Yesterday was the first day of the CalFresh Challenge, and before I started the challenge I didn’t think it would be too difficult. I believe that I manage my money pretty well – but just from the first day of this challenge I realized, living on a budget of $4.38 a day has nothing to do with managing money. I didn’t plan my meals for the first day, and I thought I should be okay as long as I tracked how much I spent. The biggest lesson I learned from day 1 was: on a budget so tight all your meals have to be planned because there is no room to slip. Normally if I forget to pack lunch I will spend an average of $8 just on that one meal! Packing your lunch isn’t just about putting a bunch of items in your lunch pale and heading off to work – you need to prepare what you plan to eat.
I got home pretty late on Monday night which resulted
in me not preparing my lunch for the next day. If we imagine the life of those
that are actually on this budget on a daily basis, we can’t ignore the fact
that they also work late but don’t have the privilege to just go to sleep when
they get home.
Once I got home I realized I had spent most of my daily budget –
which meant I wasn’t eating the rest of the night.
Day 1 Meals and Estimated Costs:
Breakfast:
1 egg & ½ avocado = $1.17
Lunch:
Chicken & Broccoli = $1.35
Snack:
Banana = $0.19
Dinner: Chicken & Broccoli= $1.35
__________________________________
Total = $4.06
Day 1 was definitely difficult and I have 5 more days left - but individuals on CalFresh benefits have months of this struggle ahead of them. These individuals include Housing on Merit's residents, a vast majority of whom have families with an average of 2 children. Budgeting $4.38 a day on meals for one person is difficult and these households have the challenge of doing that for each member of the family. Children grow fast and require nutritional sustenance to maintain a healthy level of growth -
Do you think this is possible on $4.38 a day?
No comments:
Post a Comment