#lblca

Today is a special day, not only because It may be my birthday but mostly because I am now ready to start living below the line.

Here is exactly what I had to spend on food for the next  five days:

One thing I have realized is that I haven’t been too overly bothered by the price of food lately. Fact is that I am living in the nicest house I have ever lived in. I am extremely lucky to have been given the chance to go to school and even luckier to find a good job. Growing up at times I fell into certain categories/labels such as “underprivileged” or “at risk.” Fortunately thanks to my family sticking it through the worse, supportive mentors and the help of several social programs in our community I think we turned out pretty well. Though I may never have been most well off I am still extremely fortunate. I want to complete this challenge to continue to remind myself where I came from and to continue to help my communities to the best of my abilities.

You and I my friends have the ability to make a difference even if it’s a small one.

“Little by little, a little becomes a lot” – Tanzanian proverb

  Here is the results of my shopping trip today

I don’t think I did too bad for spending a total of $8.40, this is what it looks like:

Check back over the next few days to see what creations I can make from these food items and for any interesting updates.

Please consider donating here: bit.ly/1nkM29e 

Cheating may be tempting but not everyone can cheat poverty.

Extreme poverty is more than what you can put on the table, it affects everything. During this challenge we are mainly focusing on food and drink due to the fact that this is already a drastic change in most people’s lives and diets.

Firstly to answer common questions about the challenge:

Can I eat what’s already in my cupboard?

Can I eat donated food?

Can I drink the free coffee at work?

Can I go to a foodbank?

The answer to all of these questions?  No.  

HERE ARE THE OFFICIAL RULES:

From the 28th April – 2nd May you can spend no more than $1.75 a day on food and drink.

This means you have a total of $8.75 with which to buy all ingredients for your meals.

The full cost of all the items you consume must be included in your budget. This means budgeting for whole packets of food items such as rice, pasta, noodles and eggs etc.

For items such as salt, pepper, herbs and spices, simply work out the cost of each item per gram and budget your shopping proportionally. Separate your items before the challenge so there’s no need to be digging around in your cupboards.

You can share the cost of ingredients amongst a team, as long as no participant spends more than their total $8.75 budget. Working as a team will allow you to pool together funds and do more with your cooking.

You can’t grab a cheeky snack from the cupboard unless you include the cost of buying the item new in your budget.

You can use food sourced from your garden as long as you can account for the price of production!

You cannot accept ‘donated’ food from family or friends, but monetary donations towards your fundraising goals are acceptable, and encouraged!

You are allowed to drink tap water – remember you should try and drink at least 6-8 glasses of water each day.

Feel free to donate and take a stance against poverty here:bit.ly/1nkM29d

What does a basic beverage cost at your favourite coffee shop cost? Nothing fancy; not a latte, cappuccino or fancy drink being advertised for the season.

Now imagine if that were the amount you had to spend on food and drink for the whole day. I don’t normally buy or drink coffee but this example really puts it into perspective.

An estimated 1.2 billion people around the globe live in extreme poverty. And this does not just mean difficulty with putting food on the table. The interesting part is the people who are living in extreme poverty have this same amount to do all their living. That’s including food, shelter, school, medicine… everything.

Over 400 Canadian participants, including myself are going to be living off of $1.75 for only food and drink starting April 28th. For five days we will get a tiny taste as to how difficult it is to thrive when you are living below the line.

Now comes the planning, this isn’t something to do just on a whim.

My normal grocery bill is about $40-60 per week. So do the math and I could be spending $8.50 per day….. compare that to $8.75 I have available for five whole days!

This for me is a personal decision to take on this challenge. My goals are not only to finish the challenge successfully but to also raise funds against poverty, to humble myself and to remind myself where I came from.

Follow me on my journey as I live below the line.

Feel free to donate and take a stance against poverty here:bit.ly/1nkM29d