When I was still working I used to fantasise about just working four days a week. In order to do that, I realised I would have to be able to get by on four-fifths of my income. Could I do it?
“No”, is the short answer, because I couldn’t reduce my mortgage and fixed bills by anything like that amount. I found I could, though, reduce a lot of my everyday spending by a fifth with surprisingly little effort. So, this week, I suggest that whenever you’re about to buy something, stop and consider how you could get at least 20% off.
About to buy a Twix for 58p in your local newsagents? You could get it for 41p in a supermarket (29% off!). Or you could stay where you are but choose a cheaper bar of chocolate instead. Or some liquorice. Or you could just chew on your fingers (100% off! But painful!)
Aiming for twenty percent is very manageable and once you’ve thought how to save that much, you often end up saving even more. And all those twenty percents add up!
Money I’ve raised today: £8.65 (a friend kindly just gave me some stamps to use when selling my books on Amazon for JFQ)
Money I’ve raised so far: £794.56 (see my personal Justgiving pages via the links at the bottom of the sidebar, plus some I accidentally put on the communal pages!)
I offer a new moneysaving tip each week and you donate part of any saving direct to biomedical research charities
Grand total raised is £11,174 as of this week; £7,169 MERUK and £4,005 RRF, including all Justgiving pages and offline donations direct to charities. Keep on giving!
are most people with cfs/me stupid or just losers?
a tiny minority of people are busting a gut trying to raise money for this research campaign while 98% are doing absolutely nothing. they are disinvesting in their own futures. there is a window of opportunity that is closing and we need to take full advantage of it.
The current generation of researchers is aging and there is no new generation to take their place. The fact that about 1 % of the target has been raised after 3/4 of the time has elapsed, is a very poor reflection on the ME community
Jeremy Bearman
Thanks for your message, Jeremy, and your latest generous donation – you set an excellent example and I am sure you will have influenced more people to give than you’ll ever be aware of. Every time someone chucks a few more quid at us on our JustGiving pages or directly to the charities’ offices it’s a boost to everyone.
There are lots of reasons this year to be optimistic, I think – ME/CFS is getting an increasingly high profile in the media and an increasingly positive one. The XMRV research is bubbling away behind the scenes and is already pulling in new researchers – whichever way it pans out eventually, we’ll have come to a lot more people’s attention.
The thing that will really help us is getting it into the national media that there are ME/CFS charities doing biomedical research that people can donate to – so far we’re drawing on a relatively small pool and the vast majority of people with the condition won’t be aware that there’s even anything to donate to! Everything is heading that way, I reckon – it won’t take much to tip us into a upward spiral.
Anyway, good for you that feeling frustrated with things makes you take such a constructive action by donating! You really are a great example for others to follow.
I can understand your frustration Jeremy, some of the problem is communicating to the wider M.E. community, a lot of the larger organisations can be reluctant to publicise as they rely on donations to themselves in order to keep going. Plus there are a large number folks who are not affiliated to any M.E. organisation.
There are of course too many who do know about JFQ and haven’t got involved
Keep spreading the word.
Paul.