8 Simple Ways to Save Money & Help Stop Poverty
According to GlobalRichList.com, I’m in the top 0.82% richest people in the world.
That’s not to brag, though. Almost everyone with the means to read this post is in that top one percent somewhere.
But there are billions more people out there who are not in the top one percent, and they’re not in the top two or three either. The majority of our planet is living in poverty.
Economic crises (and the accompanied fear mongering) aside, we sometimes look at the world as a prosperous place with a few unfortunate pockets of poverty strewn about. It’s so easy to forget that the majority of the world lives in poverty, or pretty damn close to it. Easier for us, at least.
The UN definition of poverty is living on less than a dollar a day; I’d suggest that’s a number chosen to keep the sheer statistical size of this situation from light, since it’s hard enough to live on $30 a day. Sure, not as extreme, but by no means easy in many areas of the world. We are incredibly lucky to be a part of this miniscule percentage of people who are, by all means, rich.
Even if you’re in debt and have a terrible credit rating, you’re rich compared to much of the world. I don’t say that to deride anyone, but remind us all that we’re lucky, even when times are terrible by our own standards. There is something everyone can do to help. Even a mere dollar makes a difference; that’s a doubling of daily income for many.
Here are a whole bunch of ways you can save more money that we’ve discussed on Lifehack. If it’s this easy to find a few dollars, it’s easy to help stop poverty.
Make Your Own Coffee, Use the Library, Get Netflix
Chris Brogan shares a list of ways you can cut a significant number of expenses easily and immediately, from making your own coffee with an espresso machine instead of heading out to Starbucks, using the public library instead of splurging on books all the time, drinking at a friend’s place instead of the pub and laying off the lead foot on your accelerator.
With some or all of the money you free up using these tips, you could fund a loan with Kiva; and you’re not even losing money since the majority of these loans are fully repaid!
Stick to Your Budget
Here’s a list of 32 hacks to help you stick to your budget. I’m willing to bet that most of us run out of money just before payday because we’re terrible at staying within the boundaries of our budget. If you can get yourself to stay within your budget for just one month, you could still make a difference. Maybe keeping up with a few good personal finance blogs will help in this regard as well.
With the savings you could help out an organization such as USA for UNHCR, an organization that helps refugees; people who are not only living in poverty, but displaced from their own countries, cultures and families as well.
Wallet-Padding Tips for Troubled Economies
Our Thursday published a list of ways you could fatten the wallet up a bit even during harsh economic times. My favorite is the last item: stop paying attention to all the fear mongering in the news. Many are more practical, such as beefing up your resume and learning new skills so you can land a higher income.
With the savings you could donate to an organization like the Global Fund, which fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries.
Insulate Your Crawl Space
Kyle Potts writes that by insulating your crawl space, you can save plenty of money on your energy bill over the long-term. You won’t just save on your energy bills: a poorly insulated or vented crawl space can lead to mold and rotting in your flooring, which can cost a fortune to repair.
A few dollars freed up on your energy bill can make a big difference, perhaps by making it more affordable to sponsor a World Vision child.
Save Money on Your Phone Bill
Do you tend to blow the budget on your phone bill? Not that long ago I wrote an article that described how you could save thousands on your iPhone bill, though many of these tips – and software suggestions – are adaptable to all sorts of mobile phones, especially any kind of smartphone or PDA that tends to run the bill sky high.
Whatever you save on your phone bill, you could give to World Concern, an international humanitarian non-profit doing some great work.
Use Your Digital Camera
Thursday strikes again with a list of ways you can save money with the help of a digital camera or your phone’s camera. The list covers everything from taking snaps to help you recall things that, if forgotten, will cost you more, to monetizing your best shots on stock photography sites.
You might use your savings to donate to the Action Center to End World Hunger.
Get Organized
Just keeping organized can save you a heap of dosh. I know the difference on my tax return between years when I keep meticulous expense records and years when I don’t is huge; organization certainly pays in that regard. Lorie Marrero lists a whole bunch of other ways that good organization keeps your bank account that bit fuller.
Getting organized can free you up to donate to Poverty Fighters, a microcredit organization.
Bring Your Own Lunch to Work
The amount of money you can save by bringing your own lunch to work instead of heading out to an eatery or the corporate cafeteria over the course of a year is pretty amazing. According to this article, the savings come to as much as $988. That’s almost three years worth of earnings for many people living in poverty. If you could pay for one person to live for three years, three people to live for one year, or thirty people to live for a month, wouldn’t that at least bring a smile to your face?
While you’re saving on food money, help feed someone else by donating to the Friends of the World Food Program.
WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY
Joel Falconer
Offering a unique perspective and insight on productivity based on his experience as a writer, musician, family man and manager, Joel Falconer has been published online and off, and brings to Lifehack's readers practical advice you can use to be more efficient and effective.
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Comments
Easton Ellsworth says on October 15th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Excellent list, Joel – especially because it’s simple yet so hard for many of us to follow. Why? Because we make it hard. We cling to our comforts. The other day my water heater broke down. I remembered that hot water to shower in is such a luxury compared to what most people on earth have available. What if I decided to stop showering in hot water? How hard would that be?
Thanks for adding to Blog Action Day 2008. I hope everyone who reads this starts a new habit or kicks an old one.
Michael Michalowski says on October 15th, 2008 at 10:01 am
great post, woah! Thats alot of new information for me and but I try to get along with all of them! My money flies away nearly 2 weeks before the new month .. and thats really not what it ment to be :D thanks for sharing! its del.icio.us ;)
Marelisa says on October 15th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Hi Joel: Sponsoring a child in need through an organization such as Christian Children’s Fund costs about the same as a cup of coffee a day. By just following your first item and making your own coffee and sending the money you would have spent at Starbucks to a child in need you’re doing something to completely change a life.
