Trainee Accountant Won't Stop Wild Lifestyle | Spendaholics | Only Human

twenty-five-year-old Alan Edwards is a trainee accountant living in Manchester Allen earns 13,000 pounds a year unfortunately this is swamped by his seventeen thousand pound debt when I see stuff for just fire I don't really have any consideration for my credit card going out charge don't but don't spam me tell you who's me that's nice color oh and I love the logo spend all your money Alan lives for socializing and extravagance he eats out at least once every single day most nights of the week Alan can be found doing the rounds of the Manchester bar scene if there's a party going down you can guarantee that Alan will be going over the top this party animal needs taming lifestyle expert Jay hunt will target Allen's exorbitant outgoings I mean nine hundred pounds a month on going out and eating out it's quite a lot isn't it while psychological coach Benjamin Frye will examine the emotional influences that have shaped Allen's for long lifestyle do you want to be the Allen who left yourself on the mountainside but do you want to be the Allen who found your way home I know you decide Allen's breakneck spending is heading for a crash if he doesn't slow down the debt collectors will be pulling the plug on Allen's non-stop party I'm quite fearful of the fact that my debts may get right on top of me one day he'll hit me and I won't have anything my whole life will be taken away [Music] Alan Edwards is in deep trouble his debt is a mammoth 17,000 pounds but he just can't stop spending the trainer's over the next four weeks he'll be given advice to get his life back in balance before they meet Alan experts Benjamin Frye and Jay hunt want a little background information [Music] while Alan's on yet another shopping trip they've wangled the keys to his house which he rents with a friend Jay will focus on where the money's going well Benjamin will concentrate on why it's going while I haven't a good look around my house I'm trying to relax by having a bit of retail therapy in my favourite shops Oh smell I don't think that looks delicious all hot what's in there nothing but condiments hey that's for the take on yeah that's how they keep it delicious and this is the typical kind of almost student type blow castrato isn't it he's obviously redecorating in here too that's all still makes me finished and I think to be honest I got a bit of a moon flash view here you think may live like this all the time this is how men live when there are women around to keep them nice and tidy ok let's go next door Oh glitter ball Wow Lord when they go in the lounge they'll probably see the carpet because of my parties it's a bit stained look at the debris this is just like the morning after the night before isn't it this bubble machine drinking game is that one of those things that puts all the lights on the ceiling that looks like a decent gyroscopic light it's a bit sort of my dream isn't it yeah oh this really reminds me of is going into a nightclub but in the morning and it all looks a bit grand it's just not nearly as much fun as the night before it's making me a bit nervous see where the party carries on to single bed spit weird for party boy oh look boys toys I could all of those excellent that's quite a lot of money is that kind of setup we come on all of this hmm nice amount of hair products - nothing there's a clue here towards the orientation of this bedroom - male salon in the tolls hairdryer I know in all his tops hanging out I mean outs that are quite bright extrovert you get that sense of the focus being about being out of here yeah and actually being here is rather difficult maybe because the house is a bit grotty look that's all this paperwork oh there we go from the mother lode yeah I think when they have a look at my bank statements are gonna have heart failure there they're not the best statements in the world there's nightclub nightclub look at all these takeaways her takeaway Topshop but it's all in the red isn't it just endlessly yeah what's this financial training that's what he needs okay yeah got it will train him okay retraining retraining back to school kiddo Alan as part of a large family grew up in a very small and quiet Welsh town of Connors ki he left that all behind him for the bright lights of Manchester six years ago he now owns 13,000 pounds a year training as an accountant though he can't be paying too much attention as he's 17,000 pounds in debt Alan isn't in control of much at the moment and definitely not responding he is however great at fundraising when volunteering for Manchester's gay and lesbian foundation when not working Alan's using loans and credit cards to fund the high life but at 25 years of age he's heading for no his mates are only too aware of his passion for parties we get like text messages saying please please please come out please well we're just come just take no for answer though being king of the clubs means being a slave to fashion that's right and with several trips to the shops every week Allen's snowballing debt is in danger of becoming an avalanche now I think it's getting quite a