Doncaster mum on £25,000 a year benefits tells TV documentary: "Bargain hunting is full-time job"

A Doncaster single mum of four on £25,000 a year benefits will reveal how bargain hunting is a "full-time-job" in a TV documentary tonight.
Doncaster mum Sammi - aka Bargain Barbie. (Photo: Channel 5).Doncaster mum Sammi - aka Bargain Barbie. (Photo: Channel 5).
Doncaster mum Sammi - aka Bargain Barbie. (Photo: Channel 5).

Sammi, 35, has dubbed herself 'Bargain Barbie' as she loves to find the cheapest fashion and beauty deals on her Government handouts.

The thrifty mum, whose children are all aged under ten, stars in the latest episode of Channel 5 documentary On Benefits tonight.

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"I love my dresses, not that I ever go anywhere to wear them, they are hung up with pride. This one was £2.50 off Donny market,' she says in tonight's show, showing off one of the occasionwear dresses in her collection.

The Daily Mail revealed that the savvy shopper buys many of her clothes from a secondhand store, where she has often found unwanted designer items as she strives to always look her best.

She said: "You can get bags and bags for a £5, quite often I get designer labels in there as well."

When it comes to beauty products, she searches for makeup that has been marked down in price because the packaging may have been damaged, and buys a blonde wig from China.

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She said of her hairpiece: 'If you went to a shop and town and bought them they would be £25-35 but I get them from China for £3.'

The mother receives £25,000 in benefits but recently struggled when £60 a month was cut after she failed to attend an appointment at the Job Centre

Sammi said it is important for her to look her best for when she returns to the job market, so she gets up an hour before her children every day to get herself ready.

She said: 'How are you going to get a job if you don't look good? You have got to look alright as they won't give a job to a dosser.'

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However, while she said she would love to work, she has been unemployed for more than six years as she cares for her four children.

She left her job as a shop supervisor when she first became pregnant and said she hasn't been able to find another job since that fits in around her children.

"My whole life revolves around hunting for the best offers and that is basically a full time job in itself," she tells the cameras.

She said: 'I would love a job but I need one that fits in to being a mum. I am really wary who I leave my children with so it is really difficult for me. They are my number one priority.'

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She added: 'My whole life revolves around hunting for the best offers and that is basically a full time job in itself.

'I can spend five hours day running round all over trying to find a discount. I enjoy it. I should be a full-time bargain hunter.

'I am Pound Shop Barbie, the Pound Shop Queen. Bargain Barbie is on the prowl.'

She is the second Doncaster mum in a few weeks to star in On Benefits.

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Last month, 28-year-old plus size burlesque dancer Charlene Taylor, who dances under the stage name Chazabelle Royale, revealed how she was spending her benefits on raunchy dance lessons.

On Benefits is on Channel 5 tonight at 8pm.