This week I shall mostly be eating the unknown.<\/p>\n
Due to my prolonged period of poor finances, this week took an extra bad turn in the form of exceeding my overdraft by a tenner as my card repayment came out. And this will accumulate in the form of a \u00a325 Payment review fee and \u00a315 for exceeding overdraft fine for three days (at \u00a35 a day), as well as the usual overdraft usage fees and interest payable on the overdraft.<\/p>\n
The upshot is that I can’t buy food this week.<\/p>\n
But I was supposed to be in that same situation last week wasn’t I? Yes, and if I hadn’t I wouldn’t now be staring at an extra \u00a340 hole in my accounts. And when you only get \u00a350 a week, that’s rather a lot.<\/p>\n
(If you’re curious why I’m not simply paying myself more it’s because the business coffers, while a lot healthier than they were, still have a long way to go before I can pay myself anything out of them. The only steady “income” I currently take from the business is \u00a325 a month to one of the credit cards minimum payments. I live day to day entirely on my tax credit payments, while all the money I make<\/strong> is immediately reinvested into the business to try and build it further and faster. Hopefully with a view of getting that comfortable income from it before I become ineligible for said tax credits.)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Now, I should have nearly a fiver in my penny jars, and if things get desperate I can borrow<\/strong> something from the business kitty. Also my dad has kindly offered to loan me the money to repay the credit cards (which were originally only gotten because I was told I wasn’t eligible for a business loan) which I’ll only have to repay to him with the equivalent lost interest, which will remove some pressure. But that will still take months to arrange.<\/p>\n
I hate accepting charity. It’s a mark of personal failure in survival terms. And this comes as close as I ever have to that. Psychologically I don’t have much to loose now. It’s relieving in a sickening sort of way.<\/p>\n
So my survival task this week is not only to complete more business projects, but do so while living on a budget of about \u00a34.92 and whatever I have in my cupboards. And it will be a challenge. Adapting recipes I can do, coming up with recipes from scratch I can do too. Cobbling together from what’s on hand for some reason I’m not so good at. But adversity breeds creativity, right? Hopefully more interesting than soup+pasta.<\/p>\n
Friday 9th<\/strong><\/p>\n
Tonight’s dinner was a baked potato with a healthy dollop of butter and caramelised onions. It worked together pretty well. Simple but tasty. My granddads old advice about cooking the onions slowly worked very well.<\/p>\n