watching a movie together. And she said, though, the kids remember that? I've got goosebumps and she just said, and now I'm at a place where I can buy my kids what I want whenever they want, and I do. But, you know, ask them what they got for Christmas.

They don't know, but they always remember that Christmas because it was time. She said, the only thing my kids want from me is time. And she was like, and everyone's forgotten that. Cute everyone tonight going making vouchers for tomorrow. Oh, yeah, I need to do mine. I just thought I was the cutest thing. You have to do it with your mom.

Oh, my God, how cute. Watch Wicked together. tick. Coffee date. Okay, next one. I'm being a Scrooge this year. Gifts only for my nephews and nieces, saving moders on.

No jail. No jail. We've done a lot of content on that this year. I don't know if you've noticed, but year after year people come to us really stressed about having to buy gifts for family members and our favourite bit of content to create and like Lydia's helped us write some blogs on this

and we've all done a bit is like how to stop saying, how to start saying no at Christmas like I think we had a dilemma a few weeks ago a few months ago now buying for 15 people

what there's like a single person in a family in a family setting there's no way on earth you should be buying presents for 15 people I chose for three kids

that's my problem shouldn't be your problem you shouldn't have to buy for my three kids my pet pay is when we say no gifts and someone does gifts that really irks me

go on oh that leads us on nicely to the next one We said we weren't doing presents, but I've nearly spent £200 on my partner. Jail. Oh, I've been rubbing one off. Walk yourself to jail because you agreed. You pre-agreed you had the conversation and then you've still gone and done it.

And you'll be annoyed if he hasn't bought you. That's such a female thing to do though. Yeah, it is. Dylan's laughing in the background because he knows full well when women go, I don't want anything. And when I say this to Neil, I truly mean it this year. That's what we've done. I do not want a present.

Dylan, are you willing to share? What were you laughing at? No, I just, I could just picture. It would be exactly the thing. And I'd be too scared to know just a thing. So you need to always buy backups that if she doesn't present you with a gift, then you don't have to get them out from behind your back and you can save them for the birthday.

This is like the tactic. But her birthday is a month after Christmas. Perfect. Present draw. If she gets something out, you can go, aha, I knew you'd do this. Yeah, good idea. Maybe you do need to. Get some vouchers written out.

Foot rub. Dog walk. There's loads you can do. Me and Alex have said we're going to do this year, so I'll keep you updated if Alex gets me anything, because I'm sticking to it and not getting anything. Oh, so you and Alex aren't doing gifts this year. Oh my God, I've got something funny to tell you.

So we have a notion spreadsheet for gifts because of the different grandparents and then the different toys and then who they're for. And then to try and keep it even, and I'll send it here. You will love it. Okay. And then we, um, by, we have a few things that we open. And so we have a few things that we put on the list that we want.

And it's always practical stuff that we perhaps would purchase anyway. So this year, like I've got, I've got quite a lot of outdoor running that I want to do. And so I've got some running gloves, a headband that covers my ears. A light, it's gone for accessories. I've gone for accessories. And a light, all cost effective accessories. that it's a little bit of volume to open. There is nothing of, you know,

like I've just had the treadmill really was Christmas and obviously we've already got that and I'm already on it. So I will have things to open at those. What do you think my husband put on his... Some sort of cleaning, organizing. Like a carpet. You are close. He wanted a new carpet for Christmas.

He wanted a carpet for his 40th actually last year, but he didn't get it. It was like, no, you can have a watch. Like skirting boards or something. It's a bath mat. Not only did he put it on. So I, so he created a little. on the backlog of the list and I

won't listen you can slagging on it. Oh it's true. I went through it and I went no that's from the home fund so the other thing that I vetoed was a salt and pepper shaker that weren't particularly interesting they weren't artisan he's not into cooking he just one's struggling. Not the crusade

oh no no just like I think they are a bit of electric and they're from Amazon but I was like if we need them we buy them anyway and I vetoed the bath mat so when we were looking through what had come this thing was rolled up I was like what's this thinking it was and it's like I think this has been on those list before so actually in his defence I think he really wants it it's like it's it's not like a shag pile one it's like a

