Budget Class #2: Cody's Receipts!

Cody's Receipt Collection: Jan 14 - Jan 28
Date	Item	Amount Spent
16-Jan	Cumberland Farms - Energy Drinks/Cigarettes	$13.68
26-Jan	Cumberland Farms - Energy Drinks/Cigarettes	$4.43
22-Jan	Cumberland Farms - Energy Drinks/Cigarettes	$13.98
27-Jan	Cumberland Farms - Energy Drinks/Cigarettes	$5.98
27-Jan	Cumberland Farms - Energy Drinks/Cigarettes	$6.08
26-Jan	Cumberland Farms - Energy Drinks/Cigarettes	$13.73
26-Jan	Cumberland Farms - Energy Drinks/Cigarettes	$15.35
25-Jan	Cumberland Farms - Energy Drinks/Cigarettes	$7.76
22-Jan	Cumberland Farms - Energy Drinks/Cigarettes	$3.73
15-Jan	Cumberland Farms - Energy Drinks/Cigarettes	$5.82
19-Jan	Cell Phone Minutes	$60.99
26-Jan	Listen Center/ Clothes for Babysitter's Daughter	$3.75
21-Jan	PNC - Cigarettes	$6.43
26-Jan	PNC - Cigarettes/Female Necesities	$19.26
16-Jan	Mr. G's - Clothes, Energy Drinks	$23.98
19-Jan	McDonald's for friend	$10.62
15-Jan	PNC - Magazine, Cigarettes	$7.18
15-Jan	Cumberland Farms - gas, redbull, skittles	$15.80
	Total:	$238.55

On this term's  of budgeting, we differentiated expenses in our budget between necessities and luxuries -- something my parents have made a point about since I received my first $5 allowance, but an education many of these girls sadly missed out on. To stress the presence of "invisible" expenses, I asked everyone to come back for our next class with all the receipts on virtually everything that they bought. Cody was the only one who came back with receipts. 

After the class, I made an excel sheet with all of her expenses, because I still could not believe it! She had spent $238.55 in a matter of TWO WEEKS! Cody managed to spend over $120 on energy drinks and cigarettes. Several issues quickly precipitated: (1) Why does Cody spend so much money on energy drinks? (Cody admitted she spent more on energy drinks than cigarettes) (2) Where was Cody getting this money? (3) How do you deal with negative behavior, reinforced by a culture of poverty and abuse, via budgeting?

Confused and unsure of how to proceed, I posed solution-seeking to the class. Participants suggested to buy energ drinks in bulk, pursue an alternative/cheaper intake for caffeine (i.e. tea, coffee), change diet (limit sugar, carbs, more vegetables), workout more, etc. As we kept talking, we circled back to *why* Cody needs so much caffeine to keep her up, and how exactly she is affording this expensive lifestyle. 

Danielle and I learned that Cody is a rehabilitating heroin addict. She's currently on a prescription that has helped her recovery, but makes her extremely extremely sleepy. She is trying to finish her GED, and consumes high quantities of caffeine to stay awake. When Helene (Director of FLT) asked her how exactly she even has this money, Cody kept saying that she just had it from "before," and didn't feel comfortable offering more details. It became increasingly clear to Helene that Cody had this money from when she used to deal heroin. 

How do you budget illicit income??

Money$mart

Money$mart is a Tucker-recognized organization on campus that is entirely geared providing comprehensive financial literacy education. Their curriculum includes subjects such as banking, credit scoring, and identity theft. What's particularly interesting about Money$mart is that they are quite broad in terms of their audience -- they have held forums for high school students in Hartford County, senior citizens at local nursing homes, and Dartmouth students on campus. It's a no-brainer that $mart is a natural transition for this project!!


I brought Danielle O'Bannon (Founder) with me last Thursday, Jan. 28 to introduce FLT participants to Money$mart.  It's taken about four months for them to trust me with this budgeting class, so I decided that it would be helpful to gradually introduce Danielle/Money$mart to the participants and have them build a relationship alongside me. Danielle observed my class which reviewed Cody's receipts (I'll talk about it in the next blog!), and energetically piped in. Her presence certainly gave the class an edge since Danielle and I have different delivery styles. Most importantly, the participants LOVED her.  From Norene: (and I quote!): I feel like she can get down with us!". It's a huge compliment (you gotta trust me on this one!). 


I  will keep bringing Danielle along for the rest of winter term. We hope to co-teach a class by the end of the term, and have Money$mart conduct several (maybe even most) seminars on their own in the Spring. Anchoring this project with Money$mart is a  strategic, effective way to sustain the Family Place project since our interests in empowering community members via financial literacy are so aligned. This project allows Money$mart to leap a step ahead by working with a socioeconomic demographic that is at the poverty-level and receiving welfare benefits. Additionally, this project allows Money$mart to explore linkages between financial literacy and micro-lending in community development. The micro-lending aspect may even be a space for collaboration between Money$mart and SEEDS, who are already collaborating on projects outside of this one. By jump-starting this collaboration in February, I hope for a smooth transition come June!