Today was the last day of the Live Below the Line challenge. The challenge is to feed yourself on less than $1.50 a day- the amount a U.S. person living in poverty would have to spend.
I’ve chosen to support Opportunity International with my challenge. Donations can be made through the Live Below the Line campaign page. You can also get involved by participating in the challenge- can you feed yourself on just $1.50 a day?
Day 1 and Day 2 of the challenge my total was $1.38 each day. For the most part I ate a
normal menu, with the exception of no M&Ms. Day 3 I blew the budget on a salad! Day 4 I even had a late night snack and totaled $1.47 for the day.
Today I ate:
Breakfast
1 Serving Raisin Bran @ .24
4 oz. milk @ .10
Total: $.34
Lunch
7 oz Banana @ .26
6 oz carrots @ .31
1/2 serving ranch @ .03
Total: .60
Dinner
I debated about whether or not to enjoy pizza tonight with the rest of the family. In the end I decided that since I had abstained from M&Ms for nearly 5 days I should treat myself. I tallied up my food from the entire week and saw that I had $.71 left to spend for the 5 day challenge. A hot ‘n ready pizza is $5.41 including tax, so I ate 1 slice of pizza (yes, I was honest and picked one that looked to be 1/8 of the pizza) for 67.6 cents. Then I weighed a serving of M&Ms to see how many were in a serving. I’d bought this bag for about $.63 each so I was able to eat 10 M&Ms. Will I be hungry later tonight with only 1 slice of pizza? Probably, but I’m still enjoy the taste of accomplishment. My other slices of pizza will be waiting for me in the morning 
1 slice Little Caesar’s Pizza @ .68
10 M&Ms @ .02
Total: $.70
Total for Day 5 : $1.64
Day 1: $1.38
Day 2: $1.38
Day 3: $1.62
Day 4: $1.47
Day 5: $1.64
While this was a sort of fun week for me to post these updates, I hope it has helped to bring some awareness to the conditions that many people in America are living in. There were a few times that I was hungry, but I knew there would be food at the next meal. For many, they are hungry with no food available for the next meal. Give it a try- give yourself a $1.50 food budget for a few days. I’m sure there are people in your community trying to feed their families on such a budget. With your ability to shop smartly by combining coupons, sales and rewards can you spare a little to help your neighbors out?
good job! Yay for pizza! =)
amazing – proud of you!
I really enjoyed following this story every day. Hope you didn’t lose too much weight. You know though, the key to a longer life is a low calorie diet. However, I think I’d rather eat more fruits and vegetables and still get less calories:). Keep doing interesting things like this. You’ve got a lot of self control:). I wonder if there’s been any recalls on M&Ms:)-
A
I found the code. Thanks!!