memory it's a memory phone oh god soft I was like I had I vetoed it because I thought it'd feel weird actually I was like oh if it's wet Carl but that was on the list and it around it's like permanent footprints in it then that would be literally it's shaped to your foot only I will show it but I saw it I was like what's this and this is his so he's going to be opening that and not the salt and beverage shake oh you're actually getting it in for Christmas this day. He's got it himself. It arrived in the Amazon order. No, because it's... Is it for Christmas? It's for Christmas. It's for Christmas. I'm going to open it. I'm coming. Can you wrap it up and like film? No, this is pre-recorded. Well, we are we will. He'll probably

wrap it up himself. Like, we will wrap it. Today, this is pre-recorded. I'm going around tonight and opening it. It's memory for it. I'll never re-map it because I think it's re-wrap it. So yeah, this happened and... I'd rather have nothing. So like, that is a thing. That is a thing. But select something practical. But yeah, back to you, Missy. You are in jail because... You've broke the agreement.

Did she say she's struggling with money? No. Okay, that's fine. Like, it's fine for budget-wise, but just be that, don't be that person. I feel like we've done it with friends and family where we've got. Right, we're not doing gifts. And then like... It's like, oh, I've just got you a bottle of the line.

And it's like, don't do anything. I don't get it. For years. I don't know. I should say it. This person doesn't listen. but I don't do bats. It's not my thing.

And this person. The baths for the kids. Every single year used to get me like a huge, big, barble, like a Christmas themed. Bath stuff. And every year and every year, I just go, thank you. And then literally the day after boxing day, boxing day when the charity shop was open,

just take it down to the charge shop. Every year, then one year, Neil was like, I'm going to have to say something. She doesn't do baths. She doesn't have baths. Oh, so for the last 10 years you just let me. I'm like, it's not beautiful. Yeah, we should have said earlier. The bath fizzes I've stopped buying because for the kids, they're always really exciting and they think they're a good stocking filler and then. Make your bath green. Well, the wicked one does. That's what I bought. Green and gold. Alvish green. Still not got it off. She's Elfam, she's in character. But they, they don't often use them because they're not great for you. Like they're not of good stuff. And then she's a shower girl now. So, yeah. I was looking at him thinking, that can't be healthy you're sitting in that blue bath

you look at your kids and you're like he looks cold his abs he's shivering he looks ill I've stopped buying them just because the green

and I was thinking it can't be anything good in that for you on your baby skin you literally like coming out as this grinch okay final one

I used my child's geyser for his Christmas presents how did they you can't you can't take it out I think she might mean like savings account I think she means savings account

jail you're going no jail I think you're a adult no you've got to choose one you've got to die on the hill wait a minute oh I need to know the background she'll give you a reason why

I can't decide and we're picturing a family struggling I'm picturing remember months ago we had this dilemma and it literally broke the internet about the mum wanting to go into debt about the kid going on the school trip and everyone thought that we would be like

you cannot go into debt for your kid going in school trip and we were like no you can you can do this like we're going to let you that I'm in that vibe if this person's not able to buy this child a present for Christmas and has dipped into their savings for those listening I've just flipped mine around to no jail

because I'm going no jail if that's the background I'm like imagining and going through the scenario but if you've got your nails done for Christmas jail because it's the kids money And again, we love overthinking. We're like, where could this money have come from? Like, if you have been putting too much money in your child's savings account, that's another thing that you have to sort out

because our children's savings accounts are bottom of the list after emergency fund, paying for things normally, pain as you go. And after you and your life are making sure that you do nice things as well, because you'll be doing nice things with them. This is why we really say lean into that when you and grow. We really, really do. Like, that's when it's for. So weirdly, so many people will write in the community like, oh, I'm in debt, I'm this, I'm saving my emergency phone, I'm doing this either, but I really want to pay into my chat, like the desperate to jump like 10 steps ahead. And Laura's always like, but if you can't literally get to the end of the month with money left over and your kid is not like having the best version of you and you're trying to pay into this. You're just like, it's all good. It's backwards. It's not healthy. It's not good. It's the wrong way around. Don't worry about it. They will much, we speak to people. And like, you know, in our experience, would we prefer to

have got like a one-off cash lump sum of a particular amount. It's never going to be huge. Let's say it's like £10,000 or yet or less in your like at 21, but have a parent, usually a single parent, by the way, who is on their knee struggling. You're not sure if they can even pay the bills. Asking you for money. No contest.

