Living on £5 a day

Student life was never just about trying to finish off as much beans, cheese and toast a week or going to as many classes as you can or saving as much money as you can when doing your grocery shopping so that you have more money to party for the student nights. Student life was about making loads of friends, getting the qualification you want AND living on £5 or even less a day if possible.

So what did I use to do when I "took up that challenge" myself? There's a few don'ts here, I wouldn't advise anyone to do it now. Publishing this could also cost me some embarrassment or even slaps on my wrist, but I think I have covered it back up with the extortionate pounds in taxes and charity to the poor when I started work. 1) Get a bi-weekly bus ticket. in other words; get a weekly bus ticket, scan it for the next week (I wont tell u how we used to do it, coz Im quite sure its not legal). So you save about £16 a month. Obviously, there are times when I do not feel good about getting on the bus, so I just walk it. 2) Buy nearly expired bread, milk, pasta, rice etc. You can save quite a lot here. 3) Only party on student nights, where the ticket is on £5, you get a free drink. Which means that is the £5 u spend on that day (but u do need your weekly bus ticket, bring food from home when going to Uni n eat dinner at home before you go out) 4) Eat Chicken pasty from Gregs for lunch and dinner. 5) Buy cheap soda drinks (those that are £0.29 a can) and stock it up :). They don't taste as good as Coke, but you get the same effect of feeling full afterwards anyway. 6) Avoid walking in Top Shop, Miss Selfridge, River Island, Next etc.. You can try £1 shops. :) 7) Use the university Gym, dont bother signing up gyms you have to pay for. 8) Wash your own clothes at home. Hang it on the radiators instead. (If your student flat doesnt have a dryer) 9) Live in a student flat where you pay yearly. It will include electricity, heater and what not. So u dont have to figure out how to pay for the gas later on in the year. last but not least 10) Stock up on Pasta, beans, cheese and corn beef. They do fill you up miraculously. :)

Remember when...

We were waiting for a taxi to go home from Republic. I had a bit too much of mixers. I fell on the ground and a taxi immediately came by. My housemates decided to take me to the hospital (as advised by the taxi driver). I went home with crutches (I injured my leg). AND... I had an interview with Eurostar the very next day in London. *ps: I didnt get the job...

Coffee and crumpets

As I am sitting in Starbucks drinking coffee and having a crossant, I remember the days when I was in a coffee place sipping tea and having scones. Those days doesnt come often, those were luxuries. A cup of tea and scones would cost me about a fiver. And that seems to be a waste of 5pounds at that time... I would rather spend the fiver on something else. Which would leave me feeling happy for the next 4 hours. And damage my brains for the next 4 years. But those days are gone. Sitting in an expensive coffee or tea place was something I wished I could do more then. But...With miminum wage, and working in a coffee place to "survive", So why would I spend a fiver on tea and scones when I can very well get them free at coffee dot com. Those days when my boss would see how my eye glittered when the carrot cake was sliced too small (we had to slice it at a perfect size for the customers), or how I would sit down at the end of the day and count my tips, he'd make me a cup of tea and cut a slice of carrot cake and served me like I was his customer. Ah, bless Mr Gary. He was such a star. Once, one of the other staff (Kelly) did not show up for work for 4 days. (She has a then 2 yr old, her partner was a heroin addict) and Gary always had a soft spot for the "troubled" or "poor" ppl (girls or guys). He was always wanting to help out. Anyway, he asked me to contact Kelly (as she was not returning his calls) so I made arrangements to meet up with her at a student upper class (ie 4pounds for a pc of toast and poached egg) restaurant (Kelly having lack of money also did not know her priorities when it comes to food and drinks). So, Gary and I closed coffee dot com at 7, went to see Kelly at 7.30pm. She was not happy to see me bringing Gary. But she was glad he did come in a way. So, he didnt sack her, instead, he told her to think about working again, and he has "forgiven" her about not turning up for the last 4 days...Ane he paid for our dinner that night, gave her a tenner for her taxi home. (which Im sure she took the bus and kept that money for something else) Bless that Gary Like Kelly, I'd have my priorities up side down sometimes. I'd earn about 4 pound and hour at the pub, about 4.50 at coffee dot com. Being able to sip expensive tea was like walking around town in a prada shoes and bag... because I was brought up to like the "finer" things in life, to like "being seen as someone who would have no problems with money" whatsoever, and brought up thinking money grew on trees. I only realised those were on cloud nine fantasy when I arrived in the UK for my studies. The first year was quite a bliss, come the second and third was not something I would want my daughter to go through. Not making it sound like a bitter old lady, I still think about those days and cringe. But, like I said, I went through it, I passed my "test" and it made me realise that money is not everything in the world. The more you want people to think you have it, the more it destroys you. Live by your means. Drink tea that suits your needs. Eat crumpets or scones to fill you up, not to be "seen".