bit out of hand I just don't know where to start having examined his statements Benjamin and Jay have identified Alan's two key weaknesses it's time for Alan to face his fixation and meet the experts that's what you do to take your mind off first clue keep walking [Music] you are in your living room although it might not feel like it this is fun it is but what do you think this might be about the amount I spend on parties exactly right this is about your partying which is the money you spend when you go out to clubs or bars of pubs but also significantly in your case the money you spend on throwing parties at home now we've got eight hundred and forty balloons here in your living room and each one represents ten pounds that you spent in the last 12 months on partying that's eight thousand four hundred pounds do you know that's your biggest extravagance yeah definitely so it must be an important part of your life yeah like going out and I cover my parties my social life's a big part of my life would you like to have perhaps as good a time but spend less money yes I pick up girls work yeah that's a good equation Benjamin and Jay have lined up a second illustration and this one is a feast for the eyes you can take your blindfold off okay so we're really want to you can take it off yourself and have a look on your table for you look how appetizing is that whose thing do you want to tuck in don't let us stop you no thanks I'm not hungry now have you got any idea why we've covered your table with all this spaghetti and meatballs is it because of my takeaways correct your takeaway bill and the money that you spend on eating out every year - have you got any idea how much you spent in the last 12 months no what do you reckon it could be a couple of thousand well you may be interested to know that what is here is seven thousand eight hundred and sixty strands of spaghetti each representing a pound because in the last 12 months you spent seven thousand eight hundred and sixty pounds on all your take outs on eating out so a bit more than you thought it was love it how do you feel shocked yeah that's all going down the path because you've been a naughty boy I don't want to see till every last bite is done okay [Music] Allen moved to Manchester six years ago but it's only in the last 18 months that his spending has hit the stratosphere to discover what he can or can't live without it's time to strip back to the absolute bare minimum for the next week Jay and Benjamin want Alan to go right back to basics Alan what we're gonna do now is just talk about how much money we're gonna give you to live on for the next seven days once you go through cold turkey but before we do that we just want to know if you had any idea of what your average spend is in a week probably about 300 300 right you might be interested to know that your average spend in a week over the last 12 months is 536 pounds and 1910 and that is what it looks like yeah so that's 200 almost 250 pounds more a week than you thought which is going somewhere do you feel like that's too much money for you to be spending on non-essential stuff every week no not necessarily I think I'm just not earning enough so how much money then Alan do you think you could get away with in the next seven days serving on really we were thinking definitely 10 you can't do that to me what do you need the money for food doing help maybe clothes well the point of cold turkey is that you get to discover what you really do you don't and you do that by living without it and also more deeply perhaps how you feel about not having this stuff you're used to relying on because some of this spending could be an emotional crutch I mean I think what would really be fair would be forty twit actually only agenda I think is quite generous forty pounds is a fair amount for you to get through and live on for the next seven days if you put your mind to it that's more than five pounds a day yeah it's not going to be easy but I think forty pounds is manageable for you I think Ellen is gonna be quite an interesting case for us he's definitely party boy and you do get the impression that life is all a bit of a joke and it's all a bit of fun I think today he's quite enjoyed being the center of attention I think he's not going to find it quite so amusing when it's day three of cold turkey week and I predicted a blow most of his money by then I think that we're going to find it hard work with him it's that day when the penny drops that his lifestyle is really going to have to change that's when it's gonna get tough for him Allen has only five pounds seventy one per day to survive on for the coming week is he willing to take the exercise seriously I'm pretty glad that cold turkey starts to mercs that means I've got a chance to refine or blowout tonight I'm gonna go out and get totally leathered I'm gonna spend all my money for next month's okay okay [Music] hours before cold turkey kicks in annalen hits the bars and clubs of Manchester and blows over 80 pounds he can't wait to get it off his chest it's the first day of cold turkey and with no food in the house a hungover Alan boldly Braves a