You'd rather have, they are sorted. Everything I then do for me now is for me. Yeah, it's the wrong way around. Yeah. But at Christmas you can ask as well for people to, if you just don't know what to buy your kids, I always like saying, oh, the kids have got a GISA. Like, if you want to put money into that,

and we talk about that a lot, that's a good place to start. You don't have to worry about you and your budget if it doesn't stretch every time there's a Christmas or a birthday or whatever it might be. Because then other people are doing it. So you could be on a money journey and then, yeah, direct other people's money to that. If your children get cash for Christmas,

get it in their accounts, get it in the Gisyses. They do not need to go spend any more money. They've had money spent on them. So if your kids get cash for Christmas, our kids, my kids know they'll just hand it straight back to me and then what we do is pick a flexible category like fuels a flexible one um groceries eating out treats

say you've got 50 pound and you treat one and they've got 50 then move the money from the treat thing into their gyser immediately that's done you've you've sorted it and then you can spend that 50 yeah that's like free money as well good idea that was a good game guys let's know if you listened at home if you liked that one Thank you, Lydia, for coming up with it. Oh my God, they're removable so we could use them for scores as well for things and do our own straightly routine if we want to do what the Christmas do later. It's how Christmas do today.

Where we going? Mogley. Mogley. Curry. Yes. Oh, yeah, you just said. I'm getting my Christmas Eve. You're welcome.

Yeah. On Spanish old Christmas Eve. I've never been to Mowgli. It's my first time. Oh my God. It's the countdown to chat bums. Calvin was saying, I'm a fan of chat bums. I don't have the calls.

I was like, I'm sure Laura went and was like, What you're talking about? I literally said that's 10th one and I was like, more for me. There's not for you guys and I like this stuff. Calvin, I told Calvin, who's our other producer who sometimes is in, it's Dylan got the pleasure today, didn't you, Dylan? He said, oh my God, you're going to go in the swinging chair? And I was like, no, because they're good for a picture,

but then you start to get a bit seasick after a little. Oh, I don't want that. I don't want to move. They tend to be table of two. I don't want to move while I eat. You do? I want to sit still. I'll go on it for a picture.

So we're doing that next. sat there when we went and we asked to move within five hours. Oh my God. I bet loads of building. Let's go. Let's do it. Let's do it. Okay. This is a bad idea. Anyone that asks for the swing, they're like, yeah, yeah, sure. Know in full well, but in two minutes you're going to want to move. We've got this one ready for you for where you don't like it.

For the picture. Why do you have a picture on it? They should just have a picture chair. Yeah, they should. Just won a token. They will do it in Liverpool. I was happy on it for a full hour and a half. Oh, yeah. And he's like. Yeah. Swinging.

Chat bum. Pashing my knees on the table. Okay, I just want to take this time to give people some homework, unfortunately. Great Christmas. And I want you to bank. I want people to walk away with this with a little bank of a checklist of what they can do in between Christmas and New Year and how they can use. Maybe they've got some time off work. Maybe they're just sitting on the couch all day, eating Christmas leftovers,

chocolate for breakfast, some life admin tasks. Because I feel like it's a time. where we can be productive. I think so. I think really bored. Yeah, even if people are working from home, like, you're not, everyone chill works, don't they? Yeah, it's not like, um,

so there's going to be opportunities to, this is exciting. So what are some admin things are we thinking? I'm thinking a bit more than a money minute, maybe like a money hour. Yeah. And we're just taking stock of everything after Christmas. We're re-evaluating our Christmas sinking fund,

getting organized for next year, have we overspent? Have we underspent? What number do we need for next year? What other expenses do we have coming up? Like, what time of year is our, I need to learn about car things. Like, is MOT once a year? Yeah, yeah, once a year. Like, what's a service? Yeah, and how much is it? Yep. All of these things, car insurance. Holidays, holidays, birthdays, we're getting organised with our sinking funds. How much do we need to put in every single time we get paid Yeah. Well, listen, this is a good opportunity for people to go back and listen to my unlocked on reflect. I would say people need to do that. I think that gap, you've got time between Christmas and year to do, like you said, more than a money minute. It might be

a money hour here and there and to really have a think about reflecting on that. How did the year go? What did life hit you with certain things and what were the financial consequences of that? What does next year look like for you? Like, I know lots of people in our community heading into the new year single. So they could have been through quite divorce. They could have lost someone quite close to them and that's massively impacted them. They could have had an awful year at work

and gone, this is just like, what am I doing? It might be a health and fitness thing. It might be, I've got to the end of the year, you know, I'm knackered all the time, I'm not looking after myself, I'm working long hours, I'm not eating well, I've not got energy. Like, this is a life thing, like how did the year go?

