Saturday 26 January 2013

Extreme Frugal Living - £1 A Day


In the UK, we throw away 4.4 million tonnes of food a year, including a third of all bread and a quarter of all vegetables. Up to 30% of vegetables are left in the fields to rot because supermarkets can't sell misshapen foods. This is an ethical problem in a world where almost a billion people go hungry every day.

There are 1.4 billion people living on less than £1 a day, which is the definition of extreme poverty. The Live Below The Line campaign challenges participants to live on £1 a day to engage people with the realities of poverty. I decided to take on the challenge to live on £7 for the whole week and let you all know how I get on.

The Rules
1. Spend no more than £7 for food for one week. This is approximately half of my normal share of the food shopping.
2. Gift cards must not be used. I got a Starbucks gift card for Christmas but I feel like it would be cheating to use it.
3. Only food bought during the challenge may be consumed. No raiding the cupboards for food, no using oil or spices unless included in the £7.


I will be starting this challenge tomorrow. Check back to see how I get on, offer advice and hear more about extreme frugal living.

7 comments:

Morgan said...

I'll be interested to read how you get on with this. Good luck xx

Sarah said...

Oh I can't wait to see how you get on with htis, is it £7 per person or seven pound for both of you?

Quinn said...

I think you can do it, and I think you will find it an interesting and informative exercise :) Looking forward to reading about it!

Bryallen said...

Hi guys! It's £7 for just me, because The Boyfriend point blank refused to do it! I think I will use up most of the food I buy, except maybe a big bag of rice or lentils!

Amanda said...

Good luck! Cant wait to see how you do!

cumbrian said...

Yes, a worthy aim.

But don't forget that £1 per day also includes shelter, clothing, water, but they probably don't have soap or toilet paper?

Bryallen said...

Yes I know people have to make £1 stretch a lot further than I ever could. I still think this challenge will be an eye-opening experience. The options with such a tight budget are very limited.

I guess I could cut up copies of the Metro for toilet paper and not use soap for the week, but I am just following the Live Below The Line rules this time.