@TechnicallyRon

Oh hello you.

This week, as i am sure i have made painfully obvious, i have been living below the line, and it’s been pretty shit really. 1.4 Billion people live in extreme poverty worldwide. They don’t get the luxury of the things the team doing below the line have had this week. 

The challenge itself is a great idea, Live on £1 a day, 33p a meal, for 5 days. EASY. Or not so easy as it would turn out.

Day 1 was fine, actually enjoyable, as i knew i was doing something good, enjoying interacting with people doing the challenge, actually enjoying the food i had bought for myself.

Day 2 was ok, tired due to lack of coffee, irritable due to lack of cigarettes and small rumble in my stomach, but fine.

Day 3. After eating 3 very small meals a day my stomach was having an identity crisis. I spent most of the day dry heaving and feeling sick. My body was just not used to this. The hunger was manageable  but the meals were just not enough to stop it. My fiance Lex got the brunt of my irritability, how anyone can live day to day like this is beyond me.

Day 4. I just put on a Tshirt that was too tight for me last week yet today, fits fine. You can’t lose that much weight in 4 days can you? I neglected to weigh myself at the beginning of the week, but i can definitely notice a difference, which is terrifying in itself. I spent the entire day hungry, to the point where i was lusting over other peoples food. The tiredness was something i was not used to, i have a physical job, and i just had no energy left, my arms felt like dead weights and my knee joints (I have bad knees anyway but nowhere near this bad) made a crunching sound with every step i took.

Day 5. TODAY! Just had breakfast, the repetition is the most moral sapping part of this but two meals to go, and unlike 1.4 billion people, i know at midnight tonight i can go out and buy food, any food i want.

It’s a humbling experience doing the Live Below The Line challenge, i feel guilty almost, for being able to eat so well every day when such a basic human need is denied to so many. However you guys have raised £1300 for VOS, an amazing charity, who will help people suffering more than we can imagine. £1300 is a ridiculous amount of money, i was originally going for £200, and it means the world to me that so many of you cared to help. From small donations to big donations, all were amazing, and if you find me slumped in the corner of a pub somewhere it would be my pleasure to buy you a drink.

Thank you for putting up with me this week, and thank you for helping me with this, it’s the first thing i have ever done for charity, and i know it won’t be the last.

Aaron

Oh hi you. 

So it is 4 days until the Live below the line challenge. The challenge is to survive on £5 for 5 days. 33p per meal. No luxuries. It is to show how difficult this task is, seeing as more than a billion people live on a lot less day by day. 

The hardest part of this for me will be the distinct lack of coffee, cigarettes and booze. Everyday i usually have 5 cups of coffee, 20 cigarettes and 2 or 3 drinks a night. So, Yeah, my body is not going to be used to this at all.

But that is why it’s called a challenge. It’s not a charity event like a sponsored sky dive where you are effectively paying for someone to go on holiday. I have no doubt it will be shit.

Anyway, what i have for the week. I have decided repetition was the best strategy, but upon looking at this, i don’t really think it is.

Breakfast: Jam on toast and Rich tea biscuits. DONE.

Lunch time *shudders* 14p noodles. Chicken curry noodles to be precise, good lord.

Dinner! Chicken Pie’s with rice and mixed veg. The chicken stock is to give the rice a little flavour. 

Last i had a choice, it was either orange squash or crisps, this was like sophies choice, I hate drinking tap water, but… crisps! Anyway this is my one treat for the week.

So if worse comes to worse at least i will be hydrated. 

The total price of all this was £4.94 so i have 6p to go fucking mental with. It is saddening to think that there are families not only in our country but around the world who have to live like this and worse. So please, if you can, donate anything.

If you would like to read up more on the challenge, donate or sign up yourself the info is https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/technicallyron

Thanks for reading.

Aaron

P.S If i die you don’t get your money back.