Below the Line: Day Five

Here we are at the end of this challenge. This 5 day challenge has taught me so much. I learned that $7.50 goes a long way, but not enough to keep the tummy satisfied. Here's a quick breakdown of my meals, and then I'll get to what I really want to say.

Breakfast

Bread and a banana

$0.64

Lunch

Fries made from a potato jacket

$0.35

Dinner

More fries 

(I had to use up the potatoes and I just really love fries)

$0.35

Total

$1.34

So during this challenge, I have had all the cravings in the world, and it has taken every ounce of willpower to deny them. I have learned so much about how people must live in poverty. I understand that to truly understand though, I would have to live out in the streets with the cold and changing of weather. I lost 3 lbs from lack of nutrition, and proper intake of calories. Through this challenge, I've learned the value of a dollar and learned not to spend what I don't have, or rather it has taught me that I need to buy only what I need. I was lucky that I had the option to do this during my spring break, and not during the real week of April 28 - May 2. I know that this is a real tough challenge to do, and it is probably 10000% easier to do with someone else. Next year I really hope a bunch of my friends and I can do this therefore we can pool our funds together and maybe make it easier. For anyone doing this, check out coupons, deals, and plan ahead. It will make it easier. I wish you all the best of luck.

Allons-y!

Remi

Below The Line: Day Four

Four days down, and one day left. This challenge is harder than I thought it would have been. I think now that I'm further in this challenge, I've slightly grown accustom to the low caloric intake. I still get those late nighttime belly rumblings and it sucks. I still get headaches but there is no longer the lightheadedness that accompanies them. This post today will be quite short, I want to leave everything else I have to say for tomorrow. So here's a quick break down of my meals today.

Breakfast

Bread and a banana 

$0.64

Lunch

Fries made from my jacket potato

$0.35

Dinner

My last baggie of pasta and 1 cup of corn

$0.50

 Total

$1.50

Tomorrow is my last day of this challenge and I am excited and sad to see it end. This challenge has taught me a lot and I only have one day left.

Allons-y!

Remi

Below the Line: Day Three

Wow, it's day three already. I feel like this week is both flying by and taking the longest freaking time to pass. I think it's because I'm really excited to eat real food on Saturday. I am so grateful that I get to do this challenge, because while it is frustrating, it is completely worth it. To anyone who is around me, or who I text knows that this is completely and utterly difficult to me. I crave pizza everyday, and I would kill for a pb&j sandwich. Today was really rough for me, though. I had to drive up to Ardmore today and so I ate my breakfast on the way. When I finally got home, I picked my mum and bought her a chai latte. It took everything I had not to drink the chai and buy her a separate one. I forgot to eat lunch and I went to a 76ers game with a friend instead. We passed so many food counters, I wanted to buy everything there. I was offered food, but I declined it, even though I really really wanted pizza. One thing I can say is, do not skip meals during this challenge. Being as you are already on low caloric intake, you cannot afford to skip meals. Therefore, being as I skipped a meal, my total is down quite considerably.
Breakfast
Bread and a banana
$0.64
Dinner
One baggie of pasta and 1 cup of corn
$0.50
Total
$1.14

The one thing that helps a lot for the hunger is drinking a lot of water. Seriously, it is a huge life saver. I have drunk more water during this week than I have in a long while. 2 days to go!!
Allons-y!
Remi

Below The Line: Day Two

Day two of the Live Below the Line Challenge
I miss peanut butter and Nutella and coffee. I miss Chinese food and pizza, especially pizza. Anyways, here's a breakdown of my day.
I woke up around 10:30, after little to no sleep last night and was hungry, but not as hungry as I thought I would be.

Breakfast

Bread and a banana

$0.64

Lunch

Jacket potato and a slab of butter

$0.35

Dinner

A baggie of pasta and 1 cup of corn

$0.50

Total

$1.50

This challenge tests my willpower not to go and make a sandwich or eat all the ice cream in my house. I am seriously craving gummy bears and chocolate. 3 days and then I can have them. Due to my lack of caffeine I get headaches and feel sloggish. I miss my caffeine. There is a faint hunger that overtakes my body throughout the day and lightheadedness that follows. It's only day two and I couldn't imagine having to live like this everyday. This challenge is teaching me so much about myself and the value of a dollar.

Allons-y!
Remi

Live Below The Line: Day One

Okay so day one of the Live Below The Line challenge.  I started my day off with no sleep and still had to go shopping for my food. I was really nervous to buy everything and make sure that I had enough food to last me for 5 days. Here are my spoils all for $7.75. I know I went $0.25 over, but there were 6 banana's and I only needed 5.

























I planned everything out and here's the breakdown roughly:
Breakfast
A banana and bread
$0.64
Lunch
One potato
$0.29
Dinner
One baggie of pasta and 1/4 of frozen corn
$0.50

This all costs $1.43 per day. The potatoes were the most expensive item I bought costing me $1.77 for 6 potatoes.

Today however, my meals were a little cheaper.
Breakfast
1 banana: $0.22
Lunch
1 jacket potato and a slab of butter: $0.35
Dinner
One baggie of pasta and frozen corn: $0.50

Total for the day
1.07

My parents had meatloaf for dinner and I wanted to join them, but I wasn't going to give in so soon. The worst part about this, was I made this dinner and couldn't enjoy it later. The temptation to eat all the food in my house is quite difficult to resist. Perhaps it's due to my lack of sleep but I can feel the lightheadedness creep into me and rest right behind my eyes. It's distracting and I want to lay around and do nothing. It's only day one and I can feel how frustrating and difficult this will be. Also I weighed myself today and I want to see if by the end of this, I have lost any weight, because I'm not getting my full caloric intake. Day one: 112 lbs*. One day down, 4 to go.
Allons-y
Remi

*Just a note, I'm not doing this to lose weight, I'm doing it to see how difficult and utterly impossible it is to live off of $1.50 a day.

Live Below the Line 2014

Hey everyone,
Okay, so I know that I haven't posted in ages, but I have exciting news. Well, kinda. Anyways, I wasn't able to do this last year, so I want to try something. UNICEF and a bunch of other charities do this project, as we'll call it, called Live Below the Line. so basically for 5 days you live off of $1.50. It's really tough and you're starving the whole time, but it really opens your eyes. Today I'm starting it and I'm nervous and excited at the same time. The point of this project is not to starve yourself, but expand your awareness on how others who are unable to afford food, live. I'm going to update this daily, so I know I'm not traveling anywhere, but I figured that this counted.
Allons-y!
Remi