Over a billion people live on an average of just $1 a day, mostly in the poorest areas
of South America, Africa, and Asia.
But while these people manage to scrape by, is it possible to live on this meager amount
right here in America?
We decided to task your favorite labrat with finding out.
Week 1:
A dollar a day- when I was first given this challenge I thought I was going to get sent
to some remote village somewhere like that one documentary film.
Turns out Infographics expected me to somehow live on a single dollar a day right here in
the US.
Initially I was confident it was impossible, but well, I'm pretty stubborn so I took the
challenge anyways.
30 days, $30 dollars- at least Infographics will be happy with the expense budget for
once.
Now, I have advantages that people really living on a dollar a day don't have.
For instance, I don't have to pay rent or utilities on my budget because that'd be impossible
and I don't fancy living on the streets- again- for the show.
At least not for thirty days... without a massive pay raise.
Basically the expenses I had to worry about were food and anything else that popped up.
As I sat to discuss it with the girlfriend, it was clear we were going to have to improvise
some of our favorite activities.
Food was the biggest issue- a $7 budget for an entire week is ridiculously unrealistic,
but there's ways to make it work.
First, I immediately forgot about eating three square meals a day.
I'd eat one meal at most, and I made sure that meal is free.
In my normal life I volunteer every week at a food kitchen for the homeless and struggling,
and I know that plenty of these kitchens will let volunteers eat there for free in exchange
for their time.
It's not going to be your daily 2k recommended calories, but I at least got half of that.
The only problem was that the food kitchen was only open five days a week, which left
me with Saturday and Sunday.
It was time to buy cheap food, and you're probably already thinking about hitting up
a local dollar store.
Only problem is that these stores force you to buy a minimum amount of their cheap food,
like 12 cans for $12- which was way out of my budget.
So instead I went to a regular store and bought eggs and a loaf of french bread.
For $2 I got a case of 18 eggs at Albertsons, and another $2 got me a loaf of freshly made
french bread.
Eggs are packed with calories and nutrients, the perfect thing to get into your body for
cheap.
Bread itself is quite filling, which can curb your hunger pangs.
Next I rode my bike to every fast food joint I could get to, and hit up their condiments
section- I was after one thing: mayonnaise, and when I finally found a place with mayo
I grabbed a handful of packets and shoved them in my pocket.
Mayo is very high in calories and again good for filling you up and giving you energy.
I was already seeing my eating practices as one of my survival challenges, only this time
instead of budgeting energy I was budgeting money and trying to get the most calories
for my cash.
Once I got home I hard-boiled some eggs and made an egg sandwich.
Simple, decently delicious, and cheap.
I still went to bed with a rumbling tummy, specially since the girlfriend had a full-on
dinner since she's not part of the challenge, but hey I've gone hungry before out in the
bush.
Me and the girlfriend are pretty sick of spending time in the house, so this challenge gave
us an opportunity to get some free entertainment in.
We busted out our roller blades and tore up the beach boardwalk, our dog running after
us on the leash.
That was a little too energy intensive for me though since I was basically getting half
the calories I normally get, so we had to take it easy after that.
Turns out finding free things to do that are actually fun is kind of hard- because I was
budgeting gas money into any driving we did for entertainment... so we ended up driving
nowhere.
First week down and I'd spent roughly $5, with $25 to go.
Week 2:
I can tell that I'm already feeling the effects of mild starvation.
I say mild because I am still getting roughly half of the 2k calories you need each day.
I feel a bit lethargic all the time, and I don't know if it's the lack of food or the
stress over budgeting, but there's definitely dark circles growing under my eyes.
Normally the girlfriend and I exercise together, but there's no way I can keep up with her
anymore.
My food kitchen idea is getting me 5 meals a week, and sometimes I even get a few snacks
or leftover fruit at the end of each 2.5 hour shift.
However, one of the nights they were full up on volunteers when I got there, so I had
to provide for myself.