And how could money have, have helped and then going forward in the new year what could you do to set yourself up so that you life's not going to hit you but you can handle it a little bit better or it's going to be a little bit easier to do that so yeah i think definitely if you've not listened to the reflect unlocked that we did a couple of weeks ago have a listen to that um for sure there's like this is a non-money one but especially a parent of children but i think this is as anyone it's a good time for a clear out. It's a good time for assess your home, what things are holding me back, what I'm holding on to, like, what were the Christmas party stuff that I didn't wear, that

it's been in my wardrobe for ages, because we've always had this, like, clutter and money go hand in hand. Like, if you're a bit overwhelmed. Like, I, so recently bought, like, Ava's mouse for a computer broke, tried to fix it. I had one on a wire. Oh, my God, can you imagine. And so I got her a new one, not expensive. And then I was looking at. for a different wire a couple of days ago. The mouse are still there. Two mouses were there that were older ones that like as we've upgraded like I bought a Mac one. Oh so you could have used that one.

There was one. I had one. And if I'd have been more organised and gone to the tech area under the kitchen island and I found other things that were helpful fab, I've got too much stuff. Yeah. Like you know. It's too easy to just jump on Amazon and get a new one, isn't it? When you might have one.

It's so convenient. And the same thing with like clothes. I actually bought, um, when I was on our Amazon. and sprees, but it really helped some clothes packages. So this is like being an adult, right? So I go, oh, I don't quite need them. But we do store some things in our attic. Holly has been giving us loads of kids clothes for Ali.

She's had two boys. He's behind in age. So really good quality coats. Good stuff for nursery, good stuff for football. But at the moment, they're in bags and they're all a bit all over the place. And I can't put them upstairs because I know that they'll end up smelling Atiki. So for ages, I've been like, I need to buy some of those bags. I just did the thing.

And I bought the bags. And it was, what, like 30 pounds? out my home fund and now I've got an I've got I think I've got 10 of them by so you're not going to miss the time I do an ocean sheet and then even a calendar reminder which is in in the before he turns that age so that we capture them these are the things that I do think it's hard to do on the go yeah it's a perfect time if you're to do this it's not it's not actual life having but it is a little bit and it helps save money but give you clarity and focus and it's a really good time to then re-give and re-gift whether it's selling stuff on vintage if you want a bit

make a little bit money maybe that's something someone could do it. do. Maybe someone does a bank switch or two because you've got time to set yourself an hour and go, I'm going to do that bank switch. I'm going to do it for my partner as well. We're going to get all the accounts set up, set it in motion. And you know what? When it's tough in January and you get 200 quid dropped in your bank account because you've done a bank switch. I think I like what you said about doing the review of the Christmas spending and you've said it in reflect as well. But like it's hard to plan for Christmas when you're out of Christmas. But when you're in it and you've just experienced it like Laura said the pull of oh I really wanted to do that or I did that

and it wasn't that good like ticket off the list whereas because you get sucked into Christmas like the feel good like I've got to do the Lapland UK I've got to do the Christmas lights I've got to because we've all been taught you've got to it's like a social expectation literally doing that scoring of like do we need that do we want that what would we have liked more of in the Christmas budget what do we say no to that really like hurt us or you know going out for Christmas drinks or what was worth it and you're like doing that next year you're in the moment then so you can and you can reflect Whereas I think doing it later on, and especially so close to Christmas, you get sucked into it.

So it's like removing the emotion. I think maybe scoring yourself on your financial resilience would be quite important. Like if something went wrong, how can I go? Can I financially deal with this, with something that could come up? You know, think about the experiences that you've had over the last year. We've got so many dilemmas in of people going, I've got 10 days till payday and I'm not going to make it. That's true. Like how financially resilient are you?

Like it's great to plan for things like holidays, but just the basics. and that's the financial methodology. Literally, like, my thing would be for everybody, whether you're in Grow, Survive, Bills, like going back through the playbook. Like, because it's easy to forget. And sometimes... Oh, we do, yeah.

Literally said the other day. I had to get Laura on speed dial on speaker. I was like, Laura, he's trying to get a phone contract. Like, and we've been doing this for years. Oh, yeah, it was cheaper to get it on finance. It was like... Laura's like, it's a slippery slope. I did. I did have to pet talking.