strange and unfamiliar world the supermarket there we go my first weekly shop in about six months and it came in a mere nine pounds 53 what a bargain it's day one a cold turkey I'm quite impressed because I've not been shopping for clothes or trainers or anything today I went for my first food shop in about six months I think to celebrate I'm going out tonight because slightly I can't stay in so I'm going to try to black a few drinks off my mate I'm sure they owe me a few time always buying angry doing the cold turkey budget for this week don't know why I'm out with some really not going to last one give me give me 40 pounds for hallway it's ridiculous is now the first beers free but will Alan hold on to the 30 pounds 47 that's burning a hole in his pocket I'd be very surprised if it gets through much changed after 40 pounds tonight who does he's black dick well [Music] Alan does go on to black it well he's already been bought for drinks saving him a total of nine pound 62 on Saturday night is so easy I didn't realize my friends were so easy to black drinks out of I've not spent one penny I'd load two drinks and getting a little bit tipsy now uh-huh but there's lots more to come last night and never spent one penny I did have to smoke one person to get into a club but every buying drinks for me everybody was just excellent with it bought me drinks all night I think I'm a natural this blacking it's day two of cold turkey and Alan's pinching his pennies by thinking on his feet but I've had a bit of a trauma my batteries on my toothbrush have run out but I'm obviously not gonna spend that much money you know I want my budget so I'm stealing their remote ones I'm not turning my housemaid Alan's getting a little carried away by the nonstop blagging but it will take more than cheek and charity to clear his seventeen thousand pound debt the time has come for Alan to analyze why he's so susceptible to spending psychological coach Benjamin Frye is eager to get him talking all right so let's start then with the spending when it started when it's got worse I think it starved when I first moved to Manchester mainly I kind of came in alone over here away from my family and things and started going out I think it's because I wanted to you know make more of a social life over here when did he come about five years ago but kind of I started spending to fit in and stuff and meet new people but now I think my social has exploded it's like the biggest part of my life it's exciting isn't it just kind of go out and meet new people it was a big difference to what it was like in Wales yeah yeah cuz it would there's pretty close though so I was the only gay bloke in the whole town as a very they really were the only gay in the village a more or less what age did you come out nineteen okay and before that for that I was just hanging around going a local pub pretended you know hiding it all the way and from what age was that probably about nine or ten and kind of new in a way that I didn't like girls preferred the company of boys and everything so from 9 to 19 you effectively had a secret hmm and did anyone ever say that they thought you were gay or teased you never never I was a good actor here a good hider yeah good hider after years of learning to keep his emotions hidden away Alan finds it difficult to open up to Benjamin until he asks him about the moment he came out as gay Alan explains he was with a friend when they stumbled across a certain night spot we were just walking past one night he said oh let's go in that and I was like it's a gay club secretly thinking Miska beard and as soon as we walked in he said Ellen you gay ass like how did you know so he must have guessed yeah we went in there and and he said to me you've not come out and you nineteen was like yeah I know and he won't go and have fun so I'm at my first boyfriend that night wow that must have been a big night changed my life totally so the threshold for releasing you from the torment of trying to pretend to be straight on your own with no help was a nightclub yep that's where I've died and you're still quite keen on them mmm-hmm that may not be a coincidence well I think what happened when you went into that nightclub and you told that going you again I think you let your guard down the excitement of it all stripped away your defenses and for those you know for those moments you were really alive and therefore connected and living in the world with the rest of us and I think what we've got to do is we've got to find a way to reintroduce you to those kind of peak experiences of almost sort of spiritual union within yourself without there having to be in the temple of a nightclub yeah the most I got out of him was around this experience he had or he was a first allowed to be gay and I think that's going to be the heart of the matter for Ellen of all of our work it's the final day of cold turkey and with just a few pounds remaining from his 40-pound allowance Allen takes his begging bowl to his hairdresser Darrin Darrin you know I'm loving my haircut yeah I've got no money to pay for him so why should I keep you a haircut for free is there