Day 5

Final day!!!

Breakfast - Oats.  The best so far.  After 5 days I have finally got it.

Lunch - all of the leftovers in the cupboard.  2 eggs (hardboiled).  1 apple. YES A WHOLE APPLE.  2 flour and water piklets left over from dinner.  Felt like heaps.

Another needle today, this time it was blood tests - again relating to university.  The nurse had to try both arms so I walked out with two sticky plasters and still no jelly beans.  OK I get that at the age of 33 I was unlikely to get a jelly bean anyway, but I am still allowed to feel sorry for myself.  For goodness sake, I needed that blood.

On my way home from work I went to the supermarket to spend my final $1.52.  At the deli I got a single cube of feta for 25c and a tablespoon of coleslaw for 53c.  I chose what I thought was an appropriate sized kumara and mandarin.  Sadly, I could only just afford the kumara (69c) and had to put the mandarin (61c) back.  Very embarrassing, and sad - I was so looking forward to fruit and veges.  It was the smallest piece of fruit I could find but at $4 a kilo and being a large mandarin I was out of luck.

 

Afternoon tea - left over couple of tablespoons of oats made into porridge.

Dinner - baked kumara with feta mashed in and a tiny side of coleslaw.  Hella yum!

Feeling pretty tired and probably quite low in iron, so very much looking forward to eating meat and veges for dinner tomorrow.  I am very glad this is only 5 days.

I read that the founders of the Live Below the Line campaign felt that in order to lead by example they had to do more than follow the 5 day challenge.  One decided he would live below the line for an entire month.  He commented that he found that by the end of the month little cuts and scratches were healing more slowly and he was more likely to catch any sniffle going around.  The other founder was unable to do a month long challenge due to travel commitments, but instead lived the challenge for 5 days and reduced his daily budget to $1. 

 

Their plan for next year is to live below the line for an entire month, and not only that, they will only have their AU$2 each day rather than having a week's worth or month's worth of money up front.  So each day will be a new challenge to find 3 entire meals for just a gold coin.  It does make sense.  Those people living in extreme poverty don't get their salary direct deposited into their bank account once a week, they do their best each day.

Well I hope you have enjoyed reading my updates and that perhaps you feel inspired to donate a little bit to Oxfam.  There are gifts from as low as $5 and your contribution makes a real difference in the life of a person, a family, a community.  The lovely people at Oxfam unwrapped tell me that the wishlist reporting feature of their website is working now, so if you want to contribute anonymously then you can by following the link to my wishlist.

http://www.oxfamunwrapped.org.nz/wishlist/237

I'll send one last update at the end of next week with the total amount raised.  Thanks everyone!