Simplify

WE HAVE FINISHED OUR THIRD WEEK – 1 TO GO.

We have had a really busy time since our last blog, which has included travelling up to South East London twice. The first trip was a two night visit to see our daughters, which had been planned for some time, while the second trip was an unplanned day visit to view some properties in the Crystal Palace area. The petrol costs have been taken out of the contingency fund we budgeted for at the beginning of the month and we managed to keep any other costs within our daily budget of £5 each / £35 a week each.

On the journeys up we took our packed lunches and when we have had no option but to eat out we have limited ourselves to one of the daily specials on offer. Rather than going out for a meal on the Friday night with our daughters, as would normally be the case, we took up with us a Thai meal Vicki had already prepared at home. So we had a chilled out evening at home rather than braving the crowds of downtown Clapham.

When we have been at home we have cycled down to town when necessary rather than use the car, making the best of the lovely sunny days.

Stuart – This morning (Thursday) I read the newsletter we have just received from a great charity organisation called Rope. The Chief Executive of Rope, Graham Fairbairn, mentions Simplify in his column and I repeat below a paragraph from these comments, which puts into perspective what we are doing compared to how so many across the world have to live:

To take part in ‘Simplify’ for most of us would give us a passing notion of the difficulty and challenges of poverty in this country, but at least we have the safety net of the welfare state. In the poorest countries the daily grind of poverty has no safety net. 1.5 billion people survive on $1 or 75p per day. Just imagine if your budget was £5.25 per week! What difference would that make to your lifestyle?

Come on I challenge you to sign up to Simplify for the month of October and make a difference to some of the people who are living on £5.25 a week. 

Vicki – We are far from the poverty line even on the £5 per day. We are eating well though maybe with less variety. The biggest difference is in leisure activities: Not going to the cinema, shows or eating out. The truly important things have not been affected: spending time with friends and family, enjoying this beautiful county of Dorset. It’s in blessing others that we are blest. Simplify is a good opportunity to do just that……Bless others!

TIP OF THE WEEK – if you are eating out during your ‘Simplify’ period, go for one of the specially priced daily specials.

This is hard (and I'm cheating!)

Well, I've been simplified for about 35 hours and it's been an uphill struggle already. I suppose when I accepted the challenge of living on the equivalent of benefits for a week, I thought the merit would be in making me realise how tight things really are.

Whilst that's very much the case, I've been struck more by the emotional toll that this project is taking.

So I decided to go shopping yesterday and buy supplies for the week to try and avoid running out. Spending £20 pounds of a week's worth of food made me feel really proud - I'd managed to budget and have a trolley full of reasonable looking stuff.

But then the reality hit me. I had only this stuff for the week. I couldn't go off and add to it if I felt the need, or even add to it if I ran out.

So having spent twenty quid on food I needed some entertainment. So I went to the cinema. And this is where the cheating comes in. I have an 'unlimited' car which allows me to go to the cinema as many times as I like in a month for £15. It's actually a really good deal. But would someone on benefits really be able to justify it? Probably not. I realised my second bit of cheating just as I got back into the car. That's right the car. Oops. Like I said - it's really hard to do this properly.

Don't forget to tune in to Sunday Breakfast tomorrow (20/9/09) to hear us talking about Simplify between 9 and 10. In London on MW/DAB, National Sky 0123 and Freeview 725 and worldwide www.premier.org.uk

Andy

Starting tomorrow... any tips?

Hi,

I'm Andy. I'm a presenter at Premier Christian Radio and the Simplify team has asked me to have a go at the challenge for a week.

I'm starting tomorrow and can already see loads of difficult points over the weekend where I'm going to want (need?) to spend more than I'll be allowed.

I'm really struggling to imagine how people live on a fiver a day, let alone how I'm going to do it, so any tips would be appreciated!

This Sunday on my programme (Sunday Breakfast 8-10am, www.premier.org.uk) I'll be discussing the initiative with Lucy Cooper from the Evangelical Alliance and Stewart Moore who blogs on unemployment (http://workhope.wordpress.com/) and has experienced the benefits system first hand. Tune in and hear more about our experiences.

Cheers,

Andy

Stuart and Vicki Sharkey finish their second week of Simplify – 2 to go

We have had a fairly normal week although Stuart had a day out last Saturday when he travelled up to Watford to meet our daughter and watch his beloved football team beat Barnsley 1-0. This was a birthday present held over from last month and had been planed before we decided to pilot Simplify but he did take a flask of coffee on his trip and had the £5 special when they had lunch!

 

Stuart - They say as you bless others you are blessed and we had a wonderful answer to prayer on Sunday when we prayed with a couple whose son had disappeared. Our prayer was that he would make contact with his parents today – he phoned his Mum just before midnight. Praise God.

