the night before

It’s official, we’ve been shopping at Doncaster market and Morrisons and we’ve stolen some coffee sachets and a couple of tea bags from a hotel mum stayed at last week (more about the ethics of stealing when you live below the line later) and we’ve grown the basil for the pasta dishes, I think we’re ready to Live Below the Line.

Starting tomorrow we’ll be living off yellow and cream coloured staples like pasta, rice, porridge, oh no wait sorry we’ve also got some lovely red lentils. We’ve got a few vegetables, some carrots, mushrooms, onions and garlic and hopefully something green with a sunshine yellow reduced sticker will appear mid week. We’ve also got a couple of luxury items, some mixed fruit jam for 29p, some sugar for 98p and a huge bag of salt for 19p. We’ll be drinking water and craving tea and coffee. We have £10 left in our budget to buy the important things we’ve forgotten about and maybe a tin of custard powder and some milk.

The reason for all this is to raise some awareness of the millions and millions of people who live on just £1 a day. That £1 has to cover a lot more than food, don’t forget there is the cost of having a roof over your head, clothes to keep you warm, and arguably just as importantly for those things in life that bring joy. It’s only since I decided to take this challenge and have been doing some research that I have learnt (maybe a better word would be realised because it seems like something I ought to have know without having to learn it) people who live in poverty often spend what little money they have not on basic food items but on another of life’s essentials- luxury items which just make us smile and feel a bit better. So their £1 a day doesn’t just have to fill their bellies and keep them warm it also has to go towards their small pile of pleasures in life. These nameless and faceless millions live off £1 a day or less with no choice in the matter, that is one luxury they cannot afford.

So over the next week, Kerry, Lynne and I will be having our own experiences of what it feels like to live far more modestly than any of us are used to. We’re doing it for various reasons but I think we’re all choosing to do it so that we can raise a bit of awareness about global poverty and the kinds of things ordinary people like us, and you can do to help. We’ll be using this blog as somewhere to record our thoughts and share information so I hope you stick with us for the week and enjoy reading what we write.

Our aim was never to raise money, our focus is on awareness raising, however, if you would like to sponsor us to take this challenge or donate because you think it is something you can do to help then you can donate through this blog to UNICEF. The money will go directly to UNICEF UK to help support the work they do for children all over the world, but it would also make us feel like you are behind us and behind what we are trying to do.

Right now I’m feeling positive and finding it hard to see how I’m going to struggle, it all seems easy at this stage but I’ll let you know how those feelings change in about 48 hours when my tummy starts to rumble!

Doesn't look much for 63 meals does it?! 

A weeks worth of breakfasts