As a keen saver (when I’m not being a keen spender!) the title of this book stood out to me in my local library. I have been known to browse MoneySavingExpert.co.uk and use cash-back websites and I will happily walk to save a few pennies instead of catching a bus (especially when buses are unreliable: I deeply resent waiting 45 minutes for a bus and then acknowledging that I could have walked to wherever I was going in that time!) I wondered whether this book could really suggest anything new in the world of money saving, but as it sounded pretty impossible to live off a pound a day I thought I’d give it a whirl. Furthermore – Kath Kelly would be proud – as I was borrowing it from the library, it wouldn’t cost a penny (as long as I returned it by the due date, of course, which has been known to pass me by!)

The idea

The premise is straightforward: on a drunken night out, bewailing the state of her finances and wondering how she would afford a brilliant present for her brother’s wedding the next year, Kelly made a drunken bet with her friends. She resolved to live on a mere pound a day for a year. Her friends were delightfully supportive and pointed out that this was ridiculous, unless she moved to a developing country. Yet Kelly persevered after the hangover had disappeared and set herself some sensible ground rules:

1) no relying on friends to afford the things she couldn’t;
2) no splurging in advance and ‘making it up’ later;
3) it would be a secret from all but her closest friends;
4) rent and dentistry were exempt.

There is no mention of bills or rent other than when her friends are initially objecting to her plans, although I have read elsewhere that Kelly paid her rent and bills in a lump sum at the start of her year so that *technically* she was only spending £1 a day. Hmm. Inevitable I suppose: ‘How I Lived on a Pound a Day Except for Bills and Rent’ just isn’t as catchy a title in the bookshop. So, in a sense, the idea is broken from the very beginning, which I felt was rather disappointing.

The second rule I thought was particularly sensible as this is where I ALWAYS go wrong. All my budgets inevitably seem to involve little asterisks and scribbled notes to the effect that, next week, I have already spent x amount on y and z. (This is probably why I invariably give up on budgeting several times a year – I’ve swallowed up a month’s budget in advance!) Rule number one is actually pretty sensible, too: if you let your friend buy you a round and you’re a nice person, you’ll want to then buy them one; if you let your friend buy you a round and you’re a bit less thoughtful, you’ll end up friendless. Exempting medical bills is also very sensible, although the need to state it reminds me somewhat of the daft discussions some omnivores like to have with me about my vegetarianism: “if you were on a desert island…”. You do what you need to do to stay alive and healthy, which is part of Kelly’s point: we actually *need* far less than we think.

This is not a unique idea and Kelly admits that she was inspired by Judith Levine, who wrote a book about her own experiences of living ‘without shopping’ (so it looks like Kelly was inspired in more than one way!) Levine apparently considered $70 haircuts, two cars and two houses things that she couldn’t live without, so Kelly feels that she has a head-start from the beginning (not that she has a competitive nature, mind you…) because she lives in a flat and doesn’t own a car. Anyway, Kelly doesn’t try to claim any credit for the ideas of extreme budgeting and shopping less but she does suggest that she can cut expenses to the bone. So did she succeed?

My thoughts

The book is organised into chapters headed by months and begins in June. Each chapter is introduced by a few lines in bold which outline key events in the month. I thought this was a helpful way of organising the chapters and the bold segments never ‘gave away’ too much: instead, they nicely whetted my appetite for the forthcoming chapter. Beginning in June, though obviously not deliberate, worked well as I found myself wondering what would happen as the months got colder. Surely walking everywhere wouldn’t have the same appeal in December as it might in June? It also gives you a concrete sense of her progress as the months tick by.

I found that Kelly’s style took a bit of getting used to. Presumably this book comes under the heading of non-fiction, but it is written throughout like a story. There are entire conversations with friends recounted in order to move along the ‘story’ and make Kelly’s points clear. At points I found this patronising. Couldn’t she just tell me that her friends agreed with the Mail article she had read? Did she really think any reader needed to hear her friends explain ‘But I feel like I owe myself something nice. It’s like the hair advert – because I’m worth it!’ Obviously this is done to make the book more ‘readable’ for a wide audience, but it took me a while to grow comfortable with this approach and it still niggled at points throughout the book. I have no objections to a colloquial tone or a bit of drama (‘Heroically, I refused a chip and settled down to eat my bargain lunch cold.’) but I do hate being shown everything instead of simply told. Of course, the funky writing on the bright red cover should have prepared me for a less than academic approach!

So how does Kelly restrict her budget so much? If you’re interested, read the book! I’m just going to discuss a few of the methods she uses and my response.

Kelly’s methods aren’t suited to everybody. She hitchhikes. A lot. In fact, she even manages to leave the country… While this might suit a confident middle aged woman, I just can’t shake my conviction that, ultimately, this is a risky business. I’m sure most people are lovely, but not everyone is. Of course, other readers might wonder why other people should essentially ‘fund’ her lifestyle as she has no car to reciprocate, and this was an issue that recurred throughout the book. She sits and reads books in her local bookshop, sipping free hot water. She feels no guilt as she has purchased from them before and will again, but if everybody had this attitude all the time there wouldn’t be any bookshops. Perhaps this is my biggest concern about the whole book: I feel that much of what Kelly suggests simply couldn’t apply to everyone as if everyone tried to do (e.g.) only ever ‘browse’ (=read new books in the bookstore) instead of buy, there wouldn’t be bookstores. That said, Kelly is not suggesting that everyone follow her actions and the book is very much a personal account of her year.

