Celebration

To celebrate that we are still alive and to commemorate our days of suffer, we had yummy food today at our regular Campus KIVA meeting. We also pledged that each one of us makes a loan through KIVA with the money we saved.



Jessie molded a chocolate into the logo of $2 Challenge!

Apple pie :D

Mochi with ice cream in it. This thing, called "Yukimi-daifuku" in Japan, has always been my favorite sweets.

And more!

This kind of party is already enough incentives to kick off the challenge. Do it on your campus!!

The Last Day of $2 Challenge

Yo, what cha got man

This Bboy battle having taken place on campus was soothing for me
because
I've completed the challenge!!!

HELL YEEAAAH!!

Today was easy because the challenge called at 5pm. Campus KIVA was supposed to host a ending ceremony this evening but postponed it to next Monday. I don't know what the others did, but I interpreted it as the way I did.
I did not have cereal this morning, and had two bananas instead. My lunch went with 4 slices of bread and peanut butter.

My first decent food in these 5 days was

Pho :D



Alright, let's wrap up my challenge.

1st day: $0.58
2nd day: $1.99
3rd day: $1.92
4th day: $1.99
5th day: $1.03 (till 5pm)

Good Job huh?

What I thought through this challenge was NOT how hard it is to live on $2 a day; but it was that I can relatively easily survive with little money. Of course my meal plans sucked. But I could cook beans and potatoes (it's just that I don't like cooking).

Then what is a takeaway? I guess it's like "why do we spend so much money on food?" since we don't have to for survival. Is it because we need variety to distract ourselves? Or more about nutritious issues?

Well, it's over now, and I'm going back to my usual life filled with tasteless food. I actually will miss these days I had ramen everyday :) and I'm eating the rest of cereal now.

The Forth Day of survival, my eyes getting bloodshot for starvation

I worked out a lot today. Not starved at all. lol

Badminton -> Climbing -> Volleyball -> Ultimate

What the hell am I doing during the abstinence!?

Weeeell, it was such a fun day, so what's the problem? And 2 packs of ramen are amazingly filling.
Today's ramen got eggs with yolk separated from white.



I also gave a shit about bread'n peanut..

Do you get why this photo is remarkable? The butter is put so thick!! ..hey don't look at me like that
And I had to put less peanut butter on another bread... That's how it works for this week.

But, guess what? TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY!
And we'll call this event in the evening. That's said, it was my last ramen!! I'm so.. so...







I WILL MISS IT!!

The Middle Day

Already underwent a half way!! Yuppy!!

Today, my first class from 8:30 (which kills me especially during $2 Challenge ...because a cup of coffee is out of my deadly reach...) was CANCELED!!! Yuppy!!!

So I overslept without any room for doubt, and walked up to the Quad with my lunch (already around 11am). And I had a picnic! Yuppy!



4 slices of bread with peanut butter and 1 banana as always were not same as always. Any food tastes great when you eat them with your best friends :D Yuppy :D

Today's improvement was that I didn't stir eggs up. Instead, I steamed them in ramen soup. Looks more Yummy!!!

Since I didn't have a breakfast, I could have cereals for my dessert.
You know, dessert as food you eat during you do your laptop before going to bed; no sweets.

WHY DOES EVERYONE OFFER FREE FOOD THIS WEEK (T_T)?? I had a chance to have free coffee, free sushi, and even dinner because my friend thought I was too miserable... I'm not!! Yuppy!!!!!

The Second Day of Survival

I was a little bit hungry during the day, but have mostly been in good shape!

So I carried out the first plan with a slight change.
- Breakfast: 2 slices of bread & peanut butter
- Lunch: 2 bowls of cereal, 1 banana, 2 slices of bread & peanut butter

Now it's the time to use your creativity!! How do you wanna make them more appetizing?

Hmm?

Yeah! Exactly, MIX THEM UP.

What? Milk? No way they are cheap enough!!

So my dinner? It has already been improved from what I planned first!
Top Ramen + 2 eggs!!

The total cost of the first plan is $1.62. Plus, I used only a half as much peanut butter as I was supposed to, which means I saved $0.13 on it. So adding $0.50 for 2 eggs leaves me a total cost of $1.99 for today!

And the EGG RAMEN was delicious!! Yum!
So I guess I will stick to this plan for the rest of the week (having less peanut butter and add eggs instead).

Btw, it is always good to have your friends at dinner. My friend, Nic, only had one pack of Top Ramen, and have managed to buy one ice cream under the $2 budget!! INCREDIBLE!!



Keep motivated!

How I survived Monday

My first day's strategy was to have no food until my dinner!!

..Sounds terrible? Well, I just woke up late around noon. That was already 30 min before my midterm started! So doubtlessly I rushed to my class without eating anything. After the test, I did not have a single moment to think about my food, writing a long message to my friend, before I went to the kick-off of this event with Campus KIVA kids. After the meeting, it was already 8pm, I finally headed down to Safeway to get some food.

What a food-saving day!!!!

Here is a critical list of what I bought today.

Cereal:            $1.99 for a box = $0.4 per day if I finish up in a week
Top Ramen:    $1.39 for 6 packs = $0.23 ea
Bread:            $0.59 for 20 slices = $0.03 ea
Bananas          $1.64 for 6 = $0.27 ea
Peanut Butter: $3.69 for a big jar = $0.37 per day if I eat a half in a week

So here's my plan: breakfast with cereal; lunch with 4 slices of bread with peanut butter & 1 banana; dinner with 2 packs of Top Ramen. This sums up to $1.62. And this means I can have better quality of my dinner than only 2 top ramen! Maybe potatoes, or some vegetables.



At least for tonight, this was my dinner! Hope it will develop!!

Kick me off

Hey those who are reading this,

I start blogging about what I'm doing on UW campus for my interest. I just built a new club last week, and named it Grameen America University at UW. I also belong to Campus KIVA and Social Entrepreneurship Club.

This is a great chance to start my blog because I'm now in $2 Challenge!! I'm gonna only spend two dollars per day for my food. This is not only to experience the life of people living under UN's definition of poverty line, but also to save money on food to make a microloan to a poor but capable entrepreneur in developing countries through KIVA. And, it's also because we will definitely have fun!!

I will blog how I survive and what it feels like. Yo check it out!

More info & more blogs about $2 Challenge: http://ouramericangeneration.org/blog/the-2-dolla-dolla-bill-challenge
Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=202102986479812