 

Vicki – Bonus – no muffins and no cakes = 3lb in weight lost over the last two weeks. Suddenly I have a few items of clothing to wear that do up around my middle again. It feels like having new clothes! Had a bit of a fright this week when the freezer stopped functioning. A neighbour kindly let me store some of its contents in her freezer (thanks Sally). Meanwhile I am wondering “how do I get a new freezer on this budget?” The nice people on the product help line gave some useful advice and the freezer is up and running again. Phew! Finally, my car runs out of petrol this week – again no money in the budget to do a refill. Then – wow – I got a check for £25 through the post from the premium bonds and was able to get some petrol. Our God provides.

 

TIP OF THE WEEK – if you have any money left over from your budget at the end of the week – buy yourselves a treat even if it is just a bar of chocolate or save it up and have an even bigger treat at the end of the month.

WE HAVE FINISHED OUR FIRST WEEK – 3 TO GO.

Last weekend we travelled up to Northampton from our home in Weymouth, Dorset to provide training sessions on Prayer and Healing to a local Church. The visit also coincided with a party given by some friends.

 

The journey up took just over 3 hours so we took a flask of tea rather than stop at a Service Station that would probably have blown our daily budget of £5 each. At the party which was in a village hall we restricted ourselves to soft drinks to keep the cost down.

 

Vicki - So far the limitations of budget have not affected our enjoyment of life. We decided early on to use cash and not the credit card for the supermarket shop. With a credit card it is too easy to go a few pounds over budget and think it does not matter. With cash when it is gone it is gone!

 

Stuart – Living on £5 a day makes you realise how extravagantly we live and that when your income falls significantly you have to think about every purchase and expense, small or large. On my Hope FM programme this afternoon (Thursday) I spoke today to Daniel Webster the Political Officer of the EA  and the thought came to me that MP’s should sign-up for Simplify so that they can experience what it’s like to live on Income Support. It may well dispel some misconceptions and would certainly make them more understanding of what pressures people on benefits are living with. Any volunteers? 

 

TIP OF THE WEEK – if you are a ‘doing’ Simplify as a couple, one person has to be in charge of the money and budget.

WE HAVE STARTED

As a result of talking to Ann Clifford on Hope FM a couple of weeks ago we find ourselves piloting Simplify for the month of September. We’ve sat down and gone through our budgets and have come up with a daily spend of £5 each. We like to think we live fairly modestly but after going through our latest credit card bill we are surprised how much we spend on eating out and non-essentials.

 

The main complication for us is that we both avoid eating wheat and dairy based products; the good news is that we have a vegetable patch and some fruit trees which should help in keeping our food bills down. This month is fairly hectic for us with two visits to London already arranged plus a teaching engagement in Northampton.

Stuart – Initially I thought that a daily budget of £10 for the two of us seemed a quite a lot but then you realise that this has to cover any travel and sundries costs as well. Looks like we will be doing a lot of cycling plus there will be no stopping off for a Costa Coffee!

 

Vicki – I’m a bit worried about the trip to Northamptonthis weekend. Not sure I can cycle that far……

Experiencing the effects of poverty

Steve & Ann Clifford speak to Premier Radio about Simplify for the last time as they come to the end of their experience. Listen to Steve & Ann's final audio blog.

They reflect on the challenges of managing the shopping on their bikes, giving up the luxuries and trying to be hospitable on a limited budget. They also look forward to being able to be generous with what they have saved, and help those who have to struggle with their finances.  

What a month!

Ann - Something very curious happened to me on Sunday.   I have talked about us having a German family to stay - a couple bringing three teenagers with them.   I shared it on the blog how happy I was when I found some extra Waitrose vouchers, £70 worth.  It meant I could feed everybody and I was delighted.   I shopped for them and spent about £50.     When I came to pay by voucher I was delighted to discover that I still had £50 left.   I assumed that I had probably added up the vouchers incorrectly.   I went shopping on Sunday to buy cakes for neighbours that we'd invited.  I also shopped for the family.  A lovely last meal.  I didn't really stint as Sunday was our official finish.   I had spent £73.  I knew I would have to pay an extra £23.  I got out the vouchers and to my shock discovered I had £75 worth and the cashier gave me some change. 

It was a truly curious thing.  If it was money, then somebody could have put it in my purse and I could explain it away.  I can’t explain these away.  God has been making himself known to me constantly throughout all this.

Steve - We have now completed the pilot for Simplify.  It now starts for real at the beginning of October.    It's been an amazing learning experience.  An opportunity to reflect on how we live our lives.  We've done an awful lot of talking about priorities.  Not being able to jump into the car has probably been the greatest hassle, and I am going to be glad to leave jam sandwiches behind.  Now comes the fun bit - we get a chance to give some money away.  It's amazing how just a month's worth of living the Simplify life has released some extra opportunities to give which we would never have otherwise considered .  

So how about it?  Let us know your experiences.