Total amount raised by Living Below the Line Dec 2011

Hi all,

 

Thanks for your support.  We managed to raise a total of $289 for Oxfam with the following gifts:

 

Trained 2 farmers                            A family garden                                A gardeners pack

 

 

2 pairs of chickens                           Nanny goat and kids                       2 flocks of ducklings

 

 

Organic bananas

 

If you would like to read about how I went over the 5 days take a look at the following http://live-below-the-line-vrose.blogspot.com/ and feel free to follow the blog if you would like to be alerted when I start my challenge next year.  Next year the challenge will be longer and more difficult, but you’ll have to wait and see what I have planned.

 

It’s not too late to contribute at http://www.oxfamunwrapped.org.nz/wishlist/237 if you wish.  There are gifts from $5 and every little bit counts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

 

Day 4

A great big thanks to David and Sandra for their gifts via Oxfam.  I have been told that total raised to date is $135.  That's wonderful.  Feel free to forward my blog to your friends, if you have found it interesting:

http://live-blow-the-line-vrose.blogspot.com/

Breakfast - Oats.  Again.  I didn't weigh the portion out, I just eyeballed it.  Big mistake.  The water wasn't soaked in properly so they were a bit dry.  There was far too much and I couldn't finish it.  I felt like I should, but I just couldn't do it.  What a waste.

Lunch - The final 2 frittatas.  Looking a little grey now, it's been 4 days since those veges were cooked.  I microwaved them until they were piping hot to try and kill off anything gross.  Others in the office said "Oh, they smell nice".  I couldn't much agree.  A bit sick of same old same old.  Glad to see the back of them.

More free food at work for me to decline.  Corinne was so kind; she emailed me in advance to say there was fudge, that she had saved me a bit at home and she would give it to me on Friday.  Aww.

Much as it would be lovely to have cake and ice cream and a big caramel latte with a pile of whipped cream on top, what I am really craving is green veges.  I'd love some crisp steamed asparagus with hollandaise, wilted spinach with garlic, blanched broccoli with toasted almonds.  And a crispy crunch chicken schnitzel.  I know I know.  A chicken's not a vegetable.

 

After work I had to go to the Dr to get a vaccination in anticipation of my university placement next year.  I had a shot in my left arm last night and in my right arm tonight.  Feeling a little sorry for myself.  Poked and prodded but no jelly bean for me. 

 

 

And because I had to sit around in the office, the way you do when they want to make sure you aren't going to pass out following a shot, I didn't get home until nearly 6.  No afternoon tea to see my through.  I didn't get a chance to go to the supermarket to spend my final $1.52 so I had to save some of my dinner allocation to make tomorrow's lunch.  That made for a somewhat measly dinner.

Dinner - 3 piklet type things made with self raising flour and water, served with quite a lot of strawberry jam.  They were surprisingly nice and surprisingly satisfying. 

I had saved my last apple for supper but I didn't really feel like I wanted it so saved it for my final day.  It seems strange to think that after just a few days my appetite has changed, but perhaps it has.  Didn't finish breakfast.  Full after lunch.  Small tea and didn't feel like supper??? 

 

 

At a rough guess I think I ate less than $1 worth of food today.  It’s nowhere near enough to fill my nutritional needs.

 

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

 

 

Day 3

Well let me just start by saying a big thanks to Fran, Jess and Caro who have purchased items from my Oxfam wish list.  Unfortunately the Oxfam website doesn’t tell me when someone buys from my list so I only know if you tell me.  Let me know if you have so I can add it to my total raised to make this whole thing worthwhile.

 

Day 3 – breakfast.  Oats.  Again.  I accidentally added a bit too much water and had to keep cooking and cooking the oats.  As it would turn out they were much nicer this way.  In fact it brought back childhood memories of spending holidays at Nana’s house where Uncle Keith would wake up at 7am to make us porridge.  Lovely.  What a bright sparkly way to start the day :o)

 

 

Again with the free food at work.  Freshly baked biscuits.  None for me thanks.

 

Well lunch was actually 2 frittatas.  I worked out I had spare, so double the portion for me!!  I must say I did a tiny little cheat.  I took a sachet of salt from the café even though it this doesn’t really meet the rules of paying for everything you eat. 

 

One thing I didn’t count on with this challenge was how isolating it feels.  Sitting in the café eating my leftovers and knowing that I can’t afford to freely choose whatever I like, as so many of the people around me can.  Everyone enjoying the biscuits in the office just makes me feel “different”.  I can’t even imagine what it must feel like if I was stuck this way with all of my financial choices; not having a safe warm home or clean clothes and having no choice at all.  Beggars can’t be choosers, so they say.

 

 

I decided to keep a glass of water on my desk at all times and keep drinking it all day long which really helps to not feel hungry, plus it’s just a good thing to drink water.  Plus with the sprinkle of salt I had on my frittata… well.

 

Afternoon tea: ½ apple

 

Dinner: Noodles – yay for a break in the monotony of the same veges I cooked on Sunday and have eaten for nearly every meal since.

