ESL Blogs

I think people everywhere dream about having lots of money. I know I do. I would give anything to make money hand over fist. I would like to earn large amounts of money. You could win a large amount of money everywhere through lotteries. People pay money for tickets with numbers. If your combination of numbers is chosen, you win a huge amount of money – often in the mil-lions. Winning the lottery is a windfall (a large amount of money that is won or received unexpectedly).
A few years ago, my friend Bakhrom who lives in Russia won the lottery. It changed his life. He did not have a rich family. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Instead, my friend was always hard up for cash. He did not have much money. And the money he did earn was chicken feed – very little (a ridicu-lously small sum of money).
Sometimes Bakhrom even had to accept hand-outs (gifts from his family and friends). But do not get me wrong. My friend was not a deadbeat (a person who tries to evade paying their debts). He was not the kind of person who never paid the money he owed. He simply pinched pennies (If a person or company is feeling the pinch, they do not have as much money as they used to, and so they cannot buy the things they would like to buy.). He was always very careful with the money he spent. In fact, he was often a cheapskate (If you say that someone is a cheapskate, you think that they are mean and do not like spending money.). He did not like to spend money. The worst times were when he was flat broke and had no money at all.
One day, Bakhrom scraped together a few dollars for a lottery ticket. He thought he would never strike it rich or gain lots of money unexpectedly. But his combination of numbers was chosen and he won the lottery. He hit the jackpot. He won a great deal of money.
Bakhrom was so excited. The first thing he did was buy a cost-ly new car. He splurged (an act of spending money freely or ex-travagantly) on the one thing that he normally would not buy. Then he started spending money on unnecessary things. He start-ed to waste it. It was like he had money to burn. He had more money than he needed and it was burning a hole in his pocket so he spent it quickly.
When we got together for a meal at a restaurant, Bakhrom paid every time. He would always foot the bill (pay (the bill) for something, esp. when the bill is considered large or unreasonable), and pick up the tab (pay for something). He told me the money made him feel like a million dollars. He was very happy.
But, Bakhrom spent too much money. Soon my friend was down and out again. He had no money left. He was back to being strapped for cash (short of money). He had spent his bottom dollar, his very last amount. He did not even build up a nest egg. He had not saved any of the money.
I admit I do feel sorry for my friend. He had enough money to live like a king. Instead, he is back to living on a shoestring — a very low budget. Some might say he is penny wise and pound foolish. He was wise about small things, but not about important things.
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on a shoestring — We still have to operate on a shoestring — Нам все еще приходится считать каждую копейку/ I've been living on a shoestring since my father stopped sending me money — С тех пор, как отец перестал присылать мне деньги, мне пришлось потуже затянуть пояс