Amazing Generosity

Just wanted to thank everybody who has dontated. I know I have tried to personally thank everyone, however as a total, hannah and I rasied A MASSIVE $927.75.

I think that it is amazing, and never expected to raise this much at all. Since doing it has made me realise jsut how much money we have. At uni, its extremely hard to find a feed for under $7, and as soon as we go out to a restraunt, we are paying nearly $20 for a feed. When all you have if $2, it makes you appriciated the small things in life. Im glad I took on the challenge, and thanks again to everyone. Your all amazing

We made the paper!

http://southern-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/living-below-the-line/

6 hours to go

And I'm currently sitting back at home counting down until the week of living below the line is over. Its been hard yet easy in some ways...and i'm overwhelmingly greatful for the experience its given me.
As i've said, i've become so much more aware of just how much money i spend and, in some sense, waste each week just on little 'extras' to get me by. I've become more aware that i *could* survive on so much less - its just a comfort thing that stops me from doing so.
I'm incredibly incredibly lucky to be in the position I am in. I take for granted so often what I have, the food i eat, the shelter i have, the clothes i wear - weekly i'd spend so much more than $14 just on living without a second thought.

As a sidenote, these last 6 hours aren't going to be any easier. Dad's just told us they're having pizza and chips for dinner...a fitting challenge for the end of the week.

Last Day!!!

Finally the last day is here. It is so repeative when you are having the same food every day. Like hannah said below, it really does make you appriciate the small things in life, like just being able to grab any food, or even the smaller things like the choice of things.

I was thinking about what I am going to eat on saturday, and we spoke about having indian, but then i realised every time we go there, we spend $22. So for the one meal, its the same as a weeks worth of food for both of us. Its really gave me a reality check to my life, that i shouldnt jsut spend because I can, as there are alot of people that cant do that.

Yesterday I worked an 11 hour day (9am till 8pm), hence was lucky that i brought enough food with me for the day. It meant I didnt get to have dinner till nearly 9pm.

Today its again porridge (suprise suprise), then we dont know. We have so much food left over. We were fairly conserviative at the start as we thought that towards the end we would need more as we would be more run down. Hannah was sick again yesterday, but she didnt have alot more food like we planned for.

As of today we have raised $782.75 which is astounding, considering at the start my goal was $200, and I thought that would be hard to get to. I have now raised 472.75, so have flogged the original target. I have included all cash donations + my donation under Scott Walsh.

Thanks everyone who has donated. Really means alot

Also the organisation yester broke the 1 million dollar mark. Thats 1,000,000.00!!! they are now at 1.064mill!!

The home stretch

So, today marks thursday - the fourth day into our living below the line.
Thus far, I've eaten porridge, two-minute noodles, veges and rice...and I am hanging for something different. I've become more and more aware just how blessed I am to be living in a country like Australia where we have seemingly limitless choices in what, when, and where we eat. More often than not we don't think twice about handing over $10 or even $20 for a meal out somewhere; not for a treat, just because we can. Living below the line has really shown me firstly how it actually is possible to live off so little, and secondly, how much I really have.

Even little things like being able to choose what spread i'd have on my toast at breakfast in college. Or the fact every meal for me is different. Or the fact I can 'treat' myself to some chocolate or some other snack whenever I please. Seeing people around me in uni pulling out lunch boxes full of food has been quite challenging this week. I've realised how things I would have thought were so mundane previously I relish the opportunity to eat: Today I had an orange with breakfast. It was absolutely amazing. A week of living off the bare minimum has made me appreciate so much more what I have.

Two days, and then this experience is over. So far we've raised over $750 for providing schools in remote papua new guinea thanks to our generous friends and family - its made every longing for other food oh so worth it. Thankyou all!

Day 3 already

In some ways its seem that it has gone quickly, in others feels like forever. Quite glad I’m on the run home now. We are both very over porridge, and can’t wait for some bacon and eggs or something else.

For me today i have had porridge, and at 2:30 a bruised apple. I couldn’t have lunch till 4:30 as I was at uni till 4, hence the apple had to get me through. Hannah ended up cooking last night as her tutoring got pushed to today. Hannah wanted to be creative tonight and is going to do something with the eggplants, but dinner won’t be till around 8:30 or so.

