How to live on £1 a day

Talk about the credit crunch challenge. A teacher called Kath Kelly managed to live on £1 a day for a year, according to this article in the Times.

The £1 a day didn't include her rent or utility bills, but it did cover food, clothes, toiletries etc. I have to say I'm really impressed by the way she managed it. She didn't try to freeload off friends (I probably would have done!) but did it by being clever and very thrifty.

From the outset she set some strict rules for herself. If she spent less than £1 a day she could carry the change over. She didn't just mope at home though. She constantly went to free events, from book launches to gallery openings - anything that might have free food. Great idea, it's the kind of thing we suggest in our article on how to live for free.

Buses were out, so every journey had to be made on foot or bicycle - that will have kept her fit and youthful! Also, she couldn't afford calls on a mobile phone so she would visit friends or leave them notes if she had anything to tell them. There's radical in this day and age. You wouln't think anyone could cope without a mobile nowadays.

She still met up with friends but did it in a cheap way. “Instead of meeting for lunch in a café, as we used to, we'd take sandwiches and a Thermos of home-made soup and eat on a bench in the park,” she says. She  made the soup every morning from chicken carcasses given away by her local butcher - now there's a good idea! - and whatever vegetables she could find. Also, she found out that delis often sell whatever is left over at the end of the day very cheaply because they can't keep it overnight. I don't know if she got into freeganism (raiding the bins at the back of supermarkets for the post 'best-before' stuff. I'm still trying to do that - I just can't find local supermarket bins. They hide them!

Also, she kept her eyes on the ground and picked up a total of £117 in loose change over the year. She said: “I kept it for emergencies but in the event I didn't need it so at the end of the year I gave it to charity.” Brilliant!

She even managed to afford a holiday, hitch-hiking to her brother's house in Brittany.

At the end of the year she was able to buy her brother and his new wife a £1,300 life membership of the National Trust as a wedding present with her savings, as well as contributing to the cost of the reception. She had also found found herself a new boyfriend while helping out at an organic farm.

Apparently, the whole exercise has changed the way she looks at life. She said: “Before, I enjoyed spending money as much as anyone, but now I don't see the need for expensive things." Impressive woman. It just shows that it can be done and one doesn't have to lose out on life just by cutting back on 'things'. I'm particularly impressed by the fact that she got out and about and even found herself a new boyfriend during this time. She didn't lose out on anything real.

Comments

[TERESA]

HI

I WAS LISTENING TO YOUR ADVISE ON THE RIGHT MOVE THIS MORNING AND YOU MENTIONED A WEB SITE RENT NOT SELL.COM I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO ACCES THIS WEBSITE AND WAS HOPING THAT YOU WOULD HELP.

TO BE HONEST I THOUGHT THAT YOU WOULD NOT HAVE ANYTHING USEFUL TO SAY BUT YOU SURPRISED ME AS EVERYTHING YOU SAID WAS USEFUL SO THANK YOU AND HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU RE THE RENT NOT SELL WEB SITE

THANKS
KIND REGARDS
TERESA CRUDGINGTON

[Jasmine Birtles]

hi Teresa. The website I mentioned is RentNotBuy.co.uk. There are a few of these around. There's also one called Rentrino.com. Check them out! Jasmine

[kiran]

i love jasmine birtles