The Rules

Your basic necessities in life come down to three things:

Food

Water

Accomodation

Everything else is pretty much a want (it’s a grey area when you discuss the need for transportation to let’s say, work or study)

So you have $30 to spend a week.
Sure, you can spend it.  On everything except for the following things:

Take away food/Beverages
Alcohol
Any unnecessary items you don’t really need

Quite simple really.

The Challenge

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We’re looking at examining the spending habits of an ordinary person living in a financially, medically, endlessly available situation and wondering if you’re willing to cut down on your luxury spending to give some money to people in nations who desperately need your help.

I know – these problems can’t been solved in one go, and very likely won’t be solved completely, but it shouldn’t stop you from taking time out to cut back the six coffees a day you buy to use that money to provide a village with the basic necessities such as clean water, food and a proper place to live.

It’s really a self-examinination of want vs need:How much did you spend today?

Did/Do you really need it?

It’s a self-examination of how many times you use the word ‘need’ as a subconscious excuse to purchase items you just really wanted.

Once you look at the rules, I’d like to think that also a challenge to see how you socialise under these constraints. Don’t assume that going out and spending far too much money is the only way to get together. Be more adventurous.

During the month of March we’re putting to you a challenge to Spend Less to Give More.

We strongly encourage you, with the money you haven’t spent, to give to a charity you think will use 100% of your donations effectively.
For the month of March we’re featuring Charity: Water who are a non-profit dealing with the distribution of clean drinking/bathing water to developing nations.

Further on we’ll mention more humanitarian organsations who play a really huge role in helping people in need.

Swood has a confession…

In other news it’s fast approaching the end of Live Rich: Live Poor and so far I’ve stuck solidly to the $30 a week, and for a couple of weeks it went into about $15-$20. Not because I was trying to put the pressure on myself, but because SOCIETY PUT THE PRESSURE ON ME, with the bills and the… bills. Sultana Bran has become really good friends with my stomach, and in the words of my ‘BFF’, Jess, “Sustain can only sustain you for so long” – so true… so true. I like the way I can freely say “I ate cereal for all meals for 5 days because I was that dirt poor” and she can wholeheartedly relate. I have to be honest with you all, $30 a week is not out of my comfort zone. It’s nothing new for me. When I took on this challenge I think my biggest hurdle was stopping eating out. Which I have to admit right now, I’ve fallen from the tower a couple of occasions. mainly one particular day where my friend, Megan in Tasmania*, came up or.. back from her trip and I felt very self-concious not eating anything as a way of socialising. So I had a couple of cupcakes and a jelly tea. It was silly and if we do this again, I’ll have to be more diligent about this. Eating out is just far too tempting… even just snacking. And on things I’m not allowed to eat! Pathetic.

Also on www.steeplechaser1.wordpress.com