Hi Everyone,
We have now reached the voting stage of Challenge 1. Steemians will have the opportunity to vote for the winner of Challenge 1 of the Spectrum Economics 6 Week Challenge.
For Challenge 1 we had four entries. The entrants are as follows:
Quick recap of the challenge
For Challenge 1, participants were required to write a post explaining how they have or would cope with living with a tighter budget. Participants were given the freedom to be as creative as they like in terms of describing what they have done or would do. They have been advised to apply economics to their recommendations but at the same time are recommended to explain using terminology easy for the everyday reader to understand.
Here is a link to the original Challenge 1 post.
What have our participants proposed?
Let’s start with who happened to be the first person to enter the contest.
emphasises staying calm and not panicking.
also considers how we can cut back on expenses and living costs.
’s post contains quite an extensive section on how to obtain additional income as well.
also throws in a few economics terms and references thanks to studying economics.
This post can be accessed using the following link.
Entrant 1 
Our next participant is .
includes some interesting points in his post which includes making budgets and managing these budgets.
provides examples how to cut back on expenses to stay within this budget.
also talks about saving money by avoiding bad habits such as smoking and gambling.
also suggests inexpensive ways of having fun.
This post can be accessed using the following link.
Entrant 2 
Our next participant is .
jumps into pointing out that there are many small daily expenses that add up. This money could be placed in a savings account.
suggests looking for free forms of entertainment rather than entertainment that requires expenditure and offers several examples of such activities.
also mentions looking for bargains and using coupons.
This post can be accessed using the following link.
Entrant 3 
Our final participant is .
articulates a very clear 4-step plan of action to cope with a tight budget. These steps are as follows:
- Create a priority list
- Make two plans depending on the priority list
- Check out the two plans
- Sub priority list
supplements his steps with examples which included hypothetical costs savings derived using the plan.
This post can be accessed using the following link.
Entrant 4 
How to vote
The winner will be decided by votes placed in the comments section; the post that receives the most votes wins. The winner will receive 10 SBD. Second place will receive 5 SBD.
To vote, enter the entrant’s number. The entrant’s numbers are as followers.
I expect voting to be based on the quality of the post and ability to address the criteria of the challenge post. Each vote will also be rewarded with a very small upvote. Voting closes on payout of this post.
In addition to these prizes, I will also give out the Spectrum Economics favourite post award worth 10 SBD.
Special Thanks
I would like to thank for supporting Challenge 1 with her upvote. Her generosity has made it possible for me to give out reasonable prizes for this challenge.
has recently posted a really great travel blog which includes a Dlive video. Her most recent post can be accessed using the following link.
I would like to thank all the participants for their effort spent putting these posts together. May the best posts win.