Mary says on October 15th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Great article. As my nieces and nephews outgrow the toys for Christmas stage, I’ve been donating to Heifer International in their names, and giving them an iTunes gift card. This year, I’ll set up a microloan with Kiva.org for each of them instead. If they really want that iTunes card, they can get it themselves when the loans are repaid!
Dax Hansen says on October 15th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Great article! I sponsor a child in Haiti through Compassion Intl (www.compassion.com) and it’s great to be able to correspond back and forth. It costs about $32/month (which is what a big percentage of our world’s population lives on) and is a wonderful way to see the blessing it is in a child’s life.
Regularly supporting charities is not hard, just make it a part of your budget. It should be a high priority in everyone’s budget – if it’s not, ask yourself why?!
Manshu says on October 15th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I have seen a lot of this 1% business on the web in the last few days.
This calculator doesn’t take into account purchasing power parity. It takes the exchange rate so that means that even though someone in some part of the world may make less $$$ than you, he may still have a better lifestyle.
Second thing is that the fact that it shows that we are in the top 1% doesn’t show how rich we are, it shows how poor the world is.
Laura says on October 15th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I’ll echo the praises that this was a great article, but if I can be a bit nit-picky, you started off with a pretty hefty assumption. Speaking of the globalrichlist.com calculations, you said, “Almost everyone with the means to read this post is in that top one percent somewhere.” I tested this statement by thinking of some known salaries of friends and family, all of whom have a computer with high speed Internet at home and at the office, and drew the exact opposite conclusion. Apparently, I know people in the 3% and 5% ranges of the richest, and your basic assumption implies that you have to make more than about $48000 annually to have the luxuries of a computer and access to the Internet.
Just a piece of caution when discussing personal wealth – check your assumptions twice!
Bronwen says on October 15th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
“Almost everyone with the means to read this post is in that top one percent somewhere.”
heh! I’m in the top 6.2%.
Joel Falconer says on October 16th, 2008 at 5:14 am
Woah, sorry guys, as a writer I should have done a better job of checking my figures, as that’s a word-of-mouth figure that’s frequently bandied about. The way people go on about it you just end up thinking everyone in the developed world is in that 1% even on $20k/year. Hope I didn’t offend anyone.
Vincent says on October 17th, 2008 at 5:29 am
Budgeting is a must in our lives. Budgeting is part of planning and if we fail to plan, we plan to fail. I recommend a book call The Richest Man In Babylon By George S.Clason. It is an interesting book with very good content on personal finance. I have a review on it on my site, you can visit it and take a look.
Cheers
Vincent
Personal Development Blogger
Anthony says on October 17th, 2008 at 5:43 am
I haven’t commented much recently, but have to say this is an excellent post, so had the urge.
This is pertinent in an economic crisis. We must recognize that many are much less fortunate than us, and some sharing of wealth is much needed in this world. As well as some budgeting at the moment!
Dave says on October 18th, 2008 at 2:18 am
I knew I was messed up… I’m in the top 13.1%
Should I thank my alcoholic parents now?
Shahar says on October 18th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Excellent post, thanks Joel!
Many of these things we can do can also reduce our environmental impact. Some random examples:
- run outside, not on a treadmill
- don’t flush every time you urinate, maybe just every 2-3 times [or (boys especially) pee outside when/if possible]
- turn the heat down and wear another layer or two…
Obviously these lists can go on and on.
Now, my turn to be a bit nit-picky: it’s not your income that determines how rich you are; it’s your net worth. I guess the correlation between the two is in general adequate, certainly for these purposes.
Prabu Rajasekaran says on October 20th, 2008 at 8:40 am
I am from India. I see a lot of advice to save on Starbucks. How did it become such a phenomenon that so many of you got attracted to? It certainly won’t be for the coffee alone. What attracts you about Starbucks?
choen says on October 25th, 2008 at 2:35 am
Help Stop Poverty: one word, give ‘the access’:access for information, access for live, n other.
Sam says on November 1st, 2008 at 4:04 am
great tips specially this one “Make Your Own Coffee, Use the Library, Get Netflix” i can save so much money if i stop going to cafes on my coffee break
Whats_Shopping says on November 2nd, 2008 at 6:36 pm
The key is to use your brain. Live within your means. If you want to stop poverty go out and feed people daily, then get everyone else around you to do it too. Also visit WhatsShopping.com to save.
save money says on November 24th, 2008 at 8:56 am
This is really insane stuff.
chloe says on December 5th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
well, based on my income, im in the top 6%, but i have over $100,000 in student loan debt, and unless i get a much higher paying job, ill be working on that for the next 30 years. right now over 25% of my monthly income goes toward that debt. income alone is not an indication of how wealthy you are or how much you can afford to give to charity.
easy ways to save money says on February 9th, 2009 at 12:29 am
nice post
Everyone can save money in small and seemingly insignificant areas if you know how and where to do it.
I haven’t commented much recently, but have to say this is an excellent post,
These are all great ideas
Great tips! I’ll be coming back to learn more about saving money!
Elsa says on February 16th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Hey, this article reminds me of Sarah McLachlan’s video for World On Fire.
You can watch her video on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzoNInZ2ClQ
The message is the same: to help end poverty
Spencer Black says on May 19th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Just wanted to say I’m really proud of everything you’re doing.
Here is the video I did for the young lions competition in hopes of encouraging people to add their names and help Oxfam by joining the movement to encourage world leaders to vote for change at the summit in Copenhagen in December.
Hope you enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ0nlJ9Ythc