any way I can kind of work the money off Allen once trained as a hairdresser so he puts his rusty skills into action alright you've gone on holiday this year nothing like a coffee to me his efforts earned him a complimentary haircut normally costing 25 pounds and he also gets a free pot of hair wax worth 15 pounds making a tidy saving of 40 pounds later that evening Alan's good friend Tony pops round to deliver a food parcel and to cook him dinner okay I know that's why you're doing without it is it teaching you anything maybe a little bit not much and not everything has to cost Tony's giving some very sound advice but Alan isn't taking it seriously so then you know I'm not coming round every night so how's your dinner that dinners lovely actually thoughts well I'm not doing it every night fear to everyone's surprise Allen completes cold turkey by sticking to his 40-pound budget even more incredibly he's got 12 pound 23 leftover worryingly it's not had the effect the experts had hoped for I thought it was quite easy I've quite a bit of a laugh for just covering off my mates and getting freebies out of everybody I don't think it's affected me that much I think it might take a little bit more to kind of make me stop my spending because I know as soon as 12 o'clock hits I'll be spending around my credit cards again Alen seriously needs to curb his spending with a 13 grand salary and a 17 gram debt it's time for lifestyle expert Jay hunt to introduce a new regime now Alan I've got your new budget here but before we have a look at this I just wanted to catch up with you and find out how your cold turkey weight went well really well actually I came out of the week with with any leftover yeah Anna still went to about four different clubs I had to black it out with my friends and you know get everybody to buy me drinks and things but it worked quite well I thought you might need a bit more to change our ways well this is your new budget Alan the long term new budget what we have noticed is that there's been quite a big expenditure when we went through your accounts especially in the food and drink area going out eating out you've been spending 900 pounds a month on that and we're gonna slash that right back to 150 pounds no chance do you think that would be hard it's extremely hard now when we go down the list another one shoes and clothes that's coming in at 200 pounds a month at the moment and we recommended that goes right down to 25 pounds it's gonna be the hardest bit do you reckon that it's gonna be kinda hard when you look at how much you've been spending you have been spending two thousand eight hundred and four pounds and 48p every month which means at the end of every month you're overdrawn by one thousand seven hundred and twenty nine pounds forty-eight old so that is how much you're overspending every single month and when we come down to look at our recommended budget we're recommending that you spend one thousand and seventy four pounds 51 which good news Alan is that you get 49 P left over one of the areas that we've also looked at is all your credit loans because you've got three that you're paying back and what we've done moment is we haven't actually changed those amounts although what you are doing is paying about the minimum amount every month so what you're actually doing is just about keeping your head above water but you're not really making any inroads to paying back those debts the only way that we can really see of getting out of this quicker is for you to take on another job yeah okay and think about that as a way of increasing getting some more money in so that these loans can start to be paid back a bit quicker and any leftover will ease what is quite a tight budget for everything else you need my new budgets day you go take a look I don't know what to say really I'm speechless clothes 25 pounds for one month I could have a clothes swapping party not that I'm allowed spent any money on parties because my budget for parties has gone to zero I don't know what I'm learned to be very stressed and very depressed and have no social life at all still reeling from the cutbacks Allen travels to Chester to meet psychological coach Benjamin fry they're going back to the very spot where he first came out over six years ago Benjamin wants to prove to Alan that the hi he felt that night was not due to the external surroundings of the nightclub but it was the unlocking of his repressed internal feelings but when they arrived Benjamin has a surprise Alan here it is can't believe it's not here now I wanted you to actually walk me through that night in the club because I wanted to kind of recreate it in a way that showed you was just an ordinary night out on a nightclub but I guess it's not gonna be that easy is it no I probably danced about there I think well show me in is the back door I think it was so you think about here that main dance flow is about there but there's a bit of a smaller one around here so you were in the small dance floor because of you but yeah a few couches I was probably chilling out and this this fellow that chatted you up well that was over there somewhere