Money money money

[j4]

Bank balance is looking a bit more healthy, and will get healthier still in a couple of days thanks to a timely cheque from hoiho (to whom huge thanks are due, and also apologies).

I earned six whole pounds in cold hard cash yesterday for spending 20 minutes counting red blobs on a screenful of green blobs. Isn't psychology great? Have had a look at the info about being on the volunteer panel for MRC and the application form doesn't look as daunting as I expected, so I may well sign up for this, it being a Good Thing as well as a useful source of occasional pocket money. I'm not sure how to answer the question about depression on the form, though.

Applied for an egg card last night in the hope that I could transfer cc balances one last time to somewhere that the interest isn't eating me alive, and pay them all back this time. But no reply from them yet, despite saying that they'll email me "shortly" ... anybody have any experience of how long it takes?

One of the areas where I tend to spend a lot of unnecessary money is buying lunch in town -- Cambridge is not the cheapest place to buy sandwiches etc.! However for just 99p I have got lunches for the next three days, in the form of a huge bag of new potatoes which I'm using for potato salad. Mmmm, potato salad. Now everybody will probably tell me this is ridiculously expensive and they manage to feed a family of four for three weeks on a pound, but shrug. It's still an improvement.

Comments

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

99p is less money than I'd manage to spend on lunches for three days even if I was making 'em myself, so I think you're safe.

[mobbsy.livejournal.com]

It took about two weeks all-in between applying for my Egg card and getting it as a useful thing. There was a slight delay because I didn't do the paperwork correctly, so had to send it in again.

[karen2205]

It seemed to take a long time for my egg card to come through - like a couple of monthsish, but that was in early 2000, so I'm imagining they're a bit better nowadays.

[k425.livejournal.com]

That works out at 33p a day. Which is a bargain!

[j4.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I could buy a loaf of economy bread for pennies & that'd last for a week and a half, and then a jar of economy jam or something would last for two weeks, and that'd probably work out cheaper. :-/

[juliet]

But not very nice. There's a limit of money-saving beyond which it's not *sensible* to go - if you try to make yourself eat economy-jam-sandwiches & hate it, you'll just wind up cracking & going to buy something else. Thus not-saving-money in the end.

Hummous sandwiches work out not too expensive either, if you make those yourself - a pot of hummous will do me for 3 days of sandwiches (although I can quite easily eat a pot at a sitting if I'm using it as a *dip* for bread, go figure). Which works out I think slightly more expensive than your potato salad, but only by 10p a day or so, & is a Different Thing.

I also like the refried beans & carrot&lentil pate on Kake's website, which do require making (which is a hassle), but are v nice. But the quantities given will do about a week of sandwiches each, poss slightly more (or you can freeze half & have something different for some of the week, which I always mean to do & never remember).

mmm potato salad.

In other news: cheers for pointing out the egg offer! After some cogitation based on a couple of things upcoming that I *do* need to buy, & will be able to afford over a couple of months, but not Right Now, I have also applied for one. So I can spread said purchases (bike lock, sandals, new phone in order to get contract which will save me money per month) over the next 6 months. Although I *must not* use it again after the transfer/purchases, or I'll just get myself further into trouble. Eep.

[k425.livejournal.com]

Ahbut, potato salad is nice and bears repeating for 3 days. Plastic bread and economy jam would drive me loopy after 3 days, there's no way it would last 2 weeks!

Economy is buying stuff you're going to eat that if you're lucky happens to be cheap, not buying stuff because it's cheap and then not eating it. IMHO, YMMV, of course.

[oldbloke.livejournal.com]

Are there still places doing baked beans at daft prices?
Some people never tire of beans on toast.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

imc applied for his on Easter Monday, and we had it by the 23rd to book our Germany flights with (so just over 10 days). There not being the fallout of a recent postal strike affecting Cambridge post might make it quicker for you.

[imc.livejournal.com]

Applied for an egg card last night in the hope that I could transfer cc balances one last time to somewhere that the interest isn't eating me alive, and pay them all back this time.

Which is pretty much what I did. Hoorah.

I didn't get the email at all, but now I've just found it in my spam trap. SpamAssassin said: score=5.2 tests=HTML_40_50, HTML_MESSAGE, MIME_BOUND_MANY_HEX, MSGID_FROM_MTA_HEADER, NO_REAL_NAME.

As bopeepsheep said, I applied for it on Monday; the paper copy to sign arrived on Thursday, which I sent back that evening (via my cow-orker who lives in Swindon, because of the postal strike) and the card itself arrived the following Friday.

Oh, and 99p sounds very reasonable indeed for three lunches. (In my student days I did what your comment suggests - a loaf of Sainsbury's Economy white bread and a tub of dairylea were always to hand.)

[fanf]

The bread + stuff stall on the market is relatively inexpensive, e.g. three samosas for 1.50 makes a filling lunch.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Um, yeah, but if I did that every day it'd be £8.50 a week! I'm currently worrying about whether two quid a week is more than I really need to spend on lunches.

(The bread-stall's samosas are awfully nice, though. And three of 'em would do me for two lunches, which wouldn't be *that* bad every once in a while. It's just my willpower isn't much cop on 'every once in a while' stuff.)

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

From an nutritional perspective, lunch should be the biggest/best meal you eat. I don't know what you do about evening meals but I'd be looking to scrimp there rather than lunch, TBH. Two quid a week is really pushing things to impossible limits, a fiver would be more reasonable if still a bit limiting. I'd willingly send you a fiver a week rather than hear you beat yourself up over 70p a day. Seriously.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Evening meals tend to be pasta or something similarly quick, wolfed down on the way to karate/orchestra/whatever. Less easy to be unwittingly extravagant there, anyway, as I'm generally sharing with sion_a (dashing out to Tai Chi, hot dates, etc). Perhaps I should just cook for myself, then I'd really know how much I was spending on food, rather than sponging off him. Might force me to eat a bit more varied meals as well; we basically only ever eat pasta, pizza, and very occasionally chilli. (It's one of the reasons I tend to spend too much on nice lunches -- I miss things like salad, fish, meat, etc.)

It's all confused because of the slightly weird living arrangements. :-/

99p

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I was impressed with the potatoes, but since then I have visited The 99p Store (it's a proper chain with uniforms and a logo and everything) and bought six jars of pasta sauce for, er, 99p.

SIX!!

(And some pink Pringles.)