Boxing day

It was Boxing day year 1996. We were in Marks and Sparks. Mom was going crazy over the suits on sale. Dad and brother was at the biscuits counter. My sister and I was at the bras and knickers section.
The alarm went off. Everyone stopped browsing and people at the counter was trying to tell the cashiers to hurry up.
There was a PA System announcement. It said "Dear customers. Please evacuate the building immediately. Please follow the instructions of the sales assistance and head towards the exit immediately"
Almost everyone panicked. I then heard someone said "Its a bomb scare...lets get out"

I grabbed my sister's hand and we rushed to the closest exit. I met my mom, dad and brother outside. My dad had a basket full of biscuits and chocolates. My mom had a basket full of clothing, and a handful of suits.
She said "Darn, how am I going to buy this now?"

We waited for almost a good hour. There were people walking out with their unpaid items. The sales assistance were trying very hard to let them wait for the "safe" announcement.
There was a few who simply walked out chucking their items into their shopping bags. I'm sure some didn't even pay for the items. Oxford Street was busy at this time of the year. No one took any notice of the alarms setting off in almost all the shops surrounding Marks and Sparks.

The police, ambulance and fire brigade came almost the next minute. They rushed in, told everyone to stand back. And 30 minutes later, they came out and said Coast is clear...

After all that wait, it suddenly hit my mom that there could actually be real threat in Oxford Street. So we headed to Bond Street instead, leaving all the unpaid items at the entrance and hope that someone else picks it up to return it back on the racks.
When I mentioned this to my uni mates they simply said "clueless person you people. Should have just did what everyone else did. Could have saved yer mum a few quids there"

Well, what can I say... We're just honest. Not clueless.... hahahaha

I remember when...

1) I was heading to Tesco and know that I only have ₤5 to spare
2) I was at Tesco asking for cash back of ₤20 when I know its my last ₤20
3) As I stepped in Top Shop I alrady knew I could not buy anything
4) Spending ₤60 on Acupuncture shoes when I received some money for the week from my wages
5) Wishing that I am no longer in University so I don't have any "issues" with money
6) Going into town for the weekend before Christmas
7) Asking for a Ted Baker jacket as a Christmas Present
8) When he walked in and passed me the bronzing cream from Boots after 2 days of arguing about whether I needed it
9) Millennium party with his family
10) Christmas morning before the roast chicken and potato's

Summer Festivals

When I first heard about Reading Festival, I thought it was a festival where you read books. And what's the fun in that? Don't get me wrong, Ive always been into books, but not until i would want to attend a festival for!
So anyway, C (my then bf) said we should get tickets and join the rest of our friends for the festival. After reading about Reading Festival, i thought, why not? i mean, 3 days of music, friends, eating junks and not worrying about studying would be fun. Wouldn't it?

So, we bought tickets.