where that puddle is yeah so after the dancing yep then there was a bit of chatting up yeah over around here he just started chatting to me about you know whether it had a good night and stuff like that and random things that you talk about when you drink and then suddenly ask me first not where'd you go for your smaller about here the point okay in that moment that first gay kiss mm-hmm it was a real wasn't it yeah it was yeah it's like oh my god this is what I want yeah yeah falling into place so I could see I can see even now coming back here even to basically a car park that this is lighting you up to remember isn't it yeah what I wanted to come here to show you was of what was really special was not the event yeah not the building not the music not the company was experience it was something inside you wasn't it yeah so our challenge is to find out what it is on the inside that you found that night that you'd always been missing and you haven't really been able to hang on to since then benjamin thinks alan needs to demystify the events of that night and sets him his first task to attend a men's discussion group what i want you to experience is being yourself being with other men but in the stillness and the vulnerability and actually the nakedness of just sitting there and talking so good yeah because that's what i think is going to help you to start to get back into touch with who you really are and what you really want mushrooms over the past year alan has spent a jaw-dropping seven thousand eight hundred pounds on restaurants and takeaways i curl the toe proof he hasn't cooked a single meal for over six months so lifestyle expert jay hunt is giving him some food for thought now you're probably wondering why I brought you here today well inside here is the cordon veux cookery school because what we thought was you could do with improving your culinary skills couldn't you really might be saving you some money and not only that this is fantastic vegetarian cooking because if there's one thing that's cheap its vegetables are you up for that - don't want to turn you into a bit of a chef I'm up for it yeah ok alright let's go J introduces Allen to Chico a professional chef so I'll leave it with you Chico is going to show Allen how to cook a three-course meal for under a fiver in a matter of minutes my pasta machine hello Italian is one of Alan's favorite foods a three-course meal in a restaurant would normally cost him around 20 pounds and that's before the alcohol [Music] [Applause] [Music] have you really done this it's not Venuti well I've only do study behind here so what have you cooked I've done a mysterious salad for starter listen to you and then I've made my own pasta I've made a nice chocolate torte Wow because what we worked out with Chico is that this whole dinner of three courses comes to one pound eighty-two per head if you were cooking for six people so you could have a whole load of your friends around - that is a cheaper night out than normal isn't it Alan yeah okay I'm going for it hmm Jai's cookery masterclass has served up some low-cost inspiration so has Benjamin's advice had the same effect he asked Allen to join a men's discussion group so he can talk about his inner feelings without the mask of alcohol and music he's just attended his first session might go next week I'm not sure if it was alright what wasn't what I expect it wasn't amazing you know me unfortunately Allen didn't manage to open up and express emotions in the men's group as Benjamin had hoped the next day Jay catches up with Allen to see how he's coping with his new budget how's it going with cutting back on your spending it's not bad but I've kind of gone and spent a little bit more since and you know not restricting myself as much this should be but I'm kind of getting there as well I bet cuz I think the thing about your new budget is that's what your new budget is and that's what you should be spending now we don't want to sort of work up to it couple of months because then of course you're gonna be increasing it is it clothes you're finding it hard stop buying or drinks or I think it's probably drinks my lunches would work because I think you have started to think about it but maybe what it needs is sort of little gentle reminders just to keep you on track with it well I have to admit Allen that I've had a bit of a fiddle with your phone cuz you do use it all the time and it seems such a perfect way to give you a little reminder as you go about your business I used to consume legit oh you kind of yeah but that will help me as suppose how often have you sailed to go off I've said it off at random you think you're gonna be overspending J's reminders fail to make an impact and days later Allen takes flight to Glasgow for a weekend pick me up with friend Tony got away for a couple of days because we were a bit stressed out and things it was nice time nice couple of days were no apart from the actual spending bit I bought pair of jeans and a couple of tops and I went out a couple of times it turns out he went way over his weekly budget of 247 pounds 90 sick spending a massive two hundred and seventy