I don't know about you, but I am never really ever hungry. I am lucky that I can afford to buy what I want, when I want - for now. The reason I say 'for now' is that I am on a small income, with little/no chance of increasing it; my mortgage is on the SMR and will go up at some point and my out goings are already more than my income. Yes, I have cut my spend drastically; there are a few other adjustments I could make, but at the moment I do not need to do that. So what's with the idea behind April Austerity?
Firstly, the budget has just been released and things are looking a bit better for savers. I always used to be a saver; I had a good job, I bought a house, I learned to drive, but now I am spending my resources and at some point, things could get messy. Then there is the recent spate of benefit programs on the TV - from Channel 4's 'Benefit Street' to BBC1's recent celebrity brush with the poverty line. Basically, 3-4 celebrities were sent to live with people in food poverty. They had to stay with them for a week. It was interesting because clearly the celebs had no idea that people were existing on ridiculously small amounts of money and also because those on reduced incomes had a wide variety of circumstances. It got me thinking. How hard is it to survive on £1.50 a day (£10.38 a week / £45 a month)? I am not sure that a 5 day/1 week challenge will give the full effect of the situation in which some have found themselves - this needs to be done for a month.
My normal weekly budget for food and household is about £24 - this is based on a slightly haphazard recording of spending from last year, but it is a fair amount. That's £3.43 a day. Can I shave £1.93 a day off of my shopping bill, without going hungry and without damaging my health? Clearly, my health has to take priority and if you are wondering why, just read 'My Transplant Story'. The difference between my normal monthly spend and the April Austerity spend will spent on a foodbank shop.
Planning will be the key to this venture. I suspect I'll not be eating avocado, or pine nuts in April :(
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