It was very last minute. The festival or shows starts on the Friday. But most people would already have their tents set up on Thursday. We basically could not drive down with our other friends as they have left on Thursday, we had to rent a car on Thursday night to leave on Friday morning. But guess what?
It was not until Friday morning we got the car in the end. (due to unavailable cars). So we ended up arriving at Reading quite late. By the time we got there (around 6ish), there was still people that just arrived (probably after work crowd). I was amazed seeing car of a bed design, toilet designed motorbike an a few others I cannot remember now.
After parking at seem like too far away from the camp site (secured, apparently), we took out our gears and headed to where we were told to meet our friend. (Thankfully, Mobile fones were already invented then).
On the way to where our friends camped, I saw a naked (yes, complete with hs bits hanging out) naked men dancing around a camp fire. 2 police men was at the side waiting just to take him away for indecent exposure, but I guess they wanted him to "calm down" from what ever he was on at the moment.


That was a shocker for me. C was smiling when he saw my reaction. All I could say to him was "I don't normally see naked men running around in the open back home"

We finally managed to set up our tents (when i said "we" I meant C) :) at about 8 ish. Lucky the tents were only small. The show already started, so we had to basically rush to get ready (by getting ready I meant taking all our valuables into our small pack) zip our tents up and head towards the inside of the festival...


All on all, I really enjoyed my time there. The experience was exhilarating. When we didn't feel like watching the show, the dance tent was a blast to be in.

We had to Que up (for hours, depending what time you get up) for the showers (its a common shower place, where there's about 40 shower heads and thousands of people- so do the maths).

The portable loos:-



Over the 2 years of going to festivals, I learned that one should never go in the loo on the last day of the festival, as there's always people who' waiting for you to get in, and then push the very last portable loo so that the portable toilet will tip and there goes all the wee/sh^%e on you, and I guess you'll end up smelling like the portable loo for your journey home.

Overdraft

One morning, I went to the bank. I knew I only had ₤5.49 left in my bank account. I know that the cheque I banked in yesterday have not cleared. But it as worth a try. I keyed in ₤20. And to my surprise, it the machine spit out ₤20. I took the money and my card and requested for a receipt. I checked the receipt, I had a balance of ₤11,135.49 in overdraft.
I immediately put my card back in the machine to check my balance again. What was stated really made my eyes popped.

Overdraft - ₤11,150.00
Balance Overdraft - ₤11,135.49
Last withdrawal- ₤20.00

Hmm, so it means that I have an overdraft of ₤11,000.00???!!! I didn't inform the bank, instead I went home to discuss with my housemates. They told me they have an overdraft of ₤1,150.00 We're all in our 3rd year of studies, which meant, someone in the bank did a mistake by adding an extra 0 in my overdraft facility.

I contemplated on whether to inform the bank. Thinking back, I knew I should have done it immediately, as at the end of the day, te overdraft has to be paid off upon starting work. And paid off 3 years after I graduate.

Instead, I bought a futon, a telly, festival and concert tickets, partied with my house mates and obviously some new clothes nd accessories....

After a month, I got scared. Ignoring my housemates advice, I went into the bank. Told them their mistake. Sat down (with a cup of tea- the bank manager was that nice), informed them that I should not have that much overdraft, and yes, I should not have spent unnecessarily. They were very calm and admitted their mistake. They made a deal with me. (At this point, I spent about ₤1500.00 from the overdraft), which is ₤350 more than the actual overdraft. Instead of asking back the ₤350 (which I obviously didnt have) immediately, they agreed to give me ₤1500.00 overdraft instead of the normal ₤1,150.00.

Luckily, I managed to sell off the futon and the telly, and after I graduated, I managed to get some money from the extra hours I put in for my part time work. Paid off the whole overdraft before I even started my career.

I was living on the edge for the last few months just to pay off the unnecessary purchase I did when I realised the bank made a mistake. My advice is, when you know the bank made a mistake, be sure to tell them earlier, and not use the money which you have to pay back in the end anyway. And if you think about it, I actually spent the whole of my "actual" overdraft facility within a month! How scary is that?!!!