This is my second interview, this time with Lake of Urban Tramper. Urban Tramper have just finished their most recent tour around Europe which sounds like the most fun ever (Eli has documented lots of it on their blog).
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| Image from the Urban Tramper blog - Lake is in the middle. (L-R) Ben, Lake and Eli |
I’ve had savings accounts on and off since I was a kid, but until relatively recently I’ve been pretty crap at keeping on top of it. How about you - do you have a savings account? When did you first start saving?
I have two accounts. One is for band stuff and the other is for general spending. I've never really had a separate account for saving. I've often thought it would be a good idea and have also considered a term deposit kind of thing.
I do save my coins though - ever since I can remember. It began with Easter eggs. My brothers and I would get one big chocolate egg every Easter. It was a huge treat and we would want it to last as long as possible. Sometimes my younger brother would still have some left - days after mine was long gone. Oh the pain of knowing I could still have some left if I hadn't scoffed mine.
I don't really care for chocolate these days (it gives me sore teeth), but Easter taught me that there is joy to be had by saving something for the future, even if it means depriving oneself in the present.
What about a credit card? If yes, how do you use it (i.e. as oppose to a debit card, hardly at all and pay back immediately, or, like me, max it out and spend three years paying it back?)
I got my first credit card in 2008 prior to going to England to live for a year. Receiving the card was actually quite exciting, then I just worried about losing it. I used it reasonably frequently to buy stuff online. Mainly bus/train/plane tickets. I've never really been in debt* and don't like the idea. I always pay the card back the same day. I don't know if it's well founded, but I always thought I'd be charged large sums of money very quickly for missing payments.
I actually think credit cards fuel excess production by encouraging over consumption. One then has to work long hours at a shitty job to pay back this debt. Working 40 hours/wk at a boring job, or even a sweet as job, leaves little time for reflection, creativity, community participation, relaxation, family etc... Thus, the discontent that follows is often buried under a pile of new purchases that are bought on a salary which is also paying off old purchases... Hence, a cycle of debt and discontent ensues. I think debit cards are better idea.
Having said that, I often imagine what I could do if I went mad and maxed out my credit card.
At the moment, you’re traveling throughout Europe and wowing people with your music. If it’s not too personal, how are you managing this?
Yes we've just finished a 7 week tour and now I'm de-toxing in the Pyrenees making hay as a wwoofer.** I worked part time for about 9 months to save the coin to be able to afford the mission. We don't get paid enough to cover costs (flights, rental car, petrol, tolls, food, etc) but we managed to do the tour quite cheaply. We only paid for accommodation once over the past 7 weeks (two nights at a camp ground) and I think this is normally a great cost in traveling. We utilised the kindness of friends and www.couchsurfing.org to great effect. People are often happy to have visitors for a couple of nights. We ate a lot of bread, cheese and tomatoes and only ate out once or twice the whole trip (apart from numerous felafel kebabs in Germany and 2.10 euro pizza in Berlin).
You have a pretty cool attitude to the distribution of your music online. Can you describe your philosophy on this?
I'm still in the process of working out the best way to earn a little money from music. Distributing music online is the best way to get more music to more people quickly and cheaply. We would hope that our music can help people in certain situations, or bring them joy in some way. I also think it's important that music, which is an integral part of our culture, is available to everyone. Because of this I'm trying to make all our music available on our website for no set fee. I'm trying to steer people away from our Myspace page and towards our website as we have more control over the advertisements on this page. Myspace, and other intermediate sites, have done a great job of making money off musicians without paying them. I do admit that they can be a great tool, I just think it's a shame that these 'music' sites (iTunes, Myspace, lastfm) are made by entrepreneurs who exploit musicians that “just care about the music”. At the moment on our website we offer free mp3 downloads and give people the opportunity to donate to our cause, a 'pay what you want scheme' if you will. Most people who obtain CDs (including myself) burn them straight to their mp3 collections and forget about them, hence the CDs become disposable and wasteful.
Some people still want something to hold. Therefore I think good quality downloads combined with some sort of artwork/clothing is great option (I think www.alowhum.com was doing this at some stage) and I will try and make less CDs and more art for my next release.
I wrote an extended rant on these themes for a sociology paper I was taking. Here it is: http://urbantramper.blogspot.com/2009/06/goal-is-not-only-better-living.html
How would you characterise your attitude towards money - would you describe yourself as a saver or a spender? And on the day to day - are you a hard core budgeter, or do you just take the money as it comes?
I basically try and minimise the time I spend working a dull job for someone else. This means I earn less money and, hence, have to be more careful with it. I have an aversion towards spending and 'shopping' in general. I cannot buy new clothes/new shoes at all. I just wait until my stuff is completely worn out and then hope I can inherit something from a friend/relative, or find something at an opshop. Thus, I don't really budget. My first question at any establishment is “what is the cheapest …... you have?”. This approach has changed somewhat as I try and make more ethical purchases. I'm trying to bring myself to part with more money so I can purchase things that last longer, and are ethically produced. In short, I'm a saver by necessity. I'm scared of debt and hate to work too much, therefore I spend less. Now and then I blow out and spend $100 in a weekend, usually on booze and hangover food, but the shame is enough to prevent those episodes occurring regularly.
Instead of keeping to a budget, and thus feeling restricted and sometimes missing out, I try and exploit life's less expensive pleasures. It pains me to see waste and the vast amounts of useless stuff that is produced, and later becomes waste. I'm all about re-using and borrowing/lending. If my friend has one, do I really need one too? If have a perfectly OK microphone, do I really need another/better one? Making lots of stuff affects the environment and this stuff has got go somewhere when it stops being useful. It's also good to remember that the way we spend/save our money is a political act - whether we like or not. It sucks to think that me buying a certain good/service contributes to the fortunes of the already super-rich. I consider all these issues when I buy goods and services, hence, it's easier to cut down my options and buy second hand/ethically produced, or not at all.
Finally, do you have anything that you want to add in terms of HOTT money tips, maybe in terms of travel?
These sites were key to the success of our mission:
http://www.wwoof.org
http://www.couchsurfing.org/
ride sharing in France: http://www.covoiturage.fr/, Germany: http://mitfahrergelegenheit.de/
and the UK: http://www.mylifts.com/
I also recommend the following to save one's coin:
kebabs
vegetarianism
dumpster diving
hitchhiking (it's possible throughout Europe)
*apart from a student loan. I think mass disobedience is necessary when it comes to these. We all have them, let's all not pay them back.
**working for a few hours a day on organic farms in exhange for food and accomodation.
Thanks Lake! I hope the rest of your travels go super well, and I can't wait to hear more about them. See you next year! x
