Ways to spend £168,000…

I was surprised to find myself reacting rather angrily to an article that I read in the Metro this week, about a gambler who spent £168,000 on drinks on a night out in London – largely on champagne which was subsequently sprayed over the crowd.

Ok, perhaps ‘angrily’ is the wrong word. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I felt saddened by the article.  Saddened to see such an overly overt waste of money, while elsewhere in the UK the number of people surviving on low incomes is ever increasing, and a staggering 4million children live in poverty.

Now I defend anyone’s right to have fun and to spend their own money as they please (this isn’t a blog post about capitalist excess or about redistribution of wealth), but just to put things into perspective, here are a few ideas of how else he could have spent his £168,000…

• The annual salary of 6 youth workers for one year (based on average salary of £25k)
• 84 powered wheelchairs of children with disabilities (average cost £2k per wheelchair)
• 11 Kidney dialysis machines for a hospital (based on average cost of £15k)
• The annual salary for 7 nurses for one year (based on average salary of £21k per year)
• A place in a care home for an elderly person for 5 1/2 years (based on an average cost of £30k per year)

I just hope that the hangovers were worth it.

Could you live below the line?

I am an avocate of frugal living it’s true.  I am a bargain shopper.  I sniff out ‘deals’ like pigs seeking truffles.  I like to eat healthily and not buy what I term as ‘crap’ from supermarkets (crisps, cereal bars etc).

So far, so smug – I’m sure you’ll agree.

But while I pat myself on the back for being such a canny shopper, the fact is that if I wanted to have a blow out on an expensive resturant meal, or gorge on cakes and sweets I could. I am lucky that I have the means to spend more than I do on food and drink.

However millions of people around the world don’t have that luxury, and face days of hunger, malnourishment and extreme poverty.   Can you imagine what it would be like to face the daily struggle to feed yourself and your family?  To have to make the choice between eating or buying clothes? To try and get by on a little amount of money – say £1 – a day?

Well imagine no more, and take part in Live Below the Line – a new campaign which encourages people around the UK to live off just £1 a day for food and drink for a week, to get a better understanding of the challenges faced by people living in extreme poverty.

In the UK many of us are used to being able to buy what we like, when we like.  In fact we often buy so much, that 8.3 million tonnes of food is thrown away by households every year.

The Live Below the Line challenge (which takes place from 2-6 May 2011) is a great way to highlight not only the daily challenges of  people trapped in extreme poverty, but maybe also just how much we buy but don’t actually need.   You can also use the challenge as an opportunity to raise funds for the fight against extreme poverty.

So sure, I consider myself a frugal shopper, but I don’t know what it’s like to walk a mile in the shoes of someone who has no choice.  I’m going to join the campaign on 2 – 6 May, and I hope many others will join me!

Zero-credit: the debtor’s co-operative

Zero-credit is a co-operative of individuals with personal experience of debt. From November they will trade in information which can help to develop and regulate consumer finance.  The aim is to end the stigma which pushes debtors into unsuitable products and services and to start a responsible dialogue with government and the finance sector.

Individual membership costs £1 a year, whilst group subscriptions will be available from £10 to £30. Profits are to be split between sustaining the business and donations to charity.

Founder Emma Bryn-Jones says;

The cost of social and financial exclusion is far greater than anything we offer, so why not check out our Terms for further information, then fill out an application?

Membership is open to any UK resident aged sixteen years or over with personal experience of debt. All we ask is that you do not represent a company, government or not-for-profit body and that, with the exception of information published on the creditfree areas of Zero-credit’s website, you do not promote any goods or services requiring a consumer credit license to other members.

Details of Zero-credit’s Membership & Subscription Terms and Articles of Association provide more information about how they operate.

Zer0-Credit are also on Twitter.

A Fair and Progressive Budget?

I was saddened, but not surprised to read Sunday’s Observer article; ‘George Osborne’s budget cuts will hit Britain’s poorest families six times harder than the richest’ which states that

The impact of George Osborne‘s emergency budget on the poor has been revealed in a study that finds the country’s least well-off families face cuts equivalent to 21.7% of their household income. That means they will be hit six times harder than the very richest by the coalition’s deficit-cutting measures.

I understand that this country is heavily in debt, and that the government needs to make cuts in order to repay the deficit, however, I fail to see the so called ‘fairness’ of this austerity budget.  After all, wasn’t the recession itself exacerbated by the wealthy banks?

The poorest in our communities struggle as it is.  The announced cuts to benefits (yes, a three year ‘freeze’ in Child Benefit does count as a ‘cut’ in real terms), cuts to public services (on which those poorest in the community rely on heavily), rising joblessness and VAT rises will only serve to increase the rich / poor divide.  And while the rise in income tax allowance is a welcome, I can’t help but feel this is a very small carrot compared to a very big and brutal stick.

Meanwhile 23 of the 29 new cabinet members are millionaires…

Fair and progressive?  I fail to see this myself.

As someone says in the comments section of the above Guardian article “This budget will cause misery for many least able to bear the burden”.

Shame on H&M

I read a shocking article in the New York Times yesterday, about how H&M have admitted to slashing clothes to stop people scavanging discarded clothing from it’s stores.

The article goes on to say that “[Ms. Magnus]…volunteered to help H & M connect with a charity or agency in New York that could put the unsold items to better use than simply tossing them in the trash. So far, she said, she has gotten no response”

I find it appalling that in this day and age of over production, and unequal wealth distribution, some large organisations such as H&M have such disregard for ‘social responsibility.   It isn’t impractical to donate unwanted / unsold items to charity – other organisations manage it after all, organisations such as Pret a Manger who donate unsold sandwiches to homeless shelters in the UK.

The fact that this has come to light has meant that H&M has certainly lost a customer in me.