Like, we've been doing this for years, and you can still slip into bad habits. I didn't see that. It was slippery. It's like a slippery. So it's addiction. Yeah. One little pill. But I think just a refresher for everyone would be really good, and you've got the time to kind of go through it. It's in the app. You can do it, or we've got, like, a course. We can send a link to. We'll put it in the podcast show notes. You can get a digital course that Laura and Lydia did together. So good over Christmas, especially with a friend or a family member or a partner. to just go through and remember but i think we need to pull that link in actually we hide that link

i'm not very good at it did all that work and then like you can't easily get it i don't think you can even get it for our website we'll put it in the show notes yeah we'll promote him all this year because i think it's such especially between christmas and year it's a digital course maybe there's a discount code we can give have a little look in the notes and let's see what we can do but you can sit down watch it and listen to it because a lot of people don't want to read it in the that's such a good point the um the other thing like i definitely realises I get older about resilience

and I was really happy that we nailed our critical illness cover because you know I'm ready for my Christmas dinner she's running for a career lots of people in our lives this year you know everyone's lost someone

or people have got poorly like the stats around cancer are really shocking everyone's like go fund me and raising money when I nailed that critical illness cover just felt more resilient So I felt like if, if, like, illness hit us in a really big way as a family, we only had our, we were lucky, but we would only have our cash kind of emergency fund to go at it.

And quite a lean budget, that's really helpful. Like, the lean of the budget, the more resilient you are because you don't need as much money to fund your lifestyle. But knowing that we put that in place, speaking to Chelsea, like, she was so amazing, wouldn't she? I think she looked after you guys as well. She's one of the ladies that, there's Gemma as well. Yes, Chelsea. Chelsea. Because when you go on financialel.com forward slash protection, you'll see a link through to our partner site who we work with really closely. They do everything for money supermarket, for

go compare, for all the big guns. Compare the market as well, actually. You can go and you can speak to one of two to three women and they'll just do a free review for you and that's what they did for us. I, you know, thought like for such a relatively small amount of money and I told my budget and I told her that what was the point that made me uncomfortable and we tweaked it and we got their ticked, done. And I think this isn't for people that don't have it. It's arguably more so for people that have it and it doesn't adequately cover.

So we, Neil and I both had cover and we were like, oh, we've got it, so it should be fine. Well, we forgot that the company that Neil worked for when we got that cover had a really good protection in place as well. Yeah, they did and then they moved. You got a better job, got a different job. Yeah, so we had a smaller coverage.

So actually, we didn't have good coverage at all for our kids should something happen with the cost of, you know, we got that years ago. Cost of living has gone up considerably. Probably, whatever we had it, whatever we had the cover for, it wouldn't have done anything. So we changed a couple of things and honestly, I was so shocked it didn't cost that much. I was thinking, oh my God, it's going to be so much more. And then we got critical illness cover because like Laura said, the stats that keep coming out about people being poorly.

And we've seen it ourselves this year with family members and families that don't have life insurance and people that are left behind in the mess that it makes. And I'm really glad that you pushed us to do that. And it's not something like fun, but it was really easy. So it's like, let's not put that off for the sake of other people. it's quite a selfish thing not to do it I'm calling you all out it is if you don't get it sorted and you've got dependents

and a costly home and a good lifestyle if you're not protecting it like what are we doing? For the sake of what could be a Netflix description I think that's what I was looking at and like what I was chatting to Chelsea

about you know if you're someone going into the new year single no children you know something like Chris Clulness Club is an amazing selfish policy in the nicest way you know life insurance is

often build us something like for other people and so we get asked all the time like do I need it and and it's about thinking okay what would happen if you were to go and do you have any dependence what I love about critical illness cover and you do have to check the policy that you're on or that you're looking at but the one that I have and I think you might be the same and I think we're in different providers because what happens with life searches they find the right product for you like he's a broker um it turns into life insurance as well yes it does so you don't have to pick either or of your single you can get a Chris illness cover, which looks after you, it's not going to anywhere else. It's so that if you need to have

