THE BENEFITS OF FALLING
The process of falling out of the world of ‘gainful employment,’ out of the world of a salaried income, of direct debits, standing orders, cash machine slips, mobile phone gadgetry, the world of credit cards and conspicuous consumption can be traumatic, but it can also be interesting and enlightening and more importantly it can be liberating. The important thing is to stay engaged with the process, which given the level of stress involved can be difficult. I am now attempting to live on less in one month than I used to earn in a week.
The first lesson is that less can be more, I am now spending 50% less on food than I did before, yet I am eating better and have a much more healthy diet. I have stopped smoking and am walking much more, sleeping better including the pleasures of the siesta and living much more in the natural rhythm of time, I wake when it gets light and sleep when it grows dark.
The price paid for this can at times feel heavy, however with the conscious exercise of objectivity and the spirit of resistance it can be negotiated. On a practical level there are some simple lessons:-
1) Keep the utilities sweet for unlike the banks and the credit card companies they have real power over your life.
2) Similarly prioritise rent/mortgage for without a secure accommodation you really are screwed. This can I recognise be harder with respect to a mortgage than with rented accommodation. I live in a secure Housing association flat, as long as I do not wilfully refuse to pay my rent for years on end, or murder all of my neighbours I enjoy almost complete security of tenure. The key is I guess to keep the relevant people as informed and up-to-date about your situation as possible.
3) As stated above the banks and credit card companies have very little actual power over you providing you engage with them and agree to make token payments. They can though be very threatening and attempt to bully and intimidate you. For several weeks I was called daily by Barclaycard and HSBC, indeed the latter still call on a regular basis. This can involve some extraordinary conversations. HSBC “Hello can I speak to Mr Talbot?” Me “Yes speaking, who is calling? This is HSBC Bank.” Me “Ok, you called me yesterday and the day before that, my circumstances have not changed since yesterday. What is the purpose of this call? Your account has exceeded it’s overdraft limit!” Me, “Yes I know this, you tell me everyday, I have written to you about this matter informing you fully about my current situation, what is the purpose of this call? HSBC, “we want to know what you are up-to!”
4) Without financial resources, being poor, your status is almost automatically reviewed by all the agencies you deal with. You are immediately afforded less respect and people can give themselves enormous permission to be patronising and sometimes downright rude. It is important not to allow this to go un-remarked, though you need to gauge your response according to who you are dealing with, sarcasm can be easily adopted when dealing with the banks and credit card companies whilst you need to be more circumspect when dealing with the utilities. Moreover you can sometimes be pleasantly surprised, EDF energy and British Gas were exceedingly polite and supportive, whilst BT are hit and miss, sometimes you can be greeted by considerable courtesy at other times staff can be positively aggressive. Along with the other utilities it is safer to keep BT sweet.
5) It can sometimes be possible to turn seemingly negative things into positives. I now have to pay for my gas electricity and water with a Pay Point card. This allows me to feel much more in control of my use of gas and electricity. I no longer fly blind in the knowledge that some Direct debit will take care of things but now have to take responsibility for my usage. Not only do I feel more in control but as I need to monitor my usage much more carefully I have become more environmentally friendly.
These are just some practical observations. There is much else one needs to be aware, not least the exacting demands of agencies such as local council Housing Benefit and DSS offices, though I have yet to deal fully with the latter. The primary consequence of which is a loss of privacy, they can for example demand to see bank statements and all relevant financial documentation involving a consequent loss of personal dignity. Set against this is sudden increase in free time both quantitative and with the right focus qualitative. I am not only reading much more, having lost my cable TV I no longer spend time being distracted by the intellectual equivalent of boiled sweets, fine as far as they go but leaving you essentially dissatisfied. I have now re-discovered the satisfactions of the public library. For years when interested in a book I have simply ordered a copy from Amazon, strongly in favour of public libraries in principle I have not used them since the early 1980’s. Libraries not only give you access to a range of books to which one would otherwise not have access, but they represent communal spaces, entering a library you are engaging with your local community. Similarly I am now a regular user of the Post Office, the most communally oriented and least rapacious financial institution. Yet it is no accident that both the Post Office and soon local library provision are amongst the threatened casualties of the financial crisis we are now experiencing as a consequence of the greed of the bankers.
Finally I do not wish to paint too rosy a picture of the realities of living in relative poverty, merely to indicate ways in which it is possible to resist being turned into a passive victim and to turn things around to enhance the quality of your life.
PS: I am making a formal complaint about the telephone harassment I am receiving from HSBC to the banking ombudsman. Incidentally be currently lectured on financial probity by the banks feels a little like receiving instruction on sexual morality by a pimp.
