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Peter's Journey

Szigetszentmárton, Hungary

I don't want to be rich.
I just want a better life.

I'm 52 years old. I live in a small Hungarian village, I have a job and a roof over my head. I'm not looking for luxury — I'm trying to find out whether I can change the second half of my life, with a little help from people on the internet.

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Portrait of Peter Havasi — placeholder image, replace with a real photograph

This is me

My name is Peter Havasi.

I'm 52 years old, Hungarian, and I live in a small village called Szigetszentmárton — about 2,700 people, not far from the Danube.

I have a home. I have a job. I have food on the table. I'm not homeless. I'm not starving.

And if I'm completely honest, I can't even say that I'm unhappy.

But I'm tired.

View of Szigetszentmárton and its surroundings — placeholder image, replace with a real photograph
Szigetszentmárton — where I've lived most of my life.

Why I'm tired

I'm tired of always counting.

It isn't one dramatic emergency. It's smaller than that, and it never stops. I work Monday to Friday, plus every second Saturday, and I currently earn about 400,000 HUF a month. It's enough to get by. It is not enough to stop calculating.

  • I often buy the cheaper, lower-quality food, because it's what fits.
  • My home still doesn't have a proper kitchen — I wash dishes in the bathroom.
  • An unexpected bill can throw off an entire month.
  • I have little to no real savings to fall back on.
  • Private healthcare and dental care are hard to justify.
  • Peace of mind, financially, has never really been on the table.

None of this is a crisis. It's just constant. And constant, over years, wears a person down in a quieter way than any single emergency would.

What I tried

I tried to change things.

Over the years I've tried a few different business ideas, a few different ways of earning more. None of them worked out.

Maybe I'm not a very good businessman. Maybe some of my ideas were simply bad. Maybe I was unlucky. Probably a little of all three.

But I don't want the next ten or fifteen years to look exactly like the last ones.

I don't want to just survive. I want to live.

Peter's everyday work routine — placeholder image, replace with a real photograph

What I'm asking for

I'm not trying to become rich.

My target is about 800,000 HUF a month — roughly double what I earn now. That's not a luxury number. It's the number where money stops being the thing that decides everything else.

With that, I'd be able to:

  • Pay regular bills without constant anxiety
  • Handle an unexpected expense without panic
  • Buy healthier, better-quality food
  • Get healthcare and dental care when I actually need it
  • Finally improve my home — starting with a real kitchen
  • Build some savings, for the first time in a long time
  • Travel, maybe once a year
  • Afford the small, ordinary things that have often been out of reach
I don't want money to become the purpose of my life. I want money to stop being the obstacle in it.

And there's something further out, past all of that: I want to reach a point where I'm not only able to receive help, but able to give it too.

Why I'm asking strangers

Why am I asking people I've never met?

I know there are people in far more urgent situations than mine. I'm not claiming to need help the most, and I don't believe anyone owes me anything.

But the fact that someone else has a greater need doesn't make my own wish for a better life meaningless. Some people have more than they need for their own lives and families — and some of them genuinely enjoy using a part of that to help someone else.

I'm simply giving those people an opportunity to help someone whose life they can actually change.

Please only support me if you can do it without making your own life harder.

No guilt, no pressure — I mean that plainly, not as a line.

What happened in 2022

A year I didn't expect.

In late 2022 I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. What followed was more than a year of chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant. I'm in remission now.

I'm not telling you this to make a case for donating. I mention it once, here, because it changed how I think about time.

After something like that, it gets harder to keep telling yourself "maybe someday things will get better." I don't want to spend another decade waiting for someday. I want to try now.

The experiment

What if it actually works?

I don't know what will happen. Maybe very few people will care. Maybe some will think I don't really need help. Maybe this whole idea fails outright. Nobody owes me anything, and I'm not promising a success story.

But I'd rather try this than spend the next ten years wondering what would have happened if I had.

So here's what I'm actually doing: I'm going to document this, openly — the successes, the failures, the slow progress, the setbacks, the real financial numbers, and the small changes in everyday life. Not a polished highlight reel. The real thing.

Landscape near the Danube — placeholder image, replace with a real photograph

Where I am now

The honest numbers, updated as things change.

This is the one part of the site I'll try to always keep current. It shows where things actually stand — not where I'd like them to stand.

Progress toward the monthly target
Current monthly income
—
Monthly target
—
Progress toward target
—
Total support received
—
Number of supporters
—
Project started
—

"Total support received" and "monthly income" are two different things, on purpose — see the Transparency page for the full breakdown of where support goes.

How you can be part of it

Support My Journey

This isn't a rescue fund. It's an open invitation to watch — and if you'd like, to take part in — an honest attempt at something.

Choose any amount that feels right to you. One-time or monthly, entirely your choice. And again: please only do this if it genuinely doesn't create difficulty in your own life.

HUF

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Questions people ask

FAQ

Because having a job hasn't been enough to build any real financial security — it covers the basics, with little room beyond that. This project is about closing that gap, not about not having income at all.
Everyday living, better food, home improvements (starting with a real kitchen), healthcare, occasional travel, savings, and eventually — the ability to help someone else. The exact breakdown is public on the Transparency page.
It's roughly double my current income — enough to stop constantly calculating, without being a luxury number. It's not designed to impress anyone; it's designed to actually change my day-to-day life.
Yes. The Transparency page tracks total received, total used, and current reserve, broken down by category. I'd rather show a small number honestly than a large number I can't account for.
At least monthly, on the Updates page — financial numbers as well as ordinary, non-financial moments worth recording.
Yes. Nothing about your identity is shown publicly. Only aggregated totals (like "supporters this month") appear on the site.
Yes — there's a short form on the Contact page, and I read everything that comes through it.
I keep documenting it, and I try to reach the point where I can start helping someone else the way I was helped.
Then I'll say so, clearly, on this same site — and I'll still be glad I tried instead of wondering.
Support My Journey