Subscribe to Posts
Subscribe by E-mail
Technorati Favorites
Two Weeks on $10
May 2nd, 2007 by Matt HugginsIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
While browsing Digg two days ago, I came across a very interesting blog. While it’s not about making money, as I aim to write about here, it is about saving money, which I consider to be important in much the same sense.
The blog’s author, Moocat, intends to survive two weeks on $10. Not only that, but his wife is doing the same challenge with $10 of her own. As explained in her blog, the inspiration comes from Governor Ted Kulongoski of Oregon who is attempting to survive for one week on $21 — a standard food stamp budget. The couple decided that anyone could survive for one week on $21, so they decided to up the ante with this self-challenge.
Each purchased their own set of products within the $10, each saving a little bit of change in case either should need it later during the two week period. Food purchased between the two included Ramen noodles, rice, oats, bread, hot dogs, and juice. The wife also purchased a bag of potatoes for which several people who commented on her blog criticized her since such a large quantity of produce is unlikely to survive the full two week period. As it turns out, several of the potatoes were bad anyway, and she ended up throwing some of them away.
As someone who worked in the produce section of a grocery store for three years, I must say that the decision to throw away the potatoes may have been hasty. Many people don’t realize that grocery stores allow you to return/exchange rotten produce as long as the purchase was within a reasonable time frame. Considering that the potatoes cost her slightly more than 25% of her budget, this setback is going to add difficulty to her attempt to survive the entire two-week period.
After reading this couple’s blogs, I must say that I am inspired to try a similar challenge of my own. To be honest, I think surviving two weeks on $10 is truly stretching your dollar thin; perhaps two weeks on $15 would be more attainable while keeping from “going hungry”. If I decide to try a challenge of my own, I’ll undoubtedly blog about it here. I think my biggest challenge will be not letting my friends coerce me into eating out or ordering in during the course of the challenge!
Related Posts:
- Where Have I Been?
- Nobody is a Nobody
- Find Blogger Job Opportunities with Blog Marketplace
- MattHuggins.com Reaches PageRank 3
- MattHuggins.com Breaks Into Technorati Top 10,000
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:31 am
I used to visit a couple of these money saving blogs pretty regularly, but stopped, they just highlighted how much money I effectively throw in the bin.
I’m much happier in my delusional wastefulness. Eating out is the biggest waste ever if you don’t enjoy it, but the most essential spend of your money if you do.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:33 am
Don’t let my husband read these blogs… he’ll insist we try!!!
I’d be “game” to participate in this type of challenge, but not right now — I have 2 kids in diapers… We wouldn’t last 1 week, let alone 2, unless we had a huge stash of Pampers and lots of milk BEFORE the challenge (is that cheating?)!!
Doesn’t it suck that it costs so much to eat well (’well’ as in ‘healthy’)? I spent over $200 on groceries yesterday, but it was almost all fresh produce and meat. I COULD have spent a lot less, buying KD, pasta, potatoes, etc… but honestly, I don’t need a starch- and carb-loaded diet to make things worse (read sentence above re: 2 kids — 1 toddler, 1 newborn)!!
No wonder North Americans (especially the less wealthy) are so fat.
May 4th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Steve - Sorry to make you feel like you’re throwing money away. That’s definitely not the intention, but I do know what you mean!
Cristina - I can imagine that trying to tackle a challenge like this would be difficult if you have kids! I suppose you could always continue to feed your children on a standard diet without restricting your funds while attempting it if you really wanted to try something like this. And yeah, I know it can seem like so much money is being spent at the grocery store, especially when I can go somewhere easy like Taco Bell and get a 79 cent meal.
June 12th, 2007 at 4:14 am
I could do it. No doubt in my mind I could do it.
June 12th, 2007 at 4:16 am
Looks like you have something to blog about when you’re done with your shopautodotca seocontest then.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
When my kids were younger I made about $350.00 a week and it was simply not enough. I usually only had around $30-50 dollars a week for groceries.
you can survive if you buy a lot of breakfast foods. eggs, cereal, pancakes, oatmeal, bread, cheap peanut butter and jelly. a sandwich a day kept the belly fed. these products go along way. every once in awhile I would splurge a little on bacon.
I would still help people less fortunate that me on my income.