Live Below the Line 2012

[Morgenleoht]

Hey guys!

I had a crack at this last year (I bombed out because of personal stuff) and I'd like to have a shot at it again. From the 7th to 11th of May, I will be living on $2 a day.

This year, I'd like to see an FSTDT team, which I will be happy to start up. Look at it this way: we're all having money troubles and this could save us a bit of money while we're raising cash for others.

Please message/comment/donate/whatever at https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/dawnbyrnes

Have a good one and thanks!

What The Futhark

[Captain Jack Harkness]

Is such a thing even possible if you pay rent, or are you talking about living on an average of $2 of disposable income a day?

[Sandafluffoid]

Dunno, but if you take out rent and bills, the living cost is low enough here that I have been doing it on and off for the last year.

[The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist]

Is such a thing even possible if you pay rent, or are you talking about living on an average of $2 of disposable income a day?

I think it applies mostly to food.

[Morgenleoht]

The main challenge refers to food, but some people (especially those with health issues) can apply it to transport, power, or something else...

[Cerim Treascair]

It's generally a food challenge, and doesn't apply to things like transportation/rent/mortgage.  You know, stuff for ACTUAL living expenses.

[Quasirodent]

I honestly don't know if that's possible where I live.
Even a brick of ramen is 99c unless I buy bulk.  >_>  also I ate so much ramen when I was in high school, the smell of it makes me nauseous, but that's an aside.

[Morgenleoht]

I honestly don't know if that's possible where I live.
Even a brick of ramen is 99c unless I buy bulk.  >_>  also I ate so much ramen when I was in high school, the smell of it makes me nauseous, but that's an aside.

It can be a challenge. I've chosen to tack on two more days so I get $4 more to play with. I'll be living on boiled rice with frozen vegetables with soy sauce and minced garlic added, porridge with milk and sugar, tea with milk and sugar... I have $2.13 left of my $14 budget and might buy some lentils or beans for protein. We'll see.

[Morgenleoht]

I'm starting this tomorrow so I can finish up on the Saturday and have a huge feed on the Sunday. If you guys feel like donating to a good cause, I'd be grateful. I promise I will give you daily updates.

[Quasirodent]

Good luck - though you do bring up a thought.
I need to eat at least a little bit of meat to stay healthy - there's apparently a genetic flaw in my family that makes us unable to synthesize the full range of proteins the human body needs.  Proteins that aren't found in plant sources.  This is according to my mother's doctor, after she got extremely sick from going vegetarian for 2 months, so I'm not 100% sure it's correct, but since I start feeling icky if I don't have meat in my diet, I believe something's up... 
I could take supplements but they're also expensive.  Someone living on 14 dollars a week couldn't afford that.
So this diet you're planning could make someone like me very ill.

[Morgenleoht]

Oh, for sure! That's why they have alternate challenges, like only using $2 a day for transport or power or something, for those who can't do the 5+-day $2 worth of food.

I'm going to miss meat and Coke and all those other things; this is also a personal challenge to myself, to see if I can reduce my eating out and save myself some cash. I want to live on my own, and if I can reduce my weekly bill to something like $50 a week, I could afford to.

[Cerim Treascair]

value 12-pack of mac and cheese:  $6
2 pound bag of peas:  $3
tuna or chunk chicken:  $1 a can or less, usually.

Make all at once, put in storage containers in the fridge, eat for a week.  Usually only eating half the package of mac and cheese, and using half the peas.  It's what I did to make rent back in Oregon.  That and things like BBQ chicken ramen (four bricks ramen, one or two bottles of BBQ sauce, pound or so of grilled chicken.  All told? $12 and it held me most of a week.

[Morgenleoht]

value 12-pack of mac and cheese:  $6
2 pound bag of peas:  $3
tuna or chunk chicken:  $1 a can or less, usually.

Make all at once, put in storage containers in the fridge, eat for a week.  Usually only eating half the package of mac and cheese, and using half the peas.  It's what I did to make rent back in Oregon.  That and things like BBQ chicken ramen (four bricks ramen, one or two bottles of BBQ sauce, pound or so of grilled chicken.  All told? $12 and it held me most of a week.

I'm Australian; prices are different here.

I did grab some kickarse deals though: 0.49 for a quarter-head of cabbage, 0.30 for a carrot, 0.29 for a kilo of oranges (not my favourite fruit, but it'll be a nice change from water), $1 for a kilo of bananas...

Breakfast today was 2/3rd cup quick oats, 3/4 cup of milk, 3/4 cup of water and a tablespoon of raw sugar. I'm going to add more sugar tomorrow since I dropped the teabags from the list and bought more vegetables. The vaguely tomato rice-bean mix I cooked up last night will be dinner; I should get five bowls out of it. When I run out of it, I will make rice boiled in crushed garlic and chicken stock cube with steamed vegetables.

[Morgenleoht]

...Fuck. I'v already bombed out because of shakes and a headache.

I sent them $50 extra on the 10 I donated. That'll put a kid in Papua New Guinea through life skills and vocational training for a year.

I suck, I know.

[Cerim Treascair]

You've made the attempt at least.  And oh yeah, that's right, Aussies get better food prices and get shafted on gaming.  I forgot about that.  Seriously, 29 cents for a kilo of oranges?! sign me the hell up!