This Morning shock at woman who spent £20k online shopping in lockdown – including a shipping container to store it all

A THIS Morning guest revealed today how she spent £20,000 shopping online in lockdown – and even bought a shipping container to store it all.

The businesswoman from Liverpool said her addiction flared up in the pandemic and splashing the cash gave her a sense of normality.

Natalie Reeves Billing shocked told hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond when she said she spent a whopping £20,000 over the past year – including £3,000 on lighting and fixtures that she hasn’t even opened yet.

And she bought a metal detector, thinking she’d take up the hobby in lockdown.

She said: “I’m a speed shopper. I hoard, that’s the problem the more space you have the more things you get to fill it.

“I can only say that I was so overwhelmed by homeschooling and my new business that started in February, and so it was all kind of pressure, and being worried about the future and the only bit of my life that felt normal was shopping online.”

She added: “I like to collect things, I get into hobbies but they become fads.”

Natalie even became friendly with the delivery drivers who she got to know, and “made a deal” with them to drop parcels at the back of her house so that her husband wouldn’t see that she’d been buying again.

She said she began to feel anxious about her spending, telling Alison: “I was always wondering who was looking out the window, like ‘oh what’s she buying today.’

“At first it was a thrill. Then you’d see Amazon trundling down the driveway and you’d be like…”

Natalie turned her addiction around by telling friends and her husband, and said they now look out for signs of her addiction flaring up.

This Morning viewers were amazed that despite her spending, Natalie hadn’t got herself into any debt – and they didn’t have much sympathy.

One said: “That poor woman on this morning. Spending £20k on stuff she didn’t need, without getting in debt, and storing it all in her shipping container in her Olympic sized garden. My heart bleeds for her #ThisMorning”

Another moaned: “Only on #ThisMorning could you get a woman advertising she can afford 20k online shopping whilst the majority of viewers are on furlough, unemployed or working part time ”

However, others loved that Natalie had made her own money and was spending it how she pleased.

One said: “I love this woman! She can clearly afford it and she uses her money to make her home the place she enjoys being in. F**k the haters lol”