I’m struggling without my cans of soft drink. I usually have 2 a day (I know I’m crazy and its bad for me but they are nice!).
I’m also struggling with all these veggies. GIVE ME MEAT! haha


Both of us have been eating later, as we are eating when we are starving opposed to eating for the sake of it. We are also having alot more sleep then usual, as we cant muster the energy to stay up to the hours we usually do. Whilst its good to get sleep, I know I am starting to fall behind with uni work.

Day duex.

My tummy is not happy. It misses things. Like corn. And orange juice. and toast.
This was dinner. Eggplant-tomato-potato-onion-ness and rice. It is better than split peas.
I miss my fruit.
I think this is harder than I first thought.
Water is boring to drink at times, also.
And I think porridge is a basquillion times better with sugar.

End whinge: This is eye-opening. I think for that, I like it.

Day 2

For breakfast again was porridge, as it will be every day. Today I had to luxury of having a damaged apple, as i couldnt have lunch till 3:30 due to uni. Hannah on the other hand got to have left overs of last nights dinner and some porridge (twice in one day!!)

Im on dinner duty, however hannah is out tutoring, then has to be at her college, so I will have to deliver her a late dinner. Im a bit worried as what dinner will be, as im clueless with cooking haha. Fingers crossed it comes out ok.

Day 1 Dinner

Last night Hannah cooked for us and created what you see above. As you can see, it doesnt look very good, nor is there much of it, but thats part of the week.

We also had a photographer come over in the afternoon as I will be getting an article in the local paper, and on there website. We both had a bit of fun being idiots for photos haha.

Day 1

Today so far we have had porridge (which is going to be our breakfast every day). Until recently I had never had porridge and still not a great fan of it.

Lunch will be some noodles, and dinner will be a stew similar to our test cook that is below.

It was encouraging to see that people had 'chalked' over uni (i.e. writing on the ground in chalk haha) saying "can you livebelowtheline.com.au". Its very encouraging to see that people are getting into it and spreading the word.

Our food for the week

This is an image of all the food we have for the week. As i said below the bags of fruit and vegies helped alot. The prices are as below

750g Instant Oats $0.99
2 x Chicken Noodles Packets(5) $2.18
1kg Basmati Rice $ 2.99
0.772kg Red Onions $1.43
500gm Brown Sugar $1.69
500gm Soup Mix Peas (lentals) $ 1.19
500gm Peas Split (lentals) $1.21
Chicken stock cubes(7) $ 0.48
2 x Produce Clearance $4.00

Current Total $16.16

We still have $3.84 to spend. Thats still another days worth of food each. We think we can get buy with saving this money, and living off LESS then $2 a day, however we will see later in the week how we go with supplies

Lucky Buy

As I said in a post below, we had heard about a produce clearance at Hillsdale woolworths, where they sell all damaged fruit and vegies for only $2 a bag. They had everything from avacados (which the person behind me in the line said were $2.50 each and he got 4 damanged ones plus other stuff for only $2), to oranges, potatoes, eggplants, and so much more stuff.

Although it is all damaged, I guess we cant be picky at all. This has helped us soooo much and will hopefully get us across the line. We got two bags, as there is two of us, hence we share the cost, therefore only being $2 each.

And so it begins..

Day one, living below the line.

Sickness :(

With only 3 hours left, Hannah has had a bad day and is feeling fairly sick. She has not been well most of today, so we are now just praying that it goes away and doesn’t affect her tomorrow. We have nearly $4 left after our shopping (which we will post up soon), so we may have to buy some drug for her to get her through the week. Hopefully it doesn’t get to that. Any prayers to help her through would be appreciated.

Stay tuned and tomorrow we will put up what we bought, and how much. It’s looking easier than first thought.

Just a little price-check.

