Making Ends Meet on eBay

I absolutely hate being skint.

I was skint throughout university but back then it was acceptable, encouraged in fact. If you weren’t living in the dregs of your overdraft you were clearly not living the life of a ‘proper’ student. If I had any money left in my account before the onset of the student loan I’d make sure I’d clear it out in time for the next instalment. As long as I wasn’t being harassed by Lloyds TSB it was fine- extend the student overdraft and spend away. Live life to the max, man.

Don’t get me wrong, I was never in credit, I was (and still am) relentlessly in my overdraft but to me (and my student naivety) that just meant a load of interest-free money.

I didn’t feel so bad about being poor at uni because my contemporaries were all in the same boat and there was always the distant prospect of a lucrative job offer at the end of it (yes, that was before the recession took off). I mean, I went to one of the top-five universities in the country- why on earth did I go if not to get a decent job?! On reflection, it was a bit of an error doing a history degree and not wanting to be a history teacher but surely there were LOADS of employers out there ready to take me on and offer me with a hefty salary? Well, turns out there was one wonderful company ready to give me a job, unfortunately the hefty salary would have to wait.

I guess being poor is a given being in your first job out of university, living in London and working in PR but nevertheless, it’s still pretty rubbish. Working the best part of ten hours a day (often twelve) and having literally no money can often encourage crippling resentment in even the least materialistic of people. A low point was at Christmas after leaving a party in Farringdon to get the bus (not tube- too costly these days) home. I realised my Oyster needed topping up so I trudged to the cash point, inserted my debit card and those much-feared words appeared on the screen:

‘The following transaction could not be authorised due to insufficient funds’.

"Insufficient funds". Crap. I have nothing. What the bloody HELL am I going to do now? I have no savings, no credit cards, I don’t even have enough change in my purse for a one-way bus fare. Defeated, I walked home, all the bloody way back to Bethnal Green on a grim Friday night. I spent the rest of the month scrounging off my housemates and living off tea, toast and biscuits from the office.

Since then I’ve taken thrifty to new extremes. I walk to and from work, I take advantage as much as I can out of work food and booze and I’ve started selling all my unwanted stuff on eBay. Admittedly, at first I was cynical about selling on auction sites (especially after getting ripped off the previous summer on Reading tickets that I bought and which never arrived. It still pains me now to think about it.) But what the hell- I was desperate.

Little did I know that my bedroom would soon become a potential goldmine. Slowly but surely, I began to list bits and bobs from around the flat. Since Christmas I’ve made nearly £800 simply selling unwanted dresses, shoes, accessories, dvds- literally anything will sell on eBay. I’ve even managed to make a profit on some things (who’d of thought that a £12 Primark dress could sell for £35? Crazy.)

eBay isn’t the antidote for an appallingly low salary or overdraft extension but it can at least help to make ends meet in these dark and uncertain times. Heck, maybe a degree in online auction profiteering would have served me better. Oh well, at least I can still afford my bus fare.