LAP OF LUXURY
Rich House Poor House single mum swaps weekly £158 budget for £1.8k – and breaks down in tears after surprising teen daughter with first laptop
A SINGLE mum-of-two who swapped homes and budgets with a rich family of four burst into tears after giving her 14-year-old daughter her first laptop.
Terry Morgan and children Coral and Theo, 12, traded their cramped three-bed flat above a curry house in Havant, worth £133k, for the Colemans’ spacious £750k family home in Salisbury in Rich House Poor House.
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The Morgans were also given the other family’s weekly spend of £1792, while Peter and Jo Coleman and their children Lucy, 14 and Matt, 15, were given Terry's £158 budget.
Terry and the kids were left “gobsmacked” after counting out the cash in the kitchen and instantly splashed out on THREE takeaways, at a cost of £82.
But the most emotional moment came when Terry, who has been paying for training to become a swimming instructor, surprised GCSE student Coral with her first ever laptop.
She said: “With household bills and money for training, there’s been no money for teenagers’ technology.”
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Grateful Coral told her: “This laptop is going to help me a lot. It’s going to help with my GCSEs.”
Afterwards, Terry broke down on camera as she recorded a message for her kids, saying: “I wish I could have given you all the opportunities that are out there, but I’m going to give you the ones I can. I love you.”
Swimming instructor Terry, who divorced the children’s dad two years before, owns her own flat but struggles to make ends meet.
“Most of my money goes on my mortgage. It’s lucky in one respect and a burden in another. Lucky that I own the house and no one can take it away but I have to maintain it.
“All of a sudden the car tax comes along and that kind of messes with you if you’re banking on that money.”
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But while Coral got a new laptop Theo’s choice of a treat was a little more way out.
The budding Jamie Oliver splashed out £60 on a cut of prime fillet steak so that he could make a beef wellington for his mum.
Meanwhile IT consultant Peter and freelance copywriter Jo were adapting to their £158 budget.
Mum Jo admitted: “I normally spend about £150 a week just on food.”
Peter was forced to sacrifice his favourite morning beverage in order to pay for food – admitting his new meal allowance was less than ONE posh coffee.
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He said: “I really miss coffee. Coffee is quite expensive and one posh coffee costs about what we spend on a meal now. Maybe it’s time to give up coffee and caffeine.”
The family, who were used to expensive foreign holidays, also sampled the Morgans usual getaway – a night in their 26-year-old camper van.
And instead of prime beef and wide screen TV, they had an evening of budget bangers and tiddlywinks.
After a restless night, Lucy complained: “There was more than one person snoring. I don’t know if I could do that two nights in a row – or ever again.”
But Peter, who works away a lot and says he misses time with the family, said he loved the experience.
He said: “I want to buy a camper van. It’s brought us all – physically – closer together.”
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In a new twist to the show’s format, the families met up at the end, and got on like a house on fire.
Jo, who gave up a job in PR to work at home as a copywriter, said she admired Terry’s choice to retrain.
She said: “It’s been a lot easier for me to make that life choice.
“I have huge respect for Terry for doing what she’s doing. It must take a hell of a lot of drive and determination.”
Terry said she hoped a week in the ‘Rich House’ had given her kids inspiration to thrive.
“I already have my goal and I know where I want to be. But for the children it was important for them to see that if you don’t mess around when you’re younger, like I did, you can achieve that big house if they choose to.”
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It was 12-year-old Theo who had the wisest words though.
He said: “Rich and poor are just two words defining how much money someone has.
“But the week has inspired me to keep an eye on my work and listen to the teacher. If I’m going to get a house, a job and that amount of disposable income, I’m going to have to work.”
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Despite her week of living in luxury, Terry was happy to get back to her flat.
On leaving the Salisbury home, she said: “I’m looking forward to going to our house because it’s smaller, I know where the kids are and it feels more together.”
Last year viewers were left in tears after vets in Rich House Poor House paid off a struggling family's £11,000 debt.
The new series of Rich House Poor House begins on Thursday on Channel 5 at 9PM.