My week #belowtheline

Last week, I completed the Live Below the Line challenge.

Over 1.2 billion people in our world live on less than £1 per day, and the live below the line challenge is about raising awareness and funds for various charities that work with these people to end the poverty.

Let me give you a summary of my week.

For the challenge, I went to Aldi and spent £4.82 on my food. This bought me:

•             1 kg porridge

•             2 tins of rice pudding

•             Jelly crystals

•             500g penne pasta

•             1kg frozen mixed veg 

•             1 loaf of white bread

•             1 pack of chocolate cookies

•             1 tin of tomato soup

•             2 jars of tomato and herb pasta sauce

•             500g of spaghetti

Then, starting Tuesday 6th May, I began my challenge.

Day 1 was not too difficult. I started with a bowl of porridge made from water (disgusting) and this kept me going fairly well. I did get peckish about 11.30 for a biscuit, but I think that was habit rather than real hunger. My lunch was half the soup, two slices

of dry toast, and two of the cookies. This was actually rather nice and I enjoyed it, although I didn’t really feel satisfied. Dinner was a big bowl of pasta with veg and the sauce followed by rice pudding. I also had 2 cookies a while after as I was feeling hungry again.

Day 2 I was at home all day, and I had very little appetite, making the challenge slightly easier. I had my porridge again, and for lunch I had four slices of dry toast. Dinner was the same, and I had 2 cookies during the day. I made up the jelly ready for tomorrow.

Day 3 was tough. I had my porridge with a side bowl of jelly (for that sweet kick), and then went to Starbucks in Peterborough for a meeting about Summer School. Being in there wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. I didn’t feel tempted by the coffee and didn’t look at the food so I couldn’t feel hungry. The problem came when the staff came round with samples of new sandwiches they have. Even though this wouldn’t ‘cost’ me anything, you cannot accept free food when living below the line. The smell was delicious and it took great effort to say ‘no thanks’. Those I was meeting with weren’t very supportive, and helped themselves! But I couldn’t really blame them. 

It was interesting to be in the city, passing café’s and shops, seeing the cost of things, and thinking how a sandwich would cost me a day or more’s worth of food. It was quite an eye-opener!

I kept focussing on eating my bread on the way home, and this got me through the meeting. When I got in, I hurriedly made my spaghetti, veg and sauce, and enjoyed this. I waited a while before having my rice pudding, but I still had a severe case of the munchies! I ended up devouring 8 (!) cookies before the end of the evening.

Day 4 began again with porridge and jelly. Lunch was the rest of the soup, two slices of toast, and two cookies, and dinner was spaghetti, veg and pasta again followed by the last of the rice pudding. A further 3 cookies were eaten.

Day 5 – I was so happy to have reached the last day! I couldn’t bear another bowl of watery, tasteless, gloop (porridge), so I started with a couple of cookies. I then had a further two cookies before lunch, which was pasta and veg, with no sauce as I was saving that for my dinner. Dinner was again pasta, veg, and sauce, followed by two cookies. I was craving fast food or a takeaway A LOT. But I had reached the end. And I was over the moon.

When Sunday dawned, I happily got up and made my first cup of tea for days and made my usual wheetabix with hot milk (MILK!).  It was bliss.

I am so grateful to have enough money to live and enjoy life, and Live Below the Line affected my thinking greatly over the 5 days.

My prayer now is that I remember the struggle, and that my thought process will remain the same when it comes to buying food.

I want to challenge you again to take the challenge for yourself. And if not, please sponsor me here.

Extravagant waste

I went to fill my car with petrol yesterday at the local Sainsburys petrol station. As normal, I presented my Nectar card to get my Nectar points.

I don’t know how much you know about ‘Nectar’ and Sainsburys, but when you swipe your Nectar card, you sometimes receive a voucher to use next time you visit the store which gives you extra points, or money off, etc.

Yesterday’s voucher promised me 200 bonus Nectar points if I spend more than £50 in Sainsburys by 7^th May.

Here are some facts for you:

·         I live alone
·         My average weekly shop costs less than £20
·         I’m away on The Big Adventure (Children’s Adventure camp ) this weekend
·         I start Live Below the Line on Tuesday (6^th May)

And yet, when I got the voucher, I immediately began thinking if I could possibly spend £50 before it ran out! It’s crazy! Never mind the fact I’m only meant to live off 10% of that next week for Live Below the Line.

And when I thought of that challenge, I was shocked at this behaviour.

How many people must spend more than they need to get extra ‘points’ or similar because they were given a voucher? 

How much additional ‘stuff’ do they buy that would otherwise not have been purchased? 

And how much of it ends up in the bin?

Although I have yet to start the Live Below the Line challenge, even signing up has made me reconsider my spending habits and realise how fortunate we are.

I do not need to spend £50 on a weekly shop, but I could manage it if I wanted to. I could spend it on clothes and games and chocolate and lots of other stuff I don’t need, and I could afford to do it too.

But there are 1.2 billion people who live on less than 10% of that.

God cares about each and every one of them.

And we can make a difference.

Once again, I ask you to join me for any 5 consecutive days before 30^th June and live below the line. You can sign up here and then search for ‘Anglia Division’ to join our team.

If you are unable to participate in the challenge, please donate here. Any donation, big or small, will make a difference.

Live Below The Line Challenge – Join In!

First off – sorry for the absence! I was having technical difficulties with the blog editor but now, I’m back!  Expect posts to be appearing at their normal rate now!

It’s been a crazy few months, but I want to start my posting again with a personal challenge I have signed up to, and would encourage you to sign up to as well.

Live Below the Line.

Have you heard of it?

The challenge is to live for 5 days on £1 a day. £5, 5 days. For all food and water. Sounds impossible. But every year, thousands of people sign up and complete the challenge, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for their chosen charities.

Charities that aim to eradicate extreme poverty from our world – to help the 1.2 BILLION people that have to live daily on less than £1 a day.

The LBTL challenge is one I have seen other people do since it started in 2010, and I have always admired the people who complete it, and sponsor them as they work at it. But to me, it has always seemed impossible.

Great idea, but not for me.

I’ll wave the flag for you, give you money, pray for your efforts, but don’t expect ME to do it.

Then, the Divisional Youth Officer’s were challenged at FORGE (ALOVE’s Youth Worker Gathering) to set up divisional teams and ‘compete’ to raise the most money.

I could not leave my division in the lurch.

It was time to take the plunge.

I am going to live below the line.

And I am asking YOU to join me and the Anglia Division team to raise money to end extreme poverty.

For me, this is not about competing with the other Divisions. This is about finally stepping up to the plate (literally) and doing something to raise awareness other than giving money to other people and posting links to information.

We are so good at ‘supporting’ causes through social media and giving a ‘one-off’ donation. But surely we can afford to give more of ourselves, really commit to a cause and go further than we would normally go.

If you are sitting there now and thinking as I used to ‘Great, but not for me’, I want to personally challenge you now.

Why do you say that?

Is it because it will disrupt your comfort?

Is it because you don’t want the hassle?

Or is it for some other reason?

Ask God to reveal your heart and really consider taking the challenge. Push yourself.

And if you decide to take the challenge, join our team. You can sign up here: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/team/anglia-division

Please donate and share the pages of our team so we can raise money and awareness of extreme poverty if you are unable to undertake the challenge for any reason.

Please encourage others you know to join in too.

When I start the challenge, I will try and post daily updates of how its going, what I’ve eaten, what it cost me, and how I’m feeling.

Please support in any way you can.