A Week Of No Money – Would You Survive?

Last week I had a rude awakening; NAB’s little computer glitch saw my pay check delayed a day, and duplicate payments taken out of my account so that even when my pay was processed, the duplication of my direct debits meant my account was overdrawn over the weekend.

After 3 days of my account sitting in the red, my balance was finally restored, but this lead me to thinking about just how long those of us whom live pay check to pay check could survive if that pay never came?

Food

I’m a little bit of a hoarder when it comes to items in the pantry. I have trouble saying no to a bargain and hence each fortnight when I do my grocery shop I look for long life items that are on special. I dedicate about $10 of my grocery budget specifically to these items. As such, the food in my pantry could easily get me through a month without purchasing additional food. For those of you who are sceptical about what $10 a fortnight could buy, it generally equates to:

• 2 x 1 litre long life milk
• 1 tin of home brand tomatoes
• 1 tin of peas/carrots
• 1 tin of home brand mushrooms
• 1 tin of potatoes
• 1 x 500gm bag home brand rice
• 2 x 500gm bags of home brand pasta

The following fortnight I would take the $10 and choose different items. I consider this the challenge of the fortnight to see just how many items I can get for $10. If you have school age children this is also an excellent way to keep them busy at the supermarket and teach maths at the same time.

Entertainment

Ok so despite all the wonderful ideas on this site (*Wink Wink*) I have to admit I took the easy way out and sat on my posterior all weekend watching TV, but given the weather it wasn’t a bad option. Sometimes it is just easier to stay indoors and away from temptation, just be careful of all the wonderful advertising, maybe try a DVD instead?

Emergency fund

In this day and age where everything is digitised and automated, it makes sense to have direct debits to cover your expenses. However, if you don’t have the funds available in your account to cover these automated payments it can result in a nasty decline fee or overdrawn fee. Luckily there are some institutions that are steering away from this concept, however if you’re with one that doesn’t then it might be time to build a contingency fund. Your contingency fund should equate to around a month’s worth of bills, but obviously the bigger the better.

Alternatively try and schedule your direct debits a few days after your payday to ensure you are covered if there are any delays in processing.

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