... is enough?
That is: enough to keep a roof over my head, some food on the table, clothes on my back, and a little bit extra so the computer runs and I can carry on doing work.
I realise that it’s all very well to ask for generosity, but I cannot expect anyone to know what ‘enough’ is for me to live on.
Indeed ‘enough’ is such a subjective concept! What I qualify as ‘enough’ would represent a fortune for some and pocket-money for others. I don’t even know what is truly enough for myself. All I can do is offer a figure which represents what I consider, provisionally, the minimum I can live on. This figure may change as circumstances themselves change. However it will remain the minimum that, in my view, ensures that I can function.
Here is a breakdown as it stands at the moment.
The roof over my head. I currently live in a community, with three (sometimes two or one) other men. We share a house, and our rent and utility expenses are graciously subsidised by a Buddhist business as part of their effort to assist us in our spiritual practice. Consequently I am able to live in the company of other Buddhist practitioners, and still incur very reasonable living costs. Hence a weekly rent of (rounded) GB£ 85.
The food on the table. Again, living in a community helps keep food and other household costs down. Additionally, we make a point of paying attention to what we buy, and at what price. More often than not we will purchase reduced-price items and hold off buying other goods, until they are on special too. The result is a low weekly household contribution of GB£ 22.
The clothes on my back. Now that’s a bit more complicated. I already have all the clothes I need and whenever I need new ones I will try and obtain them from a charity shop. So I can’t really provide any amount here and I will let you fill in the blanks. Let’s just say nothing until I say otherwise.
The little bit extra. This is mostly to keep the computer and Internet running. Indeed without those I couldn’t very well do the work. While the Internet access is easy to budget, the computer is a bit of an unknown. In any case we are only talking about hardware here (the bits and pieces: hard drive, screen, etc.) I do not need to purchase programs as I use Open Source software. So again, very minimal costs are incurred here since I will only mention the Internet fees, and this amounts to a weekly expense of (rounded) GB£ 4.
Anything else? In terms of preferences, yes, I could mention a few more things I’d ‘like’. But do I need them? Probably not. And if I did find that I do need something extra at any given time, I firmly believe that somehow appropriate conditions would make it possible for that something extra to manifest.
Grand total: 85 + 22 + 4 = GB£ 111 per week. Or (rounded) € 120, or again (rounded) US$ 176