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Authors: Sophie Kinsella
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OWER H OUSE
L ONDON R OAD W INCHESTER S0 44 3DR
Ms. Rebecca Bloomwood
Charge Card Number 7854 4567
Flat 2
4 Burney Rd.
London SW6 8FD
2 March 2000
Dear Ms. Bloomwood:
There’s never been a better time to spend!
For a limited time, we are offering EXTRA POINTS on all purchases over £50 made with your Octagon Silver Card * —so take the opportunity now to add more points to your total and take advantage of some of our Pointholders’ Gifts.
Some of the fantastic gifts we are offering include:
An Italian leather bag
1,000 points
points A case of pink champagne
2,000 points
points Two flights to Paris **
5,000 points
(Your current level is:
35 points)
And remember, during this special offer period, you will gain two points for every £5 spent! We look forward to welcoming you soon to take advantage of this unique offer.
Yours sincerely,
Adrian Smith
Customer Services Manager
* excluding
purchases at restaurants, pharmacy, newsstand, and hairdresser
**
certain restrictions apply—see enclosed leaflet
Five
F RUGALITY. SIMPLICITY. These are my new watchwords. A new, uncluttered, Zen-like life, in which I spend nothing. Spend
nothing
. I mean, when you think about it, how much money do we all waste every day? No wonder I’m in a little bit of debt. And really, it’s not my fault. I’ve merely been succumbing to the Western drag of materialism—which you have to have the strength of elephants to resist. At least, that’s what it says in my new book.
You see, yesterday, when Mum and I went into Waterstone’s to buy her paperback for the week, I sidled off to the self-help section and bought the most wonderful book I’ve ever read. Quite honestly, it’s going to change my life. I’ve got it now, in my bag. It’s called
Controlling Your Cash
by David E. Barton, and it’s fantastic. What it says is that we can all fritter away money without realizing it, and that most of us could easily cut our cash consumption by half in just one week.
In one week!
You just have to do things like make your own sandwiches instead of eating in restaurants and ride a bike to work instead of taking the tube. When you start thinking about it, you can save money everywhere. And as David E. Barton says, there are lots offree pleasures which we forget because we’re so busy spending money, like parks and museums and the simple joy of a country walk.
Come to think of it, why don’t we put information like this in
Successful Saving?
It’s so much more useful than knowing about some fancy new unit trust which might make a profit or might not. I mean, with this scheme you start making money straight away!
It’s all so easy and straightforward. And the best thing is, you have to start out by going shopping! The book says you should begin by itemizing every single purchase in a single normal spending day and plot it on a graph. It stresses that you should be honest and not suddenly curtail or alter your spending pattern—which is lucky, because it’s Suze’s birthday on Friday and I’ve got to get her a present.
So on Monday morning, I stop off at Lucio’s on the way into work and buy an extralarge cappuccino and a chocolate muffin, just like I usually do. I have to admit I feel a bit sorrowful as I hand over my money, because this is my last-ever cappuccino and my last-ever chocolate muffin. My new frugality starts tomorrow—and cappuccinos aren’t allowed. David E. Barton says if you have a coffee habit you should make it at home and take it into the office in a flask, and if you like eating snacks you should buy cheap cakes from the supermarket. “The coffee merchants are fleecing you for what is little more than hot water and polystyrene,” he points out—and I suppose he’s right. But I will miss my morning cappuccino. Still, I’ve promised myself I’ll follow the rules of the book—and I will.
As I come out of the coffee shop, clutching my last-ever
L ONDON R OAD W INCHESTER S0 44 3DR
Ms. Rebecca Bloomwood
Charge Card Number 7854 4567
Flat 2
4 Burney Rd.
London SW6 8FD
2 March 2000
Dear Ms. Bloomwood:
There’s never been a better time to spend!
For a limited time, we are offering EXTRA POINTS on all purchases over £50 made with your Octagon Silver Card * —so take the opportunity now to add more points to your total and take advantage of some of our Pointholders’ Gifts.
Some of the fantastic gifts we are offering include:
An Italian leather bag
1,000 points
points A case of pink champagne
2,000 points
points Two flights to Paris **
5,000 points
(Your current level is:
35 points)
And remember, during this special offer period, you will gain two points for every £5 spent! We look forward to welcoming you soon to take advantage of this unique offer.
Yours sincerely,
Adrian Smith
Customer Services Manager
* excluding
purchases at restaurants, pharmacy, newsstand, and hairdresser
**
certain restrictions apply—see enclosed leaflet
Five
F RUGALITY. SIMPLICITY. These are my new watchwords. A new, uncluttered, Zen-like life, in which I spend nothing. Spend
nothing
. I mean, when you think about it, how much money do we all waste every day? No wonder I’m in a little bit of debt. And really, it’s not my fault. I’ve merely been succumbing to the Western drag of materialism—which you have to have the strength of elephants to resist. At least, that’s what it says in my new book.
You see, yesterday, when Mum and I went into Waterstone’s to buy her paperback for the week, I sidled off to the self-help section and bought the most wonderful book I’ve ever read. Quite honestly, it’s going to change my life. I’ve got it now, in my bag. It’s called
Controlling Your Cash
by David E. Barton, and it’s fantastic. What it says is that we can all fritter away money without realizing it, and that most of us could easily cut our cash consumption by half in just one week.
In one week!
You just have to do things like make your own sandwiches instead of eating in restaurants and ride a bike to work instead of taking the tube. When you start thinking about it, you can save money everywhere. And as David E. Barton says, there are lots offree pleasures which we forget because we’re so busy spending money, like parks and museums and the simple joy of a country walk.
Come to think of it, why don’t we put information like this in
Successful Saving?
It’s so much more useful than knowing about some fancy new unit trust which might make a profit or might not. I mean, with this scheme you start making money straight away!
It’s all so easy and straightforward. And the best thing is, you have to start out by going shopping! The book says you should begin by itemizing every single purchase in a single normal spending day and plot it on a graph. It stresses that you should be honest and not suddenly curtail or alter your spending pattern—which is lucky, because it’s Suze’s birthday on Friday and I’ve got to get her a present.
So on Monday morning, I stop off at Lucio’s on the way into work and buy an extralarge cappuccino and a chocolate muffin, just like I usually do. I have to admit I feel a bit sorrowful as I hand over my money, because this is my last-ever cappuccino and my last-ever chocolate muffin. My new frugality starts tomorrow—and cappuccinos aren’t allowed. David E. Barton says if you have a coffee habit you should make it at home and take it into the office in a flask, and if you like eating snacks you should buy cheap cakes from the supermarket. “The coffee merchants are fleecing you for what is little more than hot water and polystyrene,” he points out—and I suppose he’s right. But I will miss my morning cappuccino. Still, I’ve promised myself I’ll follow the rules of the book—and I will.
As I come out of the coffee shop, clutching my last-ever
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