 

I have spent the last two days fantasising about how to spend my final $1.52.  Should I get a tin of baked beans or spaghetti (69c)?  Should I get some shaved ham from the deli (99c/100g)?  Should I get a giant bag of tangelos with dodgy looking skin and hope they are OK on the inside (99c/kilo)?  Should I go back to bin inn and get a mixture of lollies and salted peanuts??  The options are not exactly mind blowing, but it does go to show just how addicted I am to shopping.  Any shopping is better than none.  You’ve gotta take small pleasures where you can.

 

What are your suggestions of how I should spend my ever so valuable $1.52 to make 2 more meals?

 

This picture is irrelevant but I decided to go with a black and white theme, and I thought this was cute.

 

 

http://live-blow-the-line-vrose.blogspot.com/

 

Day 2

So I woke up feeling good and ready for the day.  I stuffed around a bit sorting out my hair and my lunch and ended up running out of time to sort breakfast the way I wanted to, so it was plain oats with hot water, no grated apple today.  That’s fine, it’s a snack when I get home now.

 

About 10am I started to feel hungry.  This shouldn’t be the case with such low GI foods, but perhaps I am so preoccupied with knowing that I am not allowed anything that I feel like I want everything.  The café in the hospital smelled very inviting.  Now, we are talking about a hospital café here, not a French bakery.  Hmm.

 

So I had meetings where I was offered coffee, tea, fudge, cake… you name it.  *drool drool* “no thanks, just water for me”. 

 

 

I imagine these opportunities are a great chance to engage in a conversation about the cause and drum up support, but I just didn’t really feel inclined to talk about food any more than I had to.  Spent the remainder of my day looking forward to jam on frying pan bread and half an apple.  Oh yeah!!!

 

And the dilemma… what to do with the horrible soup?  I could add the packet of noodles with the flavour sachet to see if that helps.  I could go back to the fruit and vege shop with my remaining 1.52 to see if I can get a pumpkin or something.  I could try to thicken it with a bit of the flour.  But the concern is, what if I then waste the little that I have left by putting it into a soup that remains awful after the addition?  I sunk so much of my weekly budget on this one pot of soup thinking it would see me though.

 

 

So I got home, looked into the soup pot and out came the terrible smell.  I couldn’t face it.  Back on with the lid and thinking cap on.  I made afternoon tea of frying pan bread and strawberry jam.  I must say I spent quite some time just smelling the jam, utterly indulging in the aroma.

 

A few hours later I came up with a plan to make the soup unrecognisable.  I pulled out the veges, whisked 2 eggs and called the concoction a frittata mix.  Into the oven, fingers crossed.  The mixture made 5 frittatas in texas muffin cups.  Thankfully it was utterly delicious.  And so was my quarter of a tomato cut up and called salad.  And my half an apple for supper was about the best half an apple I’ve had.

 

Things aren’t looking so grim.

 

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

 

Day 1

So yeah, it’s official.  $2.25 is not much.

 

On Saturday I bought my food for the 5 days:

 

20g sugar             6c

1t cinnamon       5c

250g oats             90c

150g lentils          90c

50g jam                40c

Noodles               60c

50ml oil                 10c

6 eggs                   1.83

2T curry pwd      18c

250g sr flour       80c

Fruit and veges 3.91 (including a tomato and a mandarin, that didn’t make it into the photo)

TOTAL                   9.73

Remaining           1.52

 

 

Day 1 – breakfast, 50g oats, 1t sugar, pinch cinnamon, grated apple, water.  Actually nice.  I always imagined this would be my favourite meal of the day.  I am wondering why I didn’t make it dinner too.

Went to a hair appointment that was supposed to take an hour but ended up taking 3 and a half.  Didn’t get home until around 4pm and I was famished.  Couldn’t drop in anywhere and get a sneaky muffin to tide me over.  *sad face*

Lunch and afternoon tea combined – 1 hard boiled egg, ¼ tomato, frying pan bread, glass of water

Moments after finishing lunch I put dinner on to cook.  Lentils, curry powder, onion, garlic, carrots and potatoes.  Should be nice!  Isn’t.  I completely stuffed up the quantities, and while I am quite sure this would have been nice I had to eek it out to 4 dinners so there was far too much water and no flavour at all.  I did eat it, but only really enjoyed picking out the potatoes.  I added some more curry powder and garlic and gave it another boil hoping it would improve overnight.

A couple of hours later I ate a mandarin of Nola’s a took the money out of my budget.

 

It is very clear that if I hadn’t planned out my meals so well I would have run out of food by the end of the 5 days because this is way less than I would want to eat on a daily basis.

 

 

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

 

Right, so here’s me thinking “this won’t be so bad”.  I’m an analyst by nature and so I have spent the last couple of days comparing prices at Bin Inn, Pak n Save, the little corner Asian store… the works.  “Only 30c for 100g of oats.  Cheap!  A dozen eggs for under 3 bucks.  Nice!  I can go and get that cheap shaved ham from the deli.  How come no other person on this challenge thought of that?  I’ll be living like a princess!”