pounds in two days Allen's already clocked up 17 thousand pounds worth of debt in just four years no way can he afford weekend blowouts in the last year alone he's been regularly spending over 1,500 pounds a month on eating out and partying psychological coach Benjamin Frye has tried to help him come to terms with the repression he suffered as a teenager while lifestyle expert Jay hunt has introduced him to a cut-price alternative to restaurants but Alan doesn't seem to be listening and to succumb to temptation in the shopping mouths of Glasgow Jay and Benjamin have arranged a meeting to discuss how to put him back on track I'm a bit worried that maybe he's one of those that it's just going to be a little bit engaged on the surface and then I'm not their father we're not really follow through that's concerning what do you think well he breezed through his cold turkey week but that was really because he blogged everything from friends and what he needs to be reminded of all the time is that he does have to pay off 17,000 pounds and that is quite a lot of money yeah I want to try and find a way to really make him realize what is up against and I think there is a sense in which what I did with him before maybe just wasn't challenging enough and if it doesn't follow through for him and if it doesn't do the homework I've set him I am gonna have to take him out and do something with him to motivate him to go a bit deeper I'm trying to make sure that he cuts down on going out what I'm thinking of is setting him a challenge where I could actually incorporate some of his social skills that he uses while he's out on all these sort of club nights and some of his work skills set him a challenge so he could use both I think that's a good idea I think what we do need to do is probably push him harder J arranges an urgent meeting with Alan in the past twelve months he spent a massive eight thousand four hundred pounds on partying she's come up with a plan to keep him focused while indulging his greatest passion this could be his answer to earning more money I'd like to set you a challenge because what I'd like you to do is to utilize all the skills that you've already got and really have a go at putting on your own event really yeah am I thinking big we're thinking you know proper event publicize you can use all those contacts that you've got but if you come with me inside there's somebody inside who I think you might just recognize who's gonna give you a few more tips about this comedy J introduces Alan to John Hamilton promoter of Manchester successful gay club night pop-tastic what tips would you give Adam what's the first thing you should be concentrating on you've got to sit down in front of a table with a pen and paper because you've got to have an idea you've got to have what is your concept and then you've got to from there who will go go to it was it hard making it into a business because I think you're very good at partying and socializing and all of that but if we're gonna do this whole evening you have to approach it like the business not you've got a semi from a business night you've got to because you know when you think oh this is that easy I did this others and I'll invite all my friends well I invited all my friends for the opening and I would say you know I have a hundred friends probably 10 turned up the most important thing to remember I would say is don't rely on your friends for business know your market and find where there's a gap I think you've drew this I really think you can do this good girl yeah I'd be a millionaire in the air oh yeah I tell you what Alan you're not gonna have time to go out and spend a penny because you're gonna be so busy focusing on this this is what we're gonna target in on now [Music] [Music] [Music] Jay's plan appears to be working the following day Allen's completely immersed in his club night challenge he decides to make his first event a charity night so he can utilize all his contacts he enlists the help of his friend and fellow fund raiser Tony together they approach their favorite charity to suggest a combined event how are you gonna make people come to your night we need a good Ronnie I think if you lose it by selling operation for the fact that all the profits will be going to charity is even bad because I'm obviously passionate about my charity so if I can make a load of money as well as have fun as well as not getting to have myself then and be even better Benjamin decides to follow Jays example and pile on the pressure Benjamin realized during their trip to the site of the disco that when Alan repressed his sexuality growing up he lost a big part of himself Benjamin thinks that this is why Alan seemed so lost in so many areas of his life today as he abandoned his real self in puberty and just we have to follow this a route just to find our way back well let you hang on to that you got the map you know yeah I just got to get a couple of things from the van and then we'll be on our way cool all right all right come back I've really dropped Alan in it I pretended to him that we were going to go on this walk together and in fact I've just