1st Place Winner- Category 2
Diandra Matthews Dorsetshire Hill Government School,
  St Vincent and the Grenadines

Lamentations of the Spendthrift
I am Sam Watson and dey call me a spen’thrif’
When money used to come my way, I would spen’ all of it
Yo’ pass and yo’ look down on a beggar like me
But once upon a time, money and wealth used to be my company.

Ever since ah small, me mudda had problems wid me
Always licks like peas for spendin’ me lunch money
As a teen, when granfadda give me money at birthday time
De first ting ah use to do is go and lime.

As a young man, my second home was the pool shop and bar
When yo’ see me is Adidas, Fila, Nike and ah driving de hottest car
At de end of de week, ah collect me big money
Next day, ah lucky if ah had a penny.

Experience has taught me that spendin’ wisely is de best
Cause if ah had known before, I wouldn’t have been in dis mess
Ah now realise dat if ah had spen’ me money wisely
Poverty never would have been me best friend nor me worse enemy.

De Mighty Sparrow say that yo’ must go to school and learn well
For without an education, yo’ will catch real hell.
But Sam, de spen’thrif’ has some different advice
Spen’ wisely or cropo will smoke yo’ pipe!
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Money Saving Steps
Spend your money wisely
Pay attention to your needs
Efficient consistent saving policy
Naturally into your assets feeds
Diligently calculate in advance your
Income faithfully earned
Negotiating price where possible
Guard against money ‘burned’

Mandatory saving
Organise it monthly without fail
Never purchase what’s not needed
Even when spoiled children wail
Yielding causes bad habits to prevail

Wasted money
Is wasted labour
Scarcity follows unwise use of spending
Economic wisdom is a flavour to savour
Lay away for tomorrow and from
Your relatives and friends you’ll never borrow
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