time off work and if you want to keep living your life, how you live it, then having a chunk of money that pays out whilst you navigate that. And in the absolute unfortunate event that something happens to you and you don't make it, there is just total life insurance policy there, so you don't have to do both. But what Chelsea said to me about Chris Gillens cover, she was like, can we be very clear that most people survive that claim on this policy? This isn't like a death sentence. And it massively resonated with me because I think lots of people do avoid it for like the mortality issue and the morbidness and that oh am I like predicting that I'm going to die and whilst that happens and has happened in our in our community this year um it actually most people survive and claim on

it and have just made that period and so I think you're right lissy I think this time between christmas and year let's take on the heavy stuff the heavy lifting and set ourselves up for a strong year not a strong January you know we've got the life admin bit in the app where you can go your policies and you can put your reminders in, it'll remind you about them. We've got the money MOT if someone, you know, in the New Year wants to go and squeeze their budget and refresh everything. And like you said, you might think you've got it all sorted and then suddenly your savings are in a really rubbish savings rate or a fixed as end or your mortgage is coming up for renewal and you want to start thinking about that. Get ahead of the game and while

you're eating leftovers and eating nice food and having some drinks and watching Christmas films and you'll just feel ready for 2026. Let's optimize. like let it be the year of optimizing as well. Like we optimise so much stuff in our lives, like money should be as well. And we've all found the Sprive app this year. You'll see us talking about it for a long time. But I do an online food shop every single week.

And now that food shop is bought with a gift card through Sprive. If you use our code, Financ, which is F-I-N-A-N-C, and we'll put a link into the podcast show-nuts as well. When you do your eligible first shop, you get a £5 towards your mortgage payment. But other than that, every single week now I do my food shop. on the Scribe app and it goes to pay off a mortgage. So little things like that.

What do you reckon you'll have done in? Because like in November we did 50 quid and I only had it halfway through November and we didn't get the five because we obviously started it all off. I reckon December 100's going to go. Yeah, maybe. Like what I'm shopping anyway. Mum was so jealous because she's, she paid off a mortgage. Like that she was like, I feel like I'm missing out.

I was like I'll put my mortgage on yours. If you want to go pay down my mortgage, I'm not sure you want to do that. But little optimizations like that. If you're doing it anyway. Yeah, like savers. sit on stuff like why why were we not optimising everything like the bank switches i've been through every single one i've tried to do one more before christmas and they've cotton on now it was the santander one and they've got a list of direct debits that are acceptable so you can't do like the charity one or

what sort of things on the small direct debit dot com energy like electricity like on the cashback account i think so it doesn't surprise they've extended it so it's like but i it depends how much you want to get into it listen you can't talk because you'd them and then don't do them. You do all the work and then don't. And then you get wrong. You don't listen. And then you've got an extra bank account. But it also, if you are self-employed listening to this and we've got that really cool. You did an amazing carousel actually. I think Lydia that send this to your mates that are self-employed. I'm sure it was on Instagram. I'll have to find it. But this, you're always busy, but there might be this period

of you're self-employed where you're a hairdresser and you're like, everyone's done. I don't need to know his hair. Or builders, you're having some time off. Get your pension in order and get it sorted. Please. Okay. Time for our last dilemma before Christmas. Personal finance, let's face it, can be boring, but at Fanchelle, we do it differently. From guilt-free spending to the perfect payday routine, our blogs help you feel confident and in control of your money. Head to Fanonchelle.com to get informed, entertained and empowered today. We've overspent this Christmas. Hi, girls. This Christmas season is going amazingly, but we've overspent more than we've planned to.

It's not a huge amount, but it's enough that makes me feel really uncomfortable. We have money and savings that could wipe it clean and let us start January with a clean slate. But part of me wonders if it's setting us back. I don't know whether to use our savings now and go into the New Year fresh or carry the overspend into January and pay it off slowly. We don't want to start 2026 feeling behind, but we also don't want to drain our savings we've worked so hard to build. what's the best move here? It's like Peter to pay Paul, isn't it? There's no point running up extra debt.

Like, what's done is done. Leave it in the past. Learn from it. We've talked about that a lot on this show, especially about thinking about why you overspent, how was it worth it? How much do you need to have a enjoyable or elite Christmas next year? There's nothing wrong with doing that.

