BBC Radio 1’s Matt Edmonson: ‘I’m no Martin Lewis, but I’ve always been quite frugal’

Matt Edmondson is a self-proclaimed money saving expert. He is no Martin Lewis, he stresses, but he has always been a bit of a skinflint.

“I’m not one for things,” the BBC Radio 1 DJ claims. He is fascinated by other people’s spending habits and what it says about them as a person. 

And now, a perfect opportunity to snoop has emerged. In his new podcast Spent!, Edmondson will interview celebrities about how they spend money, from extravagant buys to the mundane everyday purchases.

Big Issue asked Matt Edmondson all about this – and we took the chance to interrogate him about his own money habits too. 

Tell us about your new podcast  Spent!  and why you wanted to do it. 

It’s a deep dive into spending habits. I’m going to invite a celebrity guest on, and they’re going to talk through purchases they’ve made. They’re as diverse as the thing they bought last, and there’s a real honesty policy around that, or it could be a purchase they made that they regret or a purchase that has changed their life for the better. 

They literally bring the receipts, and we go through it. By talking to people about their spending habits, you learn a lot about them. I have a reputation for being a bit of a money saving expert. I’m no Martin Lewis, but I’ve always been quite frugal. I find talking to people about it fascinating. Some people’s spending is way more reckless than mine. 

Have you always been thrifty or has there been a time in your life you’ve been reckless with money?

I’ve always been thrifty. Actually, I don’t know if it’s thrifty. It’s almost like a lack of interest in physical things. I’m not someone who wants much. My happy place is doing a little creative task. That could be anything from a doodle to making a keynote presentation.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had the question in my mind: ‘Do I need it?’ My wife tries to say: ‘No, do you want it?’ But I’ve lived my life so far without that thing, and I’m pretty happy. I used to be quite anxious. I think a part of it was almost like Doomsday, like I don’t want to spend all the money I’ve got, because what if everything goes wrong? That’s eased up tremendously, but I’m just not one for things. 

Even as a child?

Yeah. I spent a lot of time with friends and I’ve got a sister, and we’re very close. We had toys and stuff. I remember there was one Christmas where my parents didn’t let us have a games console. When the Nintendo 64 came out, that felt like the absolute future. A year after, my parents bought us a SNES, which was the previous one, and I was just like: ‘Do you know what? I don’t need the newest or greatest thing.’

There was a certain type of shoe. The brand was called Kickers. All the cool kids had Kickers. I remember thinking: ‘Oh my god, if I could just get my hands on those.’ They were 60 quid for a pair of school shoes. My mum was like: ‘Absolutely not.’ And I said: ‘I want them for my birthday.’ She said: ‘You sure about this? You really want school shoes for your birthday?’ I felt like it was going to change my life.

I got them for my birthday, which was over the Christmas holidays, and then went back to school in January, and genuinely felt like: ‘This is it. My life’s about to change.’ Literally nothing happened. What a great life lesson. The coolness doesn’t come from your shoes. I feel quite grateful for that Kicker incident.

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Do you have any tips for saving money? 

I’ve gotten quite into bulk meal prepping. I’ve got ADHD and so I forget, literally every day that I have to eat three meals a day. Often I’ll get to a time where I’m like: ‘What’s that feeling? Oh, it’s hunger.’ That’s where you make bad decisions. You get a takeaway or you go to the supermarket to buy dinner and it’s going to be about 15 quid. So on a Sunday, I try to prepare stuff for the week. 

I also scoot around a lot. I have a little push scooter like a child would have. It’s not electric. It’s purely thigh power. Yes, I have got one thigh that’s bigger than the other. I zip around on that, and it saves some money and it gets me outdoors and keeps me present in the moment. You can’t be scrolling TikTok while you’re on a scooter. 

Who would be your dream guest to have on Spent! to discuss money habits? 

Louis Theroux. I think he’s probably quite sensible and he’s had an interesting journey with money, because he went from being a staff member at the BBC to running his own production company. He’s gone from an employed mentality to freelance mentality. I wonder if there’s some scary things around making that leap. I did once receive an email from Louis Theroux and it was almost the greatest day of my life. In my secret double life, I invent board games. He’d played a board game of mine and said he liked it. 

Do you think there’s still a taboo about money in this country? 

It’s one of those subjects that feels uncomfortable. I get that. If someone’s earning a lot of money, maybe they feel embarrassed. It’s a British thing to sell yourself short. If someone doesn’t have that much money, they may feel a little insecure. For a lot of people, it’s wrapped up in their identity and self-worth. You would hope in an enlightened society, that wouldn’t be the case. 

Some people will be like: ‘Oh my god, have you seen their shoes? They’re not wearing Kickers.’ Some people will say: ‘I can’t believe they spent £400 on a T-shirt. I can get three for £15 at Uniqlo.’ There’s judgement depending on where you are on the spectrum. 

Do you feel comfortable talking about your own money? 

I’ve had to go on a real journey with my own spending over the last few years. I’ve been married for nearly 10 years, but I’ve been with my partner for ages, and my reluctance to spend often comes up against her desire to spend. We’ve had to find a middle ground. We have to talk about money quite a lot.

Are you a good gift giver?

Well, because of the old ADHD, you’re either going to get the most thoughtful, well-researched gift, or you’re going to get something I bought 15 minutes before wrapped in Who Gives a Crap? toilet roll. Those are my two extremes. 

I’ve got a daughter called Ivy, and she made her own board game called Tickle Terror, and she taught us the rules and we played it. For Christmas, I got the game made for her, and it was her favourite present because it came from her brain.

But equally, I can be quite last minute. The good thing is I have a house full of board games, so if I need to break glass for an emergency present, I can just give someone a 13 Beavers.  

We’ve spoken about the taboo of money, but one thing we do love talking about in this country is how little we have of it. Why do you think that is? 

I think it’s reflective of society. If people aren’t getting paid as much as they should be and costs are rising, that is going to have an impact. Whether you’re super wealthy or not wealthy at all, at some point you’re getting hit with that. We’ve just had to remortgage our house, and the interest rates have gone up considerably since we first did our mortgage. And so, for no more house, it’s costing us quite a lot more money each month. That’s out of our control. That is probably affecting a lot of people.

Will Spent! make money fun?

It definitely isn’t going to be a sombre listen, but there’ll be moments when you get serious insight. I think it’s more just a route into speaking to interesting people. I don’t know that I could do an interview that isn’t going to end up a bit silly. I think it will be lighthearted and that there will be nuggets of wisdom. More than anything, I want people to feel like they’re eavesdropping on friends having a chitchat about something they can all relate to.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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