Day Five - LAST ONE!

The last night of Live Below the Line is here! I have eaten my rice, lentils, beans and veges for the last time. I must admit to being rather relieved that I get to eat something different tomorrow night. Don’t know what yet. Don’t really care. Just as long as it does not contain rice, lentils, or beans! And as for wholegrain oats? I have no intentions of eating porridge for the next week! I am so sick of oats. Don’t get me wrong, they are a really valid food source and I would not have lasted the week without them. Normally I quite like porridge for breakfast. But they are oh, so boring without a bit of sugar, some sultanas, and yoghurt to wash them down. Grin.

Dinner last night.  Same tonight.

Fundraising is going well. Our online total is $220. Offline donations are at $120. Total: $340. With the $40 we will donate, that’s $380 total. My number crunching spouse assures me that means we are three quarters of the way to our target of $500!!! Yay! And there are quite a few people who have said they will donate who have not quite got there yet.

I’m so pleased that we decided to do this. It has been hard, believe me. I crave sugar. I had to open the honey jar earlier for Munchkin and wanted to eat the whole lot! But we have survived. Quite well, in fact. Most people who really live in extreme poverty would consider it complete luxury to eat what I have eaten this week and live how I have lived. I’ve been thinking about that as I’ve gone about my hungry, tired, grumpy day today. What would my life have looked like this week if I REALLY lived in extreme poverty?

If I really lived in extreme poverty this week:

No shower

No drink of fresh, running water (I’d have to walk to get it and who knows where it might have been first!)

No car and no petrol

Which might mean no work, and therefore no income. One of my jobs is too far to get to on foot. The other two are within walking distance, but doing 4hours of housekeeping on top of a minimum 45minute walk (each way!) on an empty stomach might not work out so well.

No power. Which means the washing wouldn’t be dry (we dry it under the heatpump on wet/cloudy days like today).

No heater because there’s no power.

No stove (no power, remember). I’d have to find some firewood. Hmm. That would be interesting.

No washing machine. We’d be washing by hand. Very time and energy consuming.

No supermarket trip for next week’s supplies (that’s what I made Boyo do yesterday. He was somewhat less than impressed at having to buy food he wasn’t allowed to eat, but he had to get his last loaf of bread for the Challenge and I didn’t want to waste time and effort on a return trip so I made him get the fruit and veges for the weekend).

And I’d not have been able to buy my $11.20 worth of groceries at Bin Inn. It would be way too far to walk! I’d have had to rely on my local New World supermarket because it’s the only one within walking distance. It is more expensive, and my options to prebag and weigh my food to get exactly how much I wanted are much more limited. So that would have meant less food.

Here's to changing that reality for one more person this week! 

Amy