liked it hila pretty bewildered when I closed the door and took off in the van he's left me on my own so I'm supposed to better get on with it I'm you know really [Music] what today is about is about Alan realizing what it is to be really lost because well Alan did to himself in his teenage years because of his fear of being discovered for being a homosexual was he really abandoned not just that part in every birth Benjamin wants Alan to understand exactly what it feels like to be abandoned he has taken him to the wilderness of the Lake District and well you get the rest [Music] made it sprint 100 where did you go how does it feel to be abandoned in the middle of nowhere with no idea what to do or where to go honey come on fine I agree yeah angry anger where are you going in the van and then just in the middle of nowhere frustrated yeah scared well look here's the thing abandoned in the middle of nowhere with no idea what to do or where to go I think that's what you did to yourself as a kid and what's left over it's a part of you that's really angry really frustrated really scared and lost and that's the part of you that really needs you to come back to show you where to go they do understand what the days are really about now yep finding my way I think a bit more well I think you'll find is roughly off that way somewhere you see that sort of large wilderness with loads of trees and nothing to do and nobody to help you I'll see you in a few days [Music] you [Music] after an exhausting four-hour hike reflecting on his abandonment Alan manages to find his way back to what he thinks is the end of the challenge so how was it horrible overdoing I can ever Ellen because I've got a bad back yeah I'm shoulders are aching I've got blister really knows who and a cut finger I got lost about ten times so do you see the lessons let's just see the misery of it all how much do you want to get yourself back home not enough to get in that Alan can't swim and his greatest fear is water this is your final test this is where you say to yourself you know what I've ever heard it much I don't want to do it and I have a difficult it looks I'm gonna do what it takes to get me back home because if you do it on this level next time you have to do it on an inner level you'll remember this and it'll give you the courage to do it no I really don't want to do it I really really don't want to get into that thing at all don't think about it as a little safe at all don't think about it as a kayak think about it as a step beyond what you're used to I think Rob will walk do you want to be the Alan who left yourself on the mountainside but do you want to be the Alan who found your way home you decide Benjamin's asking him to kayak for one mile across lake windermere one of the deepest lakes in Britain probably the hardest thing I've ever done [Music] we've done it that was easy it was a really big achievement when I got suicide because obviously I wouldn't ever even think about doing anything like that so I'm actually getting right across that Lake on my own it was one of the biggest achievements I've ever made benjamin has shown Alan that he can understand how he lost himself and triumph over challenges his final exercise is to reconcile himself to the child abandoned when he was nine and it's that part of you that was like nine and ten that you need in a sense to go back and rescue because if you bring them together then you're much more powerful Hartley is he gonna walk through the door okay Benjamin has a technique the will allow Alan to talk to himself as a child when he wants to hear from the nine-year-old he writes with his left hand accessing a different part of his consciousness allows Alan the child to have his say I decided to read from the beginning the whole conversation hyolyn are you there can we talk that's hi yes I'm here what do you want to talk about I know I shouldn't have left you when I was younger and I wouldn't have in hindsight I would have preferred it if he didn't leave me but understanding the situation so how can we get back together as one dragged me out to the 80s and make me part of your adult life how does it feel to talk about things again very good now let's bloody get on with it so we can be the best person together as one I have to go now I'm knackered from working and rowing bet you're glad you missed that bit I love you and you're welcome in my life forever thanks likewise and yes I am glad haha yes very nice I think that's great work over [Music] the past few weeks Alan's been putting all his spare time and effort into arranging the club night suggested by Jay the day has arrived and everything's in place he's booked the venue and handed out thousands of fliers around Manchester quite excited about the night I know loads and loads of people are come in so it should be really busy and we're obviously gonna be that entertaining me and Tony doing lots of promo around town and just generally irritating everybody and entertainer and lot surprises to give away and lots of fundraising to do as well with hours to go Alan and Tony rush around collecting the prizes they've managed to brag for