How The Budget Challenge Came To An Early End

So, this post comes a bit late, but at the weekend I decided to finish my budgeting challenge.

If you've been following this challenge, you know it was a rocky month. The challenge was already on the rocks, and I had bent the rules a bit in order to continue. I had £16 left for nine days, which I knew would be doable, but difficult.

Then I had an encounter with a homeless man called Danny.

We've all been there, when a homeless person comes up to you and tells you that they are trying to get enough money together to go to a shelter. Sometimes you are inclined to believe them, and other times you are not. But I personally don't care whether it was true or not. What was abundantly clear was the fact that this young man was homeless, cold, tired and dirty, and he needed help. I try to make an effort to give money out to the homeless, and so I immediately handed him a pound. But then we got talking. It was obvious that Danny was not only physically starving, but he was also starved of attention. He wanted someone to talk to. So my boyfriend and I were talking to him, and he told us a little about himself.

He told us about how his state of health was so poor, that he couldn't drink hot drinks any more because they destroyed his gums. I could believe this looking at the state of his mouth, half empty of teeth and blackened. He told us about how some of the more violent people on the street harass him for the little money he manages to make. He told us about how one time he stayed in a shelter, his possessions and his sleeping bag were stolen, and that's why even though the shelters were more comfortable, they didn't feel any more safe. He told us that the reason he was trying to get to the shelter was mostly because he was desperate for a shower. He was holding a carton of whole milk in his hand, which I imagine was his main source of nutrition for the day.

A poem I wrote about the encounter

I think the reason he was sticking around to talk to us was because we, as a group, had shown him the most kindness he had seen all day. Between us he had made four pounds, and he only had two in his hand when he approached, so we had significantly boosted his earnings. He told us that he needed twelve pounds to stay in the shelter.

For a millisecond, mostly out of habit I imagine, I thought of how I needed to conserve my money for the sake of the challenge. This thought immediately repulsed me. There was no way I was going to hold back from giving to a person in need for the privilege of pretending to be poor. So I dug out six more pounds, and gave it to him.

Danny was overwhelmed, to say the least. And I was glad that I had done it. Whether his stories were true or not were irrelevant to me. I can't imagine what it would be like to be homeless. I could barely manage to stick to this challenge. And the way the homeless are treated in this country disgusts me. How can we call ourselves a civilized country when we can't even keep our citizens fed and sheltered?

So yes, I finished the challenge early. The finish line had been warped and altered so many times now I couldn't really see the point any more. But here are some good things to come out of it:

1. Because of the challenge, I have still managed to come under my usual budget this month despite buying a new phone. If I hadn't have done the challenge, I still would have lost my phone and bought a new one and therefore I would be in debt to myself, so yay for the challenge!

2. I have learned a lot about myself and my relationship with money. I am not as good at going without it as I thought! Even though the rules of the challenge were very clear, I was making compromises, knowing that it would make me end up over budget. I really struggled to tell myself no! It's important that I know this about myself, because I'm pretty sure one day soon, as a poor out of work actor, I am going to have to learn to make myself say no.

3. I have discovered I can still make delicious food on a budget. Good times.

4. I am now in the habit of looking for the cheapest thing on the menu. I feel this is a good habit to be in. In fact, I realized that a bowl of chips will fill me up fine! And this must be better for my waistline than the burger and chips I would usually go for, so I'm saving pounds in multiple ways.

5. I think, having experimented with being on a much smaller budget, I should be able to manage a happy medium between my old one of seventy pounds a week and the tiny sum of eighteen. Perhaps forty, that feels like a luxury amount now! If I can stick to this, I'll be saving thirty a week for when I have finished uni! Not bad at all.

So all in all, although it didn't turn out anything like I thought it would, I am happy with this challenge. But most of all, I have been really touched by my encounter with Danny. It seemed so perfectly timed, spooky in fact, and it really made me appreciate my situation.

It's also made me very thoughtful about the future. I have been becoming more and more passionate about the homeless situation ever since I moved to Birmingham. I really care about it, and I think now I've realized I want to do more than just give a quid out to each homeless person I see. I want to get involved on a higher level.

I haven't quite figured out how yet, but I will.

For now though, love to you all, and I shall announce my new challenge soon!

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