I was surprised by how casually Kelly dismisses ethical concerns. When you’re living on a pound a day, she states that you simply can’t afford to consider them. I suppose she is right, which is another reason why this seems to be rather unsustainable for many people. I have to admit that I quite like organic and fair-trade products and will happily pay more to salve my conscience. I would take issue with her suggestion that it is just about making ourselves feel better though: I believe we genuinely need to care more about our world and our local community in particular and I suspect that buying bacon for 20p doesn’t really help with that aim. This was something that niggled me throughout the book, but I was impressed by what you can do on so little. Kelly enjoys camping, odd picnics and even meets a Man, leading to the question: how do you date on £1 a day?

The reference pages at the back of the book are full of useful information on a range of topics as diverse as petsitting, poetry evenings, churches, travel, foraging for food and firewood. The pages themselves are usefully organised by topic instead of by chapter and each topic is briefly discussed in about a paragraph with useful websites given. I have jotted down some ideas from this section that I will be looking into myself, so I did find it useful. It is clear that there are lots of ways to entertain, educate and keep yourself fit without spending much or, often, any money. Some of the suggestions are very local to Bristol, so there is an advantage to be had if you are lucky enough to live there in that you will get very specific advice and suggestions. Overall, there is a wide range of ideas and plenty of national and even international opportunities. Many of the ideas would also be suitable for people living in other Western European countries, especially as much of the focus is on outdoor experiences and food.

My conclusions

In order to make her experience profitable, Kelly has written a rather odd book which attempts to be a kind of diary / guide / story. I think the style is patronising at times and I would have preferred a more concise approach. However, it is interesting to read about her experiences and the book is suitably organised. Kelly’s advice should be taken with a pinch of salt. At one point she suggests that you should check your prescription and ignore any items you do not feel are necessary as they are quite expensive. Unless your doctor is prescribing you cotton wool balls, I suspect that most items are rather important! I’m being slightly unfair because this is the only piece of advice I found really dubious in the book, but I think it helps to stress that this is a personal account of her experiences and really not intended as a guide for ‘how to…’

I found this interesting enough to read it over a few short sittings and found it easy to digest at only 183 pages including references. I don’t feel that there is anything particularly ‘new’ here, really, but it is all nicely explained and perhaps in a more interesting format than it would usually be. Browsing on MSE forums would probably give you the same advice and it would, potentially, be more up to date information. However, despite my objections to the book, I did find it quite inspiring in places and I think Kelly succeeds in her stated mission: to show how much fun you can have for free. Now I must return this to the library before they start to charge me… ( )

I had been eyeing up this book for a few weeks when I saw Ms Kelly talking on an ITV documentary about how life can be lived on mere pennies a day. I decided to buy the book and see if I could gain any life-changing insight from it - or maybe just a few tips to save a little money and live a little more frugally.

It started out well: Ms Kelly mentions another book I'd read, 'Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping' by Judith Levine, and saw all the same faults as I did. Ms Levine planned to live her entire year buying only essentials - food, toiletries, etc. - but sadly rather stretched the definition of 'essentials'. Luxury food and skiing trips do not merit the word 'essential' in my view, and sadly her message tended to get lost in her own self-interest. I hoped, therefore, that since Ms Kelly had picked up on this too, perhaps in her book I would find all that I had failed to find in Ms Levine's.

Well, it was definitely more British. Sadly, much of it was just as out of reach for me as Ms Levine's American attempt. She imparts some excellent ideas and inspiring tips, to be sure. Rather than a book opportunity, Ms Kelly's journey begins as a personal attempt to save money to buy her brother a wedding present. Slowly, she learns to pick out the exact times to shop for discounted products, scouts out the best in free events, finds websites that offer freebies from volunteering holidays to toiletries, uses the library for the internet and books, and hitchhikes or bikes everywhere. If she spots money on the streets she adds it to a jar of emergency 'roadkill money' - which she manages not to touch all year.

Unlike Ms Levine, Ms Kelly really learns and takes inspiration from each day that passes living on £1. This makes for the best parts of the book - seeing the heartwarming generosity of strangers on her hitchhiking excursions to see her family, reading about her genuine appreciation of a flask of hot chocolate on the seafront or a soggy picnic with her friends, and sensing the gradual change in her as her impulsive challenge becomes a happier, healthier way of life.

So far, so good, right? Well, yes, but it must be said that the clunkiness of the writing REALLY let this one down for me. I don't expect poetry from this sort of book, but it was pretty disjointed, skipping over some interesting points and settling awkwardly on others. Not only that, but Ms Kelly's attempt to put across the views of her friends and the people she meets as direct speech is hideously wooden; it would have been far better and more insightful to have paraphrased instead. Sadly for me, there was also the small fact that Ms Kelly was living in Bristol, a busy port and university city, which means that there were many, many opportunities open to her that wouldn't apply to other places. Free university lectures, museum openings, book launches, comedy nights, market research forums... not round here, I'm afraid! The 'Happily Ever After' conclusion, handy appendix of tips and contacts, and the undeniably profound statement this journey makes about modern life, did redeem it a bit... I would recommend having a read, but follow Ms Kelly's example and use the library instead of forking out a handful of money! ( )