the night charity raffle we stop messing about with them we've gotta get on it it's not for you to bloody weather finally there's just enough time to get some help with their makeup today twenty [ __ ] you're supposed to be saving money [Music] the girls hit the streets and tout for business the hard work has paid off it's a full house and the cash is rolling in [Music] I am absolutely shocked and flabbergasted I could not believe that Alan's actually got off his back sighs and organized and in this amazing and he looks fabulous I can't believe those eyelashes I'm Shawn in fundraising still and he always gets excited about it I think tonight he's really really enjoyed it he's come to his own he's loved it and I'm just I'm really proud of him he's done so well we're doing amazing with the charity stuff the night's gone really well there's been tons of people here everyone loads of people have dressed up so I'm really happy about that and the best thing is we've made tons and tons of money for charity well I'm that happy I think this is a start of a very good relationship between me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in total Allen raised 1,500 pounds for charity next time he can use these skills to make cash for himself [Music] four weeks ago Alan Edwards was living the high life blowing money he didn't have all restaurants and nightclubs each month his average overspend was a ridiculous one thousand seven hundred and twenty nine pounds and forty eight pence Jay has kept Allen focused with the club night challenge where he's learned some valuable money-making skills and Benjamin has shown him that if he puts his mind to it he can do anything half the experts done enough is Alan now ready to see this through the unreformed alum was always dining out and ordering in takeaways but these days you can't seem to keep him out of the kitchen [Music] he was also the party queen of Manchester but now he's man about the house this weekend I was really really good and didn't go out once stayed in Friday Saturday and Sunday which is totally weird for me I don't think I've done that for about three years Allen has come to the end of his time with Jay and Benjamin they have come for a final catch up how was your club night how's that good there's a massive success that's it I was so pleased we've all turned out all my mates dressed up we raised about 1,500 pounds for charity that's good yeah and it's just really good how have you been getting on they're not going out so much is that seemed odd it's not really seeing that odd I've been more inclined to get people to come around to mine or just go around to theirs and stay in DVDs and things so it's saving me a lot of money but I haven't really missed it that much because I still have you know had a weak sweat and gone out like here and there but yeah not as much so the big question for me is has it been emotional yeah cause I'm never really experimented with my emotions before it made me think if I can do the things that you've set me out to do and I couldn't pretty much do anything so I always like think back it that because it was the hardest thing I've ever done crossing lake windermere yeah so so if we can do that then I can face any challenge that I want really it's pretty much true I hope have your friends noticed a difference yeah they have to noticed of calm down a bit I'm not always ringing and going yeah coming up yeah and I've turned them down when they've asked me to go out as well oh now I need to pinch the pennies hey it seems to me like the way you're talking now is very different to how you were describing your life when we first met you've made all the shifts that we would really ideally like you need to make to get to a lifestyle that you can sustain your budget in which is more difficult pouch than you're giving yourself credit for yeah I think I've got to quite a lot and I've taken a lot out of this experience I think it's been really good for me so you feel confident that you're going to carry on now do you think so I think you'll get a lot better and then I'll gradually go I know it's not going to happen tomorrow well yeah I can kind of see a light do you feel a bit more confident about getting out of debt rather than it just being something to blank out yeah well good luck with it all unearth I think I'm a changed man I'm never spending any money going out ever again no still want to go out and have fun and stuff but I think a lot more about buying things so it's changed to be quite a bit [Music]

Channel: Only Human

Views: 92,230

Keywords: only human, only human channel, only human documentary, shopaholics, shopaholics anonymous, shopaholics bbc, shopaholics documentary, shopaholics full episode, shopaholics uk, shopping addiction debt, shopping addiction documentary, shopping addiction full episodes, shopping addiction help, shopping addiction recovery, shopping addiction true life, spendaholics, spendaholics documentary, spendaholics full episodes, spendaholics tv show, spendaholics uk, spendaholics youtube

Id: pAQioatYLwQ

Length: 55min 50sec (3350 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 18 2020