For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
We've all had the experience of skipping some routine expense to save a bit of cash, and then everything being ruined - at a much greater cost. The poverty trap could be defined as not being able to scrape together a penny in order to save a pound. And this is a dilemma I grapple with all the time.
In order to be maximally productive, I often say, I only need a sofa, a wifi connection and 2 meals a day. In fact I could secure this at my mother's house or with other supporters, but my work leads me to more interesting places, and requires me to meet my needs from many sources
Measured at commercial rates and assuming the sofa is a temporary loan, that means to produce maybe to EUR3,000 in software-value per week I need about EUR 100. This doesn't include healthcare, pension, national insurance, holiday allowance, or income tax.
Pretty good huh? $3 per hour is pretty affordable for software development, but because I maximise the impact of my work by developing for everyone in general and no-one in particular, and because I produce without waiting to be paid, I am very insecure about my three basic needs. From time to time I find myself without any visible means of support. I don't take government handouts because they would require me to be based in one country and pretend to be 'actively seeking employment'. No I am not so worthy
Moving between countries I long ago abandoned mobile phones. Of course not having a phone is very inefficient when every one is organising on the move, but this I can live with. The cost of running phone in many countries is prohibitive. Same story with USB modems which are really great for Internet on the move. As a guest I can expect free Internet work offline while between places. It would need three SIM cards to access Internet all the way from Switzerland to Hungary on the train. (not that anyone in my position can afford a train) Wifi in most European airports is 10 EUR an hour, which I would spit at even if I was Bill Gates and I had missed my flight to the philanthropic industry award ceremony.
Of course you need a credit card to buy online time. My two UK banks, both shunning email, notified me to old addresses that my accounts didn't have sufficient income to sustain any kind of overdrafts. My accounts were totally blocked and I closed them in disgust. Paypal's behaviour declined and required a credit card to do anything, so that's not an option either. I'm very glad not to be constantly provoked by criminal money-lending institutions any more, and fortunate that I have enough supportive friends to get by in managing money between countries. In fact I live a life largely free of paperwork, contracts, bills, and legal obligations, which is somewhat liberating. For now. As long as I don't get sick.
There's always a trade-off between the cost of living and the cost of going to visit a friend/supporter. If a one-way trip will cost 75EUR, and I go for less than 2 weeks, I'm out of pocket. This may sound exceptionally tight of me but I've been three years not knowing where my next cash is coming from. No income means no expenditure. No expenditure means doing things very inefficiently.
I'm currency waiting out 3 weeks UK between two long-haul flights. I have 100 GBP largely thanks to a donation from my mother. My networks aren't providing the critical sofa/wifi combo, and until I find a TESCO, I'm paying corner-shop prices for food. As a visitor, and public transport costs around 5GBP to go anywhere. Bargain of the day is 3 packets of custard cremes for 70p, though sickliness is an unfortunate side effect. Wifi is available for the price of coffee, but there is such a thing as too wired to work. This is not working for me at all.
I have a clear week between appointments and I would like to visit a friend in Cornwall. A return bus ticket is 50 GBP. A bus ride wouldn't be lost time because thanks to Art Brock I have a decent laptop battery. However the ticket would blow half my money so maybe I should hitchhike, which would take a full day each way. Of course I am less pretty than when last I threw myself on motorists' mercy and raised my thumb in random supplication, and there are so many more terrorists pretending to be hitchhikers, so there's a risk of sleeping rough or having to catch a bus part way anyway.
I'm trying to stretch my talents and my resources to the limit. Sometimes everything works like in a movie - I receive support and move mountains; other times it seems like I fell through a hole in the social economy and every hour by wasted hour away from the computer my talent burns like a fire without a cooking pot.
Even more than donations, what is needed is a network of sympathisers... I want to turn up in a place, offer free consultancy and software support, and in exchange be sheltered and fed, lent a phone and bicycle, and given an onward ticket, all with no money changing hands.
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