The idea of the challenge is to live below the line for 5 days; so that's a food and drink budget of £5 for 5 days. I've chosen to start the challenge on Monday 18th August. Initially, I had wanted to push the challenge further and try 10 days on £10 but, due to training for Kilimanjaro, I can't really afford for my diet (in terms of nutrition rather than weight loss) to slip too much.
On my way to work on Monday morning I went to Tesco to "stock up" for the week. I started off at the reduced shelf where items due to go out of date or damaged items are sold at a fraction of their original price. I was able to find some cup-a-soups reduced to 50p as the box was damaged - that was all 5 lunches for the week sorted straight away! I also got a bag of porridge oats for 75p, two tins of spaghetti in tomato sauce for 20p each and a pack of 5 cereal bars for £1.
On Monday I had a cereal bar for breakfast and a cup-a-soup for lunch. By mid-afternoon I was quite hungry but after a dinner of 2 slices of toast (loaf of bread purchased on the way home from work for 75p) and half a tin of spaghetti, I had enough energy to go to the gym for an hour. Not being able to eat following a workout was very difficult and as I went to bed on Monday night I felt very hungry and a little light headed. I was however, proud that I made it through day one quite effortlessly.
Today (Tuesday) has been much more difficult. After a tough day at work all I've wanted to do is eat and go for a run/work out at the gym. The reality of the situation is that I've eat 2 slices of plain toast for my dinner and barely have the energy to type let alone go to the gym (ok, so that is a slight exaggeration but after having had a cereal bar for breakfast and cup-a-soup for lunch I am pretty tired right now).
Today I've really thought a lot about the meaning of this challenge and about the wonderful children in Ghana. I've thought about how little they have to eat and drink yet how energetic they are all the time whether it be at school, playing outdoors or working on the farm/helping out with their families and friends. I'm really not looking forward to the rest of the week, especially as Sean is eating all he wants, but knowing that any sponsorship money raised will be going towards the Child Care Centre and ensuring that they don't have to live below the line is making it worthwhile.
I would be really grateful if you could sponsor me just £1 per day that I complete this challenge to help me reach the 16 Month Challenge target of £3,000:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=danielleandsean&isTeam=true
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