But you can have everything you can't just kind of at the same time, so you have to tweak stuff. but I really don't I want to encourage someone not to go oh well fuck it you know I'm already in the shit we've already done it we may as well carry on you have I would budget from now until next payday and in the app you can do an extra budget you can do a minimum one and so many people have found this helpful

which is okay this is and this is reverse so you've no money left you spent it all you absolutely should be using your savings don't kid yourself. Do not run up more debt to not go into your savings because then that's pretending you didn't do wrong. And pretending you didn't overspend. It is what it is. That's what our emergency fund is. Therefore, it's not just there for a big emergency that comes up. Getting a budget wrong is very normal. We've all been there and done it. And at this time of year, it's the easiest one to blow. But we certainly don't want to go more into an overdraft. And we're just

kidding ourselves and usually ends up costing more anyway. We don't want to use credit unnecessarily. You need to do a budget between now and payday. So what fuel do you need to put in our cars? What groceries do I need? What other bills are coming out that haven't been paid for yet? And if you're going to do it, what are the fun stuff are you going to do? Are you going to do something in the New Year's? Have you got a birthday plan?

Like, if you have, don't lie to yourself. It is the moment where you can go, we might not or I might drive or I might wear an outfit that's in the wardrobe. There's things you can do. Pack a little bit, yeah. Because of family's house with food. Like everyone's got leftovers, haven't they? Do you know what? Worry about it while leftovers.

We do on Boxing Day, don't we? It's tiny, though, like, we don't cook enough for leftovers. We cook the right amount for Christmas Day. Like, it's enough like butties and stuff. We have a lot of meat left over, don't we? But then, so say, like, between now and payday, you're going to need 250 quid. You need to take 250 out your savings. Put it in your current account and accept that you've just depleted your savings because you did it.

Like, it's no judgment. I don't just, like, scoop. The problem is people just go, I've got 500 quid in savings. I'll just scoop. $250 quid and put it in my current account. No, no. Laura's like, take that £250. If it's, you've got £100 of debt, clear the £100, right, what's the £150 going

to go to till we get to the end of the month or the week, however it might be? How much do you for your fuel? Wing it and hope for the best. But at least that way, that's what's going to keep you spending under control. If you say, we'll just use credit, we'll just use the credit card. You will, it's not real money. No, it's not money. It has to be your real money.

Do you know why? Because you need to feel a little bit of pain. We all do. Like, that's what happens when we take money out of savings. things. Pain. That's why sometimes with like a lottery win to wipe out your debt, I'm like, no, you're like, you need to go through it. You need to feel the pain. You need to carry the cross on your back. You just don't learn. You just don't learn. You don't feel the pain of pain off the debt. No, and using credit, you don't feel the pain because we've literally been scientifically

proven to overspend when we use credit. It doesn't feel like real money. Whereas if you had to take out your savings, it's punishment. And the dopamine of then coming out the other side. Yeah. And I think entering the new year with the goal of, like, building your savings up is a bit more motivating than paying off your debt. Yeah. I think so, especially when, like, you literally spent it last week. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Who did that?

Yeah. But if there's ever a month that you're going to go wild, it's going to be this month. Yeah. Crack on. Don't worry about it. Don't overthink. Learn from it and put a strategy in place to make it not happen next year. But you will not be alone.

Definitely sorting out your Christmas sinking fun for next year. You've not got a big enough one. Yes. So the first of Jan, what we're talking. We're going to up that budget. Me, Neil did it this year. I think we've over-eged it. We've messed up again.

We're all human. This podcast is a lesson in humanity. We're all human. Like, I think I have massively over-reged this budget this year. When you say over-ed, you mean you've over-spent? No, no, as in, like, we've gone, we need, last year we did spend too much of it. Oh, so left over. So we had to beg borrow and steal.

You could pay for Christmas dinner. Yeah. I got a minute. Wait a minute. Up the ticket price lower. Which left. Laura was doing entry fee. Christmas day.

There's a VIP upgrade. with a wrist band. 10 pound per head. You get a glass of Prosecco. Oh, you can drink, but they don't drink. So it's fine. I'm the cheapest day ever. Yeah, you over, so yeah, you over budgeted.

We've over budgeted in the best way. So then I'm like, okay, what are we going to do with that? Smug, smug sale. This is a question, if I've over-ed the budget and I've got too much left in my pot, so it hasn't gone down to zero, which is pretty impressive to absolutely budgeted to zero. So well done. If we've got left over, say a couple hundred quid, what we're doing, with it are we keeping it in the sinking fund so we've got a less of a contribution per month

next year for the sunking fund are we swiping it and put into investments what we're doing with it i'm inclined to put it into something that grows because it's like a bonus it is a bonus so if you were in survive right now and you were building your emergency fund and or your paying off debt is going on that immediately anything after that whether you're in build or whether you build or probably do the same. I'm building my house deposit or I'm building my big emergency fund. 200 doesn't make as big a dent on a bigger goal, but it's really important in the early stages.

