I do not have the time to live on benefits. In a 168-hour week I have to work a full-time job, study for accountancy exams, keep the flat habitable, cook, train for bandit-defence and write blog posts. £64.30 does not buy me enough time.

I have talked about how my existing possessions and working full-time makes living on benefits easier. However, I have not been able to substitute money for free time. I’m used to regularly eating out, convenience food, home delivery for groceries and a cleaner. None of that is possible without money.

Organising for Victory

Without money or time you have to organise beyond German efficiency levels to make things work. My life is run by my diary, to-do lists, revision plans, meal plans and New Year’s resolutions. However, being 100% efficient is not possible and leads to unhealthy psychological conditions. The need to buy time is one reason that I’m £7 over budget this week. I didn’t need to spend money on dishwasher tablets and a cleaner, but it saved me about 4 hours of time.

Everyone suffers time poverty and I don’t expect any sympathy. I have been questioning how I spend my resources. I can either:

• wring out every last useful second and use up every single pound to maximise enjoyment and achievement. Economists call this “utility-maximising behaviour”.
• leave gaps

Gaps such as the one where a pertinent conclusion to a blog post should go.

Before I started, I thought that living on £64.30 a week would be difficult. However, it has been easier than anticipated. I’ve summarised three main reasons:

1. Cheating – by pre-buying lots of food. This was worth about £25 over three weeks.
2. Pre-existing assets – I already had a lot of food in my cupboard and freezer. However, I also already own a guitar, piano, books, TV and a laptop. I can enjoy my free time without needing to spend any more money.
3. Work – The benefits of work go beyond the monthly paycheque. Work saves money. That’s what I want to discuss in this blog post.

Benefits of Work

1) Time consuming – You spend money when you are bored. If you are at work for 10+ hours a day, you don’t spend much money at all. There is an exception if you internet shop or buy houses during your lunch break.

2) Free heat, light and shelter – Your office protects you from the threat of bandits.

3) Training – It’s in your employers interest to train you. However, you are the ultimate beneficiary of training. I’m currently training for the Chartered Accountancy qualification, the ACA. My employers pay for the training but I will enjoy the benefits for the rest of my career.

The training also extends to soft skills, such as teamwork and communication. Perhaps the most important one I have learnt is the art of small talk, especially how to feign interest in Desperate Housewives.

4) Future prospects – Work gives the idea that you have value. You have an incentive to invest in your C.V. There is the chance of doing different kinds of work throughout your lifetime that gives you satisfaction and income. I believe that is called a career.

5) Self esteem – Work gives you a sense of purpose and worth. But unemployment eats away at your self esteem and dignity. We can’t help but be defined by our work.

It’s easy for me to judge the long-term unemployed but I’ve never been in that situation. I heard a story about some long-term unemployed trying to get back into work but didn’t believe that they didn’t deserve a job.

I have been too religious about sticking to the £64.30 limit. It is a symptom of having an accountant’s mindset. It’s not just about the numbers, it’s about remembering the good things that I do have.

For the record, I am 2p under budget in week 3.

It’s near the end of the week and I have £12.57 left to spend at the Korean restaurant birthday dinner tonight. It has been quite easy this week because I still enjoy the use of my existing stock of possessions and food. This doesn’t cost me any money.

Essentially, I am still living a middle class lifestyle that is far beyond someone on benefits. A fair way to take account of it is the use of accruals accounting. In short, goods and services are accounted for as they are used instead of when they are paid for. For example, I bought three boxes of cereal before the challenge started. Under cash accounting, I can ignore this. Under accruals accounting, I have to account for the one box of cereal I ate during the week.

More information on accruals accounting can be found in paragraph 22 of the IFRS manual.

I’m going to adjust week 2’s budget under accruals accounting.

List of Adjustments

1. To account for the consumption of the existing food in my fridge and freezer. Including free food given by my parents
2. Benefits in Lents does not take account of Oyster card costs because they are assumed necessary for work, however, there’s no adjustment for non-work travel.
3. To account for use of existing household products, such as my bed, sofa and toothpaste.
4. Existing use of laptop and TV, assuming an estimated useful life of 3 years.
5. To account for free beer and sandwiches consumed at a work event.
6. To account for clothes worn, assuming a useful life of 2.5 years.
7. Existing use of guitar, piano and the reading of 3 chapters of book. Estimated useful life of 10 years. The book cost £2 and has a total of 14 chapters.

Notwithstanding the disturbing fact that this looks like a spreadsheet at work, I am now over budget by £22.77. This shows that I already have good wealth and income doesn’t matter so much. Those on benefits don’t have such wealth, and need to borrow at extortionate rates to fund a basic lifestyle.

No kimchi for me tonight.