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AUTHOR: Winsome Duncan

A WOMAN who beat her battle with debt by finding creative ways to stretch her budget has now published a book helping others to do the same.

Radio host and performance poet Winsome ‘Lyrical Healer’ Duncan, was struggling to make ends meet until she decided to rely on some traditional money stretching advice and came up with a range of ideas to help her balance her books.

Duncan has now put her ideas into a new book called An Inner City Guide to Surviving The Credit Crunch, an often funny, quirky survival guide which includes 100 suggestions to help people make their money stretch.

“The book is about not just helping people save money, but uplifting them, restoring them and motivating them in their daily lives during the credit crunch,” said Duncan.

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BELOW ARE SEVEN OF HER TIPS

1. Spread your budgeting wings- Start a list of your income and expenditure. This will help you keep track of your money and help you save more.

2.Too many hairstyles - Look at cutting back on expenditure on things such as bills and hairstyles. She writes: “Number one: Take a serious look at how much you spend on the latest hairstyles. Number two: realistically think about how you can cut back the cost. For example washing your hair yourself instead of getting a salon to do it. Number three: If you have Afro hair, you can learn to plait your own hair or twist it.”

3. One shop, two shop, three shop, four –Check four to six shops before you buy. Chances are you can buy the product cheaper elsewhere. Have a price in mind and STICK to it.

4. Fall back on granny’s home made recipes - Get those recipes, buy the ingredients cheaper and make those meals at home rather than buy ready made food. You can also make your own version of sauces and other products such as gifts and cards.

5. Save the soul food – Don’t be afraid to take food home from parties - and even work functions if your boss clears it. “Do eat plentifully and take the food home,” Duncan advised.

6. Launch that entrepreneurial dream – Many entrepreneurs are born out of an economic crisis. “Don’t let the recession paralyze your dreams,” she said.

7. Dump the ‘likky likky’ leeches - “Likky, Likky is Jamaican patois. It means one who is greedy about eating everything that is seen,” Duncan writes. “Some folks have a bottomless pit for a belly and can easily drain your supplies by eating you out of home and house. You know the type. They do not spend money on anything yet they are happy to eat most of your pantry.
Here is a simple solution when Mr. and Mrs. Likky Likky stops by for a bite to eat, give them one serving only or not at all…You have the right to refuse a second helping and to use the word ‘no’ in your vocabulary.”

An Inner City Guide to Surviving The Credit Crunch is being launched at the Peckham Library in Southeast London tomorrow (Oct 1)