So I think it's optional from build onwards. It will grow more in investments, likely, caveat but likely than it would in your sinking funds because I know you're sinking funds where mine are and they don't make any money. But at the same time, you could keep it in there. and you readjust your budget for next year.

You keep bringing down a little bit, maybe. That would be annoying though, because then for 2027, you're like, but my budget's readjusted anyway because I've over it. It's like I'm already going to be pulling down my Christmas Sinking Fund next year. So it's not even like I'm going to be like, oh, I can pull up to next year. No, you're pulling it down. I know. Great problem.

What about what do you think you should do, Lisa? She's like, put it on red because she's like. That I could too. No, I would leave in there and just. Oh, she's like it's Christmas Eve. up for a really big meal. Yeah. Blow it.

Yeah. I would spend. Lydia, what would you do? I'd say all on road, yeah. Oh, would you? Yeah. Well, it's free money that you've saved for Christmas. I'm surprised you said that.

I'm surprised you said that. You've changed Lydia? It's Christmas. It's got to a fuck it mood. You can't see Lydia, but she's got reindeer antlers on her head and she just went, I'm in a fuck it mood. Lydia, will you come on camera and show as your outfit? Yeah, come on.

Because you wear a bit festive as well that you've got this nice outfit. So where can she go? Dylan, she goes behind or she could sit down. Come on the, come sit on the sofa between us. She's prancing on. She's prancing on. She's prancing. She's prancer. She's prancer and dancer in one. Come in, come in, come in.

So she's in a fuck-it mood because she's a reindeer. And it's Christmas Eve. So just take it before we close one step further. So there's 200. How much is left in hell? I bet there'll be 200 quid. 200 quid. It's Christmas Eve. And you don't need it because you're going to, because you've just been paid, pretend you might have done.

I can't remember what day. Do we get paid? We're paid today? Today? Pay day. Pay day. No, I know. Lydia's in a fucking me. Oh my gosh.

It's Christmas Eve. It's payday. So where's that? $200 going to spend? What are you buying? I'm telling you to gamble it, but I'd probably do put it. See? Anyway.

Now you're on. Now you're on camera. When Lydia answered the question, I was like, that's not Lydia response. Me and Lydia would be like, let's put it somewhere safe. I'm absolutely all talk. I'd probably put it in next year's Christmas. There you go. No, I think you should go out for a nice meal.

Okay. Done. I've already budgeted for it Yeah, it's paid for Spar Day I don't want anyone to touch me We've had this conversation You could do one of them

Ranking No no When you're going like a floaty time Yeah the sensory deprivation times And you just feel nothing For like an hour Sold Is that on like woucher

Feel nothing Feel nothing for an hour Yeah Sold Worth every penny She's backtracked under pressure On the camera And she's going

In next year's sinking fund No, I'm going in a pod. Oh, Lucy. Oh, Lydia's... Right. If I was just really quick, but if you had to spend 200 pounds or something today,

you had to, it should use it or lose it? Spa. Spa. Yeah. Oh, I go... This is random, but I'd probably book

like a horse riding thing on a mountain. Like, quite expensive. Cool, obviously. Yeah, go galloping on a mountain. She'd run away from her problems. Gallop away from my problems. It's because she's literally a rain deal.

Oh. Oh, I'm glad we've finished the Christmas episode with you on the couch. She was all along. She's in a power seat. Well long. Do you have a nice Christmas message for anyone listening right now? Off your bits on ticket. Get off your tits on picky bits.

You're asking bits on ticketis. That's not a website you should be looking at. It's about dispenses thing. I know it's strange. I'm sorry. But yeah. We hope you get off your tits on picky bits. Specifically, M&S ones, which I've also budgeted for.

Holly's enjoying us seven pound carrots tomorrow. Oh, absolutely not. We did that last time. Yeah. There will be no seven pound carrots in our house. Right. That is all for this episode. The Vault is now closed.

And just a quick disclaimer, The Vault is just a chat around life and money topics. We are not giving financial advice.