In the money! (For travel insurance...)

I won some money last week. Not a lot. Not a lot at all actually. Just £25 quid. About enough to cover the standard stuff in life – some travel insurance, a week's tube fare (almost), some beers…that sort of thing.

Winning the money was great, unexpected, a surprise, a nice cold-winter's night treat. Yet, winning just £25 felt bad in some ways. So little when it could have been so much. Why are we humans wired in this way?

Shouldn't any money we gain unexpectedly be greeted with glee? Find a tenner on the floor and you've a spring in your step for many an hour. Yet nothing is spent as recklessly as found or won money.

It's unreal, unvalued, free to be frittered away on fripperies. But if it’s your own money, well, then any purchase has to be considered for its value and only parted with after due deliberation – well, perhaps not quite this level of thought, but you get my point.

It's like at Christmas when your elderly relatives give you a crisp £20 or a cheque. I always feel a sense of duty to spend it on something rather than wasting it on nothing. Sticking it in the wallet causes it to become just another note, for beer or lunch during the working week.

Keeping it separate on the side, though, makes it mean something – that it should be spent on something I want or need – books, clothes, travel insurance, whatever, so I can tell the person who gave it to me that it went on something specific, tangible, worthwhile.

That's why I always ask for vouchers. That way, you have to get something good from that shop – perfect solution.