The Cost of Debt

I have worn many hats over my lifetime, many years ago I was an advisor for Citizens Advice Bureau. I spent a lot of time talking to people who, often through no fault of their own, were in debt. These were often families with children, who were battling against the odds to just survive. I would help them put together budgets and plans that would make a small dent in their debts and mean that they could eat and pay their rent. It was an impossible task. They were in debt because there was not enough money and now were trying to make the money go even further. The hardest thing about those years was the faces of parents who had lost hope. They could not see anyway out of their situation and sometimes neither could I.

I grew up living below the poverty line. As a child I had many nights of going to bed hungry and going to school with an empty belly. As an adult I knew I never wanted to live like that, but that’s not how it works. Like I said, many of those families I helped went into debt through no fault of their own.

 Years later when my children were young, we hit some really big financial challenges. However, I was fortunate that when my family hit hard times, I had an amazing community around me that rallied and helped us. We always paid the bills, and our children were never hungry or cold and were always loved. But one of the things that I most remember from those times are the treats. You see one of the things about poverty is you find yourself just trying to survive, but not being able to take part in every day treats that others take for granted. So, I remember well the friend who turned up at our house to babysit the children, who pushed money into our hands and told us to go out for a meal. The times our parents bought food treats for the children, the times our friends would cover for us on group outings, there really were so many times. One of our children describes that time in our life as the time we were poor, but in a way that didn’t make sense.

When I started the bookshop, I knew that I had to find the people like me in the community and make sure that they knew we were here for those moments. We can’t solve debt or give away money, but we can make sure children and adults can have a book of their own, a warm space on cold days a refuge from the world.

 I needed to build a space where people felt welcome.

When we moved into our new shop on North Road, we knew we would be able to serve tea and coffee. I did some research and looked at the cost of coffee in Brighton and surrounding spaces. The profit margins were high and so was the price. We had businesspeople who have helped us previously and they recommended a price for tea and coffee, but I kept seeing those faces from before, I remembered my own experience.

We set the cost as low as possible. We determined we would not say no to someone who didn’t have enough for a cuppa. We included tea and coffee in our pay it forward scheme.

I know this isn’t much, it’s a ridiculously small dent in people’s lives, but that’s okay, because accessibility can just be the cost of a cuppa. The difference between being able to cope and survive could just be a warm welcome, not being rushed out, not being pressured to buy the thing you would love to own, or being told you can have that book because some else has already covered the cost just for you.

Take it from someone who knows, these things really can make a difference.

So, if you’re reading this and feeling hopeless, please know that we have a space where there is glimmer of hope and a lot of love.