That is an awful lot of money to spend on electricity. My current bill for gas and electricity works out to £10 a week (~$20) and I live in a tiny two bed end terrace house with what’s best described as *no* insulation.

I’ve been in the non-profit industry for years, working with homeless and very low-income families. I can’t tell you how many times I sat and listened to the “not in my backyard” folks when I worked with Habitat for Humanity talk about how “these people” needed to do X, Y & Z instead of “expecting handouts” blah, blah, blah. (Although I am queen of the line “stop buying crap you don’t need.” I consider it a personal mantra. In reality, it’s often more accurate to say “stop buying things to fill an emotional need.” And lawd knows poverty can create all kinds of emotional wounds.)

We could all, at virtually any period in our lives, spend less and more wisely. We could also live in a society that required a liveable wage instead of a minimum one, builds affordable housing in mixed income communities, and learns to have respect for people instead of assuming a host of ills about them based on our limited personal experience.

@ FruGal — thanks. Yeah, when you’re at an extra $1.58 a week, an unexpected expense can really throw you. Even though you KNOW you should be saving for an emergency, it’s hard to do so. In that instance it would have taken us over a year to save up $100, and a $5 emergency would have set us back weeks. Gifts and gift money were really the only things keeping us out of trouble that year.

Unfortunately, in my experience this is where the problems come from. For people who live month to month, unlike Adam’s blanket statement, it is usually one or two unexpected expenses that can be the straw that brakes the camel’s back. I remember a few years ago, when I really was living month to month, it was the unexpected expense of NEEDING to relocate to a new city for work that pushed me over the edge into a financial mess. And luckily I was young, single, with no mortgage or car expenses, so I was able to sort myself out realitively quickly. But I imagine that for people with families and mortgages and many financial commitments, one unexpected expense can make a big difference, and can open the door to credit card debts, mortgage defaults and so on. Maybe in Adam’s perfect world these things don’t exist, but for many people it is reality.

Nice site, btw :)