Number crunching from yesterday's shopping adventure

Coles:
Onions: $2.98 (kg)
Brown Sugar: $1:69 (500g)
Plain Pancake shake n' bake: $1.89 (350g)
Stock Cubes: $0.48
Red Lentils: $4.43 (kg)
Yellow Lentils: $2.80 (500g)
Tomato Soup: $1.00 per tin

Aldi:
Baked beans: $0.69
Cuppa soup: $0.89 each
Tomato soup: $0.89 per tin
Basmasti rice: $2.99 (kg)
Spaghetti: $0.79 (500g)
Tinned tomato: $0.69 per tin
Instant noodles: $1.09 pack of 5
Cup noodles: $0.79 each
Frozen chips: $1.99 (kg)
Spaghetti sauce with beef: $2.99 per tin
Margarine spread: $1.09 (500g)
7 thin sausages: $2.49
Instant oats: $0.99 (700g)

Test-cook

 Our first test cook for next week's living below the line. A lentil, potato, carrot and onion stew of sorts. Almost surprisingly, despite our complete lack of recipe, it turned out to be completely edible!

After spending an hour trawling both our local Aldi and Coles, we were actually quite surprised as to how far $2 a day can actually go. This dinner (with quite a bit leftover) cost us around $2 between the two of us (ie, just over dollar each!) We've pretty-well decided on having porridge for all breakfasts, and instant noodles for lunches, as they're quick easy and cheap. Veges will come from our dinners - so far, its looking achievable (but still quite hard....)

Perspective Change:

From being shocked and somewhat appalled that my residential college budgets for us only $2.54 for one meal, to realising this amount spells for those in poverty another day's survival for all meals.

What a find!

My mother has found something that may make our $2 go alot further then first anticipated. We have heard that on a Friday, a local fruit seller sells a bag of mixed fruit and vegetables for only $2. The bag can be filled with anything they have in certain boxes.

These are fruit and vegies that are deemed to be not perfect, but really in this world do we need perfection, considering there are so many people that cant even afford food.

This is a great find as we may be able to get some apples, mandarines, potatoes and onions, all for only $2. I shall take a photo and post up to prove that it is legitamite.

Cheapest food on Campus

So, 15 minutes later, we spent $8.30 on two pieces of banana bread and a can of softdrink, equating to over 2 days worth of food each next week. This is the cheapest lunch possible to buy on campus.

An interesting perspective on the matter. Our loose change which we spend without a second thought is used by millions each day purely to survive on.

Getting Close

With one week to go until we start famining, I suppose we're thinking more about just how we' re going to survive a week living off just two dollars a day. In some ways we've been lucky - porridge is seeming somewhat more edible and definitely feasible. We've also done well in sourcing a range of foodstuffs which hopefully are affordable and will provide us with a range in our meals.

Scott has been brilliant on the publicity front - soon to have an article published in the local paper spreading the news about the organization and what we're all fighting for!

We're anticipating tiredness, hunger and most likely irritability to follow the next week as we live how so many in the world do everyday.

Intial Stages

Hannah started up a list of all the groceries we need and the prices. So far we have got all the prices at aldi, woolworths and coles. We still have to look at more places.

We found we can get 750gms of porriage for $1.00 at aldi. That gives us 13 meals, hence good value. We both hadnt rally had porriage until last week, however now trying (note trying) to like it haha.

We shall post the list once we finish it

Donation Pages

Hannah Degotardi's Donation Page

This May I'm going to be living below the line! From May 16th - 20th I'll be surviving off just $2 a day for all of my food...It's definitely going to be hard, but it's an awesome way for me to raise money and awareness for the 1.4 billion people who have to live like this every day - and who have to make $2 cover a lot more than food!Please donate to support me, and critical anti-poverty initiatives. After donating - you should consider joining up and doing it yourself!

http://www.livebelowtheline.org.au/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=317138






Scott Walsh's Donation Page

Hey everybody,I'm taking on a huge task of living below the line from May 16th - 20th. That means I'll be surviving off just $2 a day for all of my food!!! (and I eat alot!!) It's going to be so hard, but it's an awesome way for me to raise money and awareness for the 1.4 billion people who have to live like this every day - and who have to make $2 cover a lot more than food! Please donate anything you can. I know that all people are not in the best finanical situation or may give to charity in other ways, but simply spreading the word or passing this link onto other people would be greatly appriciated. The more the word gets spread, the more we can help fight poverty.

http://www.livebelowtheline.org.au/scottwalsh