I bought more eggs and more bread, and this week I had to go through a bit extra bread
so I spent about $7, bringing my total to $12 in expenses.
For entertainment I spent absolutely nothing.
Instead, we played board games on Friday night and Saturday night we walked down to the beach
and just lay there together watching the waves as our pup ran around the sand.
I'm enjoying the closeness this challenge is bringing between me and the girlfriend,
but I am hungry literally all the time.
Also, it's clear to me that I could never do this challenge if starting from scratch
without things like a place to live.
At least not without some serious restructuring of my life.
Week 3:
This week I ran out of toothpaste, and I realized with a growing dread in my stomach, that I'd
have to pay for more if I wanted to keep practicing good dental hygiene.
I tried to make it last as long as possible, even cut open the tube and dipped my brush
into the remaining paste clinging to the walls of the tube.
But eventually I had to pony up $4 for a tube of toothpaste.
Also, another $2 for a single roll of toilet paper.
Yes, I am counting individual sheets at this point.
I could handle thirty days of hard boiled eggs and bread if I needed to, but I decided
to vary things a bit and got a 5 lb bag of rice for $4, along with a 5 lb bag of beans
for $6.49.
That last one hurt the budget, but I could make beans and rice last a long time.
I hit $29 out of my $30 budget, but luckily there were enough beans and rice to last me
through this and next week.
Which is a good thing, because I only got 3 nights at the food kitchen this week.
Since I can't drive there because I can't afford the gas, I have to bike and others
beat me there... even when I leave early.
Two nights this week they were already full on volunteers, so beans and rice it was.
By now I have definitely noticed a marked change in my weight.
I've lost a whopping seven pounds in the last three weeks, and my energy is very, very low.
I swear even my face is starting to look gaunt, and the bags under my eyes are only getting
worse.
The girlfriend is legitimately concerned, but I only have one week left.
Week 4:
It was a good thing I bought those 5 lbs bag of beans and rice, because this week the volunteering
situation was even worse, and I only got two nights there.
If I could drive I could've just gone to a different kitchen and tried my luck there,
but there's no money for gas.
I believe that officially I've hit what's known as a starvation diet.
I'm definitely not getting enough calories to maintain a normal weight, and since this
thing began I've lost ten pounds.
My energy levels are abysmal, and even my mood's suffered.
Plus there's the stress of making sure that things last, so I don't have to replace them.
I even took to rinsing out paper towels and letting them dry so I could reuse them.
I joked about doing the same with the toilet paper but let's just say the girlfriend wasn't
having it.
This challenge has really made me think about the plight of people in developing nations,
who really do have to live on a dollar or less a day.
Now the difference between us is that on the whole, their entire lifestyle is cheaper than
ours, and prices reflect that.
My five pound bag of beans would've never cost almost $7 in a remote village in Africa,
but here in America everything just costs more.
Which really begs the question- why?
Why is it that medicine is a fraction the cost in Mexico that it is here?
Why is a pair of blue jeans as much as $100 here in the US and $20 somewhere else?
Because we'll pay those prices, since we have better paying jobs than people elsewhere-
even if ironically, the value of the money we earn ends up greatly diminished because
greedy corporations are jacking up prices knowing we'll pay them.
Then in the long run we end up with a society where most 20 and 30 year olds can't afford
to rent a 1 bedroom apartment in the majority of the country.
What I'm saying is the system is hella broken, but neither you or I needed this challenge
to know that.
I spent my last dollar this week on a Crunch bar, because it's the girlfriend's favorite.
She teared up when she saw that I spent my last dollar on something for her and then
hugged me tight before splitting the candybar with me.
Way I figure, she suffers alongside me with these challenges, and we both just lost a
month of our lives even if she wasn't the one living on a dollar a day.
As far as real people living on a dollar a day, I'm grateful to be in the position I'm
in, but I hope one day I can work to build a world where nobody makes the sacrifices
they do, because even the tiny little taste that I got was intolerable.
Now go watch Living out of my car for a week challenge, or click this other video instead!