Rebecca is a 19-year-old student in her first year at university whose spending on hair, beauty, clothes and going out is running at an annual £17,700!
She seems to have seen her student loan appear in her bank account and decided that it was all available to spend on making herself look good and having a fun time out, rather than for the more basic things in life.
I must say this was the first time in the series that I was truly shocked. I have children of about Rebecca's age, including one at university, but they are all boys, and have never had a facial or had their legs waxed in their life.
Rebecca, as I pointed out to her, was living the life of someone who expected to be in Hello! Magazine every week, not of a first year university language student. Her reply to that was that she wanted to be in Hello! Magazine every week. Really?
And she is a very bright girl - she has 2 As and a B in her A levels. She didn't have a year off and arrived straight into the bright lights and big city of London with a mission to look great and hang out in some of the best bars in town - rather than wearing a T-shirt and trainers in the student union.
There is no doubt that Rebecca looks fantastic, but I am not sure she wouldn't look almost as good if she spent a lot less money. Do 19-year-olds really need a facial every month? Do they need to buy hair products from a salon and not the high street? Are acrylic nails really necessary?
I believe in women investing time and money in personal maintenance, but Rebecca had taken this to a new level that I, 30 years older than her, found astonishing.
Rebecca's bank of last resort was her mother - I know all about being the bank of last resort, because I am for my own children. And it was for her mother's sake if no one else's that I tried to get Rebecca to see that it was possible to look good on a budget.
I think Rebecca will get a good degree and I have no doubt that she will get a great job using her languages (French and Spanish). But I also hope that she sets herself some realistic budgets for hair, beauty, clothes and going out, or she will end up with a debt to pay off that will take her 20 years of her working life.
Mrs Moneypenny is not a professional financial advisor and all opinions expressed are her own. She receives no payment from, or has any professional relationship with, any of the products or services mentioned in this diary.
