Деньги - Money. Невежина С.Б - 8 стр.

       'Money's been tight since I split up from my husband four years        and-outs a quid sometimes. My widowed mum is a pensioner and lives
ago. The kids always come first, but special occasions for them are           alone, so I always make sure that she has enough to eat.
rare. They're lucky if we go to McDonald's once a month. All their                    I have four credit cards, but one is never used. A bill for £700
school uniforms are second-hand. When I was a kid I used to get lots          arrived this morning for one of them. It frightened us to death.
of treats. I'd go riding and I used to have piano lessons. I feel dreadful    Occasionally we have to get loans to clear our credit card debts. In my
not being able to give my kids the things I had. Every month I work           job it's possible to become a bit of a social leper. Some friends are
out exactly what has to be paid and what can wait. I have to be very          always boasting to me about how they dodge paying tax. I don't like
careful with money, and that doesn't come easily because by nature I'm        that. I don't like paying tax either, but I'd never dodge it.'
very extravagant. My biggest extravagance now is a packet of ten
cigarettes.                                                                          The Miser
       My monthly food bill comes to about £350, and towards the end                 MALCOLM STACEY, 38, is a part-time BBC journalist and
of the month we have beans on toast three nights out of seven. I usually      author of two books about money. He earns £50,000 per annum. He
make the kids a packed lunch for school, but occasionally I don't have        lives in York with his wife Jo, 32. They have two young children.
enough food to make one, so I tell the kids to have a school dinner and              'I never buy luxuries and I never buy a round of drinks. When
say they've forgotten their dinner money. It's not really telling lies        colleagues go out to the pub, I'll stay in the office and say I'm expecting
because I'll always pay as soon as I can.                                     a phone call. I'll never invite people to dinner, but I never feel guilty
       I get very depressed and I frequently sit down and cry. Some-          about accepting their invitations. I know they invite me to have someone
times I'll go wild and buy something just to cheer myself up, but I           interesting to talk to. The meanest thing I've ever done was to go to a
always regret it. I once spent £30 on some clothes but I felt really          wedding without a present. I just took some wrapping paper and a tag
guilty. What I want more than anything else is a holiday and new              saying 'Love from Malcolm' and put it onto the table with the other
shoes for the kids. Who knows? I might win the lottery!'                      presents. I got a thank-you letter from the bride. She obviously thought
                                                                              she'd mislaid the present.
                                                                                     People don't believe I can be so stingy. I'll organize an office
       The Taxman
                                                                              collection for earthquake victims but I won't give anything myself. I've
       BOB WILDEN, 24, is a tax inspector. He earns £23,558 per
                                                                              put a wishing well in the front garden. I would never ask passers-by to
annum. His wife, Denise, 20, earns £7,500 as a part-time secretary.
                                                                              throw money in, but I collect it when they do. I hardly ever use my
They live in Maidenhead, Berkshire. They have no children.
                                                                              car; we grow our own vegetables and we recycle everything. We never
       'I'm mean in some ways, generous in others. I'll be first at the       buy new clothes, we get them second-hand from charity shops for
bar to buy a round of drinks, but I'd baulk at buying a couple of packets     about £2 a garment. We can live on £5 a week.
of crisps as well. I'll go hungry rather than stop for a snack at a motor-           I've always been mean. When I was a child I would never buy
way service station. We always buy food in bulk so it's cheaper. We           flowers for Mum, but I'd give her a bouquet from her own garden. My
frequently cook in bulk, too, and put it in the freezer. Denise and I never   wife gets embarrassed by my meanness, but we never row about
row about money. We both indulge ourselves now and then. She'll               money. People think I've got a fortune stashed away somewhere. I
spend £40 at the hairdresser's and I won't penny-pinch on the kind of         don't care what they think.'
malt whisky I get. I never spend much on clothes though, probably
about £95 at the most. I don't need to look smart to be a taxman.                   SPEAKING
       Denise generally gives £20 a month to animal charities, but she
won't donate to beggars wearing £100 trainers. I'll give the real down-             1. Find someone who chose different texts from you. Go
                                                                              through the questions together and compare the information.

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