Not only am I a sucker for a bargain, I'm keen to make every penny last. Few can disagree that stuff has become way more expensive in the last few years, pretty much globally. We're all struggling to some extent with the fiscal cost of living crisis that is seemingly everywhere these days. So taking a random amount, sparked by an interaction with Amazon, I'm going to examine the purchasing power of £0.77, which equates to just over a dollar in the US.
Over here you can buy enough sweet potatoes to make a tasty and nutritious side for a meal with some left over for seventy seven pence. You might be able to buy a few carrots but anything more substantial - forget it. And I'm talking about Asda here - it would be Walmart in the US, who for a time owned Asda - hardly the most expensive store.
Buying someone a coffee for this mount is unlikely. Even the greasiest of greasy spoon cafes doling out the cheapest of instant would want at least a pound for a coffee. A cup of tea should be do-able - it's just a tea bag, boiling water (not just hot, Americans please note) and a dash of milk with sugar to taste if you must (I haven't for nearly forty years). One of those fancy coffees from Starbucks, well you'll need to multiply the £0.77 by a fair amount.
You may be able to buy a fair few items on eBay for less than £0.77 if you get lucky with bidding, but postage will eradicate that. Ali Express and Temu might be options, but there will still be postage.
What about ten times £0.77? For nearly £8 you can certainly buy one of those fancy coffees, choose your venue carefully you can buy two so you can have a coffee with a friend. The online stores have plenty available in this range - I've bought strings, capos, other guitar paraphernalia for under £8 including P & P in the last year, so definitely do-able. But such purchases are not representative of the costs we now all face.
So, to help with your cost of living crisis I've lowered the eBook cost of my books, all ten, to £0.77 each, which equates to $1.04 in the US at the current exchange rate Amazon is using. Or, for £7.70 you can buy all ten books. Your biggest problem is affording the coffees you'll want to drink while reading the books. I can't solve every fiscal problem!