 

 

So then I start to break it down.  Each egg is 25c.  I can get a tin of corn for $1 and with a bit of flour 50c, and a little bit of chopped onion, hey presto I’ve got corn fritters!  That’s a meal.  Hmm.  Hang on.  I’ve spent about $2 on that recipe.  I’d have to eek it out for 3 meals.  Let me rethink this.

 

 

So I start to write out my shopping list.  I will spare you the painful details, but after a bin full of screwed up bits of paper I think I have the final list.  Thank goodness I can go to Bin Inn and get little bits of things, is all I have to say.

 

250g oats                             90c

250g flour                            70c

50g jam                                40c

150g dry lentils                  90c

150g rice                              45c

6 eggs                                   1.83

Noodles                               60c

A squiggle of oil                10c

A squiggle curry pwd      10c

A squiggle cinnamon      10c

5 tps brown sugar            10c

 

That’s around $6 so I’ll have a bit over $5 left over for fresh fruit and veges.  I’ve scoped out a place where there are several choices at the $2 a kilo mark, so I’ll try to get a bit of variety that way.  A little of this, a little of that!  Who am I kidding, it’ll be carrots and potatoes. 

 

So my meal plan, with several meals a day, little and often; breakfast is oats and warm water, cinnamon, brown sugar and some kind of fruit.  Lunch is some egg and vege concoction (like omelette, noodle frittata or hardboiled egg and salad).  Afternoon tea is homemade pan bread and jam.  Dinner is lentil and rice soup.  Supper if any, is fruit.  Yes, monotonous but relatively healthy and hopefully satisfying.

 

Watch this space for Monday’s exciting instalment which will show my post shopping trip pictures plus summing up day one.  Wish me luck!

 

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

 

Why NZ$2.25?

Hi all and thanks for your interest in my challenge.

 

Before I begin I will just explain a few things that will help this to make a little more sense.  Why NZ$2.25?

 

1.4 billion of the world's population live in poverty.  A loose definition is a lack of material possessions or money.  The "poverty line" is living entirely on an amount approximately equivalent to NZ$2.25 per day.  Not for food. but for everything.  Housing, medication, education, clothing, food, drink, transport... everything.  That figure is not calculated using an exchange rate but rather PPP (purchasing power parity), that is to say what you can buy in New Zealand for $2.25; so that's not very flash. 

 

 

Follow me here for a moment and ponder this.  NZ$2.25 is the PPP equivalent of US$1.25 or GBP1.00.  It is also the PPP equivalent of 32 Indian Rupees.  If you were to use the standard exchange rate, 32 Indian Rupees would buy just under NZ80c.  So this must be why your donation of a few dollars actually makes a difference.  $5 for seeds or $15 for chickens makes a great deal of difference in someone's life.

 

And finally this couple of dollars is not necessarily cash money, but rather the value of things.  So if someone living in poverty begs, barters, busks, breeds, borrows or grows (what's a b-word for grow?) the value of these items is included within the $2.25 not on top of it.  Remember, this is a cap, so it means that many of the 1.4 billion have LESS than this.  Mind boggling.

 

This challenge asks me to live on $11.25 worth of food for 5 days.  So I can still drive my car, live in my house, cook food in my oven.  In fact I have an appointment for a cut an colour on Sunday and I can assure you that Aragorn does not accept $2.25 for his skills and time.  David very kindly offered to lend me a bike so as not to drive during the week, but let's just take baby steps here.

 

 

So this leads me to my point.  The rules.  People have said to me "Can't you just get free food?  Like go to your Mum's for tea?".  No.  Not unless I count the value of that food into my $2.25 as per the above definition.  "Can't you just pick apples off the neighbour's tree?"  No.  Not unless I count the value of that food into my $2.25 as per the above definition.  "Could you set up busking outside the shopping centre and then use that money to buy takeaways?"  No.  Not unless I count the value of that food into my $2.25 as per the above definition. 

 

So how about taking a teaspoon of coffee from the cupboard and counting the value of that teaspoon only?  Well no.  If you were genuinely living in poverty could you go into a shop and buy a single teaspoon of coffee?  Trust me, in leading up to this challenge I have tried.  But alas, I shall be coffee-less, unless I decide to spend $2.45 on a 90g packet of home brand instant coffee.  And at this point I think I would rather have a kilo of questionable apples from the el-cheapo fruit shop.

 

 

So look forward to a hungry, tired and cranky Victoria.  But a grateful Victoria that I can go home and sleep in my warm dry bed.

 

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

What is living below the line?

Hi everyone,

Well I have just heard about a challenge called “Live Below the Line” in which participants live on NZ$2.25 per day for five days to raise awareness and money for impoverished people. You can read more here:

http://www.livebelowtheline.co.nz/about/
http://www.livebelowtheline.co.nz/how-to-participate/rules/

Well I missed this year’s challenge, so I am making my own. From Sunday December 11th to Thursday December 15th I will only eat what I can buy for $2.25 per day ($11.25 for the entire 5 days). So that means no daily café visits, no prepared meals, no takeaways. Um, hang on, maybe I just changed my mind :o/

If you would like to sponsor me, you can buy a gift from my wish list:

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

If you would like to join me in the challenge then let me know and I can help you create your own wish list :oD

Thanks,
Victoria