Try living for a week on $2 a day.... Or knowing what you ACTUALLY spend..

A few years ago, I got into a gross amount of debt and my life became a mess.

I had a decent job, made a good living. But I was being crushed by my debt. I could not get a loan to consolidate it, could not get help from the government to organize it, and I couldn't borrow from anyone.

Long and short of it, I was living off of $35/month for food, toiletries, shampoo, medicines, etc after I paid rent. I went from weighing 317 lbs to 259 lbs in three months. My skin felt tight to my body.
Eventually, I learned one great thing about starving: you weren't hungry. Yes, it sounds like a sick joke unless you've actually gone through it.

There I was, a man that worked every day in public, eating less than 200 calories a day. Dairy was a luxury. I cut pork out of my diet completely and tried to find ways to be able to eat on a $1 a day. Fresh fruit and vegetables were also a luxury, the price for a simple orange was over a dollar with tax. Bread was a saving grace, along with chicken burgers. 60c for the pattie+two slices of bