...a little bit of Maths.
(sorry)
Now I want an iPad. I do. I do. I do.
If I mention this to Anthony he will roll his eyes (nicely) and ask me why. I will then dribble on about blogging from the sofa and not hogging the PC for my random internet ptootlings when he really wants to go and kill some Murlocs.
This won't convince him.
So in an attempt to convince myself that I really can't afford one, I have been working out the costs in alternative currencies.
-------------------------------
The 64GB iPad with just WiFi is currently £599. If you want it with 3G too, then it goes up to £699 (plus £10 a month for 1GB of data).
So in cupcakes (from the Primrose Bakery, like I bought in London) at £1.85 a cupcake:
64GB WiFi iPad = 324 cupcakes.
64GB WiFi+3G iPad = 378 cupcakes (plus another 6 cupcakes a month)
---
In IKEA bookcases (that's a BILLY unit at £55 plus a height extender for £20)
64GB WiFi iPad = 8 bookcases (£1 needed to make it 8 rather than 7 and £74 left over)
64GB WiFi+3G iPad = 9 bookcases (£24 left over towards data costs)
---
The WiFi iPad is only £9 less than the cost of the daybed and chest of drawers (plus two sets of BILLY bookcases) that I want for our spare bedroom. Make it the 3G model and throw in another bookcase and have enough money left over for a take-away pizza (sod the data costs),
---
In £18.99 hardbacks it's 32 or 37 books, 47 or 55 if you take off my discount. 75 or 88 £7.99 paperbacks, 112 or 131 with discount!
---
Basically I could get a hell of a lot of other things I want, plus a lot of things that we actually need.
So why oh why have I still not convinced myself.
Silly brain.
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Yesterday was supposed to be...
...Blue Monday.
(At least it was according to some strange formula which made the news full of it)
The most depressing day of the year.
It could very easily have been.
It was the day before my payday - which used to mean 19p toast for lunch (except that the Tesco Value sliced loaf has rocketed up to 40p since I last bought it) - but as we had thought ahead I had lovely galettes filled with cheese and ham instead.
The shop was very very quiet - which could have meant us all worrying about our jobs - but instead we wrote reviews, pulled returns and made suggestions for Richie Fingers' display of adult picture books (sick puppies, this kind of book, not that kind of book).
I got incredibly broody over an adorable little girl - which could have ruined my whole afternoon - but instead I thought that although I don't have that right now, I will in the future and so it's something to look forward to, like a holiday is.
Oh yeah, did I mention? I'M GOING TO MONZA!!!!!
*ahem*
Today is also going to be a very good day.
I have just slathered Marilyn all over my hair so that it currently smells gorgeous, and in 5 minutes it will look gorgeous too (once dried anyway).
I have two houses to go and view just up the road. I still want to move and even if they're no good I like looking at houses.
I plan to do some nesting things and some bookish things and with any luck Keris might have Joe while I'm at home to read the updates! (although not looking promising so far)
I've gone online to do all my banking and remembered that I don't have to pay any Council Tax this month! That makes me £71 richer than I thought I was. I'm going to be good too and not just go straight to Etsy with it...I shall pay off my book club instead.
And Nie is posting again.
Life is good.
(At least it was according to some strange formula which made the news full of it)
The most depressing day of the year.
It could very easily have been.
It was the day before my payday - which used to mean 19p toast for lunch (except that the Tesco Value sliced loaf has rocketed up to 40p since I last bought it) - but as we had thought ahead I had lovely galettes filled with cheese and ham instead.
The shop was very very quiet - which could have meant us all worrying about our jobs - but instead we wrote reviews, pulled returns and made suggestions for Richie Fingers' display of adult picture books (sick puppies, this kind of book, not that kind of book).
I got incredibly broody over an adorable little girl - which could have ruined my whole afternoon - but instead I thought that although I don't have that right now, I will in the future and so it's something to look forward to, like a holiday is.
Oh yeah, did I mention? I'M GOING TO MONZA!!!!!
*ahem*
Today is also going to be a very good day.
I have just slathered Marilyn all over my hair so that it currently smells gorgeous, and in 5 minutes it will look gorgeous too (once dried anyway).
I have two houses to go and view just up the road. I still want to move and even if they're no good I like looking at houses.
I plan to do some nesting things and some bookish things and with any luck Keris might have Joe while I'm at home to read the updates! (although not looking promising so far)
I've gone online to do all my banking and remembered that I don't have to pay any Council Tax this month! That makes me £71 richer than I thought I was. I'm going to be good too and not just go straight to Etsy with it...I shall pay off my book club instead.
And Nie is posting again.
Life is good.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
I hate Maths...
...no really, I do. (Emily - please ignore the fact that I decided to do it at A level for a minute here, I got a U anyway)
Every time I do some Maths, I get horribly depressed.
Usually it's because it's payday and I've just logged on to my internet banking and transferred over half my wages across to go on my rent. Then I have to divide up the money left onto council tax, water, gas and electric. Then I take one look at the amount that I have left...and buy myself some books with it in an attempt to distract myself from the fact that I'm skint.
I don't think that's going to work this time.
I've just had my gas and electric bills for the last year. Now they're not actual bills because I have those pre-payment meter thingies. The ones that I decided to keep an eye on like a grown-up.
I read them again the other day and once again had to press millions of buttons on the evil gas meter and just one on the lovely electric meter. I carefully wrote down the numbers in the same way I'd written them down before so that I could compare the figures - and then I found a letter from British Gas with a nice little booklet in giving me the new prices and checked that they matched.
Well when the bills came today I thought that I would be very very grown-up and do some clever Maths to work out how much it cost me last year (cos it doesn't tell you that, just how many kWh's you've used) and then how much the same amounts would cost me this year.
I really wish that I hadn't bothered.
WARNING - MATHS FOLLOWS
Electricity usage = 4126 kWh.
Last Years Rate = 11.89p per kWh + 11.72p per day standing charge.
355 days between 31/08/07 and 20/08/08 means that the standing charge total was £41.61.
11.89p x 4126 = 49058.14p = £490.59
£490.59 + £41.61 = £532.20
This Years Rate (so far...) = 13.10p per kWh + 11.85p per day standing charge.
Using the same amount of electricity as last year at this years rates = £582.58.
Ok...that's not too bad I guess.
Now for the gas.
Gas usage = 19923.33 kWh.
Last years first 2680 kWh rate was 7.501p. So 2680 x 7.501p = 20102.68p = £201.03
Last years rate for the remaining amount was 2.865p. So 17243.33 x 2.865p = 49402.14045p = £494.03
Total gas cost = £695.06
This years rates are 9.084p for the first 2680 kWh and 3.814p for the rest.
Using the same amount of gas as last year at this years rates = £901.13.
£901.13
£901.13!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had to work that through again to make sure I hadn't made a mistake...but I hadn't.
This year it will cost me more than a months wages for my years gas. That's just a little bit wrong, surely. Surely?!
Last year I would wear two jumpers, tights under my jeans and fingerless gloves at the computer in an attempt to keep warm...I don't quite know what more I can do this year.
All that is why Maths is hateful. Yes, ok, I get that it's useful for allowing me to work all that out. But now I need to go and buy books...big thick books...for building a well-insulated book hut for me to live in!
Every time I do some Maths, I get horribly depressed.
Usually it's because it's payday and I've just logged on to my internet banking and transferred over half my wages across to go on my rent. Then I have to divide up the money left onto council tax, water, gas and electric. Then I take one look at the amount that I have left...and buy myself some books with it in an attempt to distract myself from the fact that I'm skint.
I don't think that's going to work this time.
I've just had my gas and electric bills for the last year. Now they're not actual bills because I have those pre-payment meter thingies. The ones that I decided to keep an eye on like a grown-up.
I read them again the other day and once again had to press millions of buttons on the evil gas meter and just one on the lovely electric meter. I carefully wrote down the numbers in the same way I'd written them down before so that I could compare the figures - and then I found a letter from British Gas with a nice little booklet in giving me the new prices and checked that they matched.
Well when the bills came today I thought that I would be very very grown-up and do some clever Maths to work out how much it cost me last year (cos it doesn't tell you that, just how many kWh's you've used) and then how much the same amounts would cost me this year.
I really wish that I hadn't bothered.
WARNING - MATHS FOLLOWS
Electricity usage = 4126 kWh.
Last Years Rate = 11.89p per kWh + 11.72p per day standing charge.
355 days between 31/08/07 and 20/08/08 means that the standing charge total was £41.61.
11.89p x 4126 = 49058.14p = £490.59
£490.59 + £41.61 = £532.20
This Years Rate (so far...) = 13.10p per kWh + 11.85p per day standing charge.
Using the same amount of electricity as last year at this years rates = £582.58.
Ok...that's not too bad I guess.
Now for the gas.
Gas usage = 19923.33 kWh.
Last years first 2680 kWh rate was 7.501p. So 2680 x 7.501p = 20102.68p = £201.03
Last years rate for the remaining amount was 2.865p. So 17243.33 x 2.865p = 49402.14045p = £494.03
Total gas cost = £695.06
This years rates are 9.084p for the first 2680 kWh and 3.814p for the rest.
Using the same amount of gas as last year at this years rates = £901.13.
£901.13
£901.13!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had to work that through again to make sure I hadn't made a mistake...but I hadn't.
This year it will cost me more than a months wages for my years gas. That's just a little bit wrong, surely. Surely?!
Last year I would wear two jumpers, tights under my jeans and fingerless gloves at the computer in an attempt to keep warm...I don't quite know what more I can do this year.
All that is why Maths is hateful. Yes, ok, I get that it's useful for allowing me to work all that out. But now I need to go and buy books...big thick books...for building a well-insulated book hut for me to live in!
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Sometimes...
...I should quit while I'm ahead.
After seeing this story about the huge British Gas price rises, I thought I'd better look at my pre-payment meters to see what they say at the moment. That way (like a grown-up) I can keep track of how much my gas and electric actually are, rather than just thinking "Blimey, that £10 went quick".
So I looked at the electric one first. It says that I have £5.84 on there (good) and that my standing charge is 82p and that I am paying 11.89p per kWh. (I will find another grown-up to explain to me if that is good or bad).
Lulled into a false sense of security by my lovely electricity meter (where I just pressed one button a few times and it gave me those numbers), I decided to look at the gas one too.
Biggest mistake of the day.
For the gas one you have to put the card in, and you have to press the two buttons in sequence, and then you have to go through millions of tiny hard-to-read screens before you find one that looks as if it makes sense.
Also, if you try to just crouch down to do this, forgetting about your dodgy ankle, your ankle will give way and you'll start to fall over. So you'll grab at the gas box, and it will pull away from the wall (just the box, none of the piping - don't panic about that).
Then you will fall over onto your back like a drunken beetle. In front of people.
Luckily I missed cracking the back of my head on the wall, I hit the bin instead. The graze on my hand has almost stopped bleeding now too.
Of course, after I'd hauled myself upright again the meter had gone back to the original screen so I had to press buttons randomly again.
My evil gas meter says:
credit £12.67 (good)
tariff 4 7.501 (uh-huh)
tariff 5 2.865 (errm)
wid4 7.34 (wid4? wtf???)
C.V. 41 (??????????)
If anyone knows what the fuck that all means - I don't care anymore.
I shall be aware of the rate on my lovely electricity meter and ignore the evil gas meter.
And I shall continue looking for a new place to rent. Somewhere without big gaps round the doors, with double-glazing that is actually effective, and where the gas meter is not of the evil pre-payment type.
After seeing this story about the huge British Gas price rises, I thought I'd better look at my pre-payment meters to see what they say at the moment. That way (like a grown-up) I can keep track of how much my gas and electric actually are, rather than just thinking "Blimey, that £10 went quick".
So I looked at the electric one first. It says that I have £5.84 on there (good) and that my standing charge is 82p and that I am paying 11.89p per kWh. (I will find another grown-up to explain to me if that is good or bad).
Lulled into a false sense of security by my lovely electricity meter (where I just pressed one button a few times and it gave me those numbers), I decided to look at the gas one too.
Biggest mistake of the day.
For the gas one you have to put the card in, and you have to press the two buttons in sequence, and then you have to go through millions of tiny hard-to-read screens before you find one that looks as if it makes sense.
Also, if you try to just crouch down to do this, forgetting about your dodgy ankle, your ankle will give way and you'll start to fall over. So you'll grab at the gas box, and it will pull away from the wall (just the box, none of the piping - don't panic about that).
Then you will fall over onto your back like a drunken beetle. In front of people.
Luckily I missed cracking the back of my head on the wall, I hit the bin instead. The graze on my hand has almost stopped bleeding now too.
Of course, after I'd hauled myself upright again the meter had gone back to the original screen so I had to press buttons randomly again.
My evil gas meter says:
credit £12.67 (good)
tariff 4 7.501 (uh-huh)
tariff 5 2.865 (errm)
wid4 7.34 (wid4? wtf???)
C.V. 41 (??????????)
If anyone knows what the fuck that all means - I don't care anymore.
I shall be aware of the rate on my lovely electricity meter and ignore the evil gas meter.
And I shall continue looking for a new place to rent. Somewhere without big gaps round the doors, with double-glazing that is actually effective, and where the gas meter is not of the evil pre-payment type.
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