I think that one can judge the wealth of others by what cereal they're buying. If they're buying that grainy crap or 2-for-1 of something that's clearly not delicious, then they're poor or frugal. If they're buying delicious sweet things, then they're looaddded. I've been trying to save money wherever I can here, whether it's ordering a cheese omelet rather than a ham AND cheese omelet to save 40 pence or opting out of seeing Spamalot with friends. Today, due to starvation of two days, I finally went to the grocery store and continued my streak of frugality.

There are several problems I encountered. One. I picked up a 99 pence bag of frozen peas. Awesome. Wait... I don't have a bowl. Or a fork. Or a knife. Or a spoon. Since realizing this, I've been on the look-out for something that will make do, but I haven't seen anything yet. So... for now, no peas. I did, however, buy cereal even though I don't have a bowl. I did the 2-for-1 thing. Milk. Orange juice. Four microwave dinners. A bundle of bananas and five nectarines. Fourteen pounds, an arm, and a leg.

In another effort to save some money, I sought a grocery store where I could top up (the over-used phrase meaning "to add money to") my Oyster card, which is used for buses and tubes. Then, I thought, I could charge the 20 pounds for the 7-day travel card AND buy some food, and it would make the credit card transaction fee all the more worth while. That was a failure. An utter failure. Also, my phone service, a failure. I regret not getting T-Mobile or something, not because it's cheaper but because for some reason, I can't top up online and am going to have to go to a Carphone Warehouse every time unless I call the Mobile World people and sort this out. Sorting out is what I'm tired of doing. I still have to sort out my health registration stuff, but it was raining today and I couldn't find its road. So I'll have to do that tomorrow.

Eating is terrible when you are counting the pence of each bite. I think that biggest failure of my being an adult, as I'm supposed to be at this point, is eating. This summer, if I was too tired from work or too busy, I just would delay meals until late. And I find that the same thing happens here, except now even worse because each bite is so damn expensive. Anyways, money sucks. Send relief aid to Citibank.

Edit (05/07/08): Once there was a picture of cereals on this post... but then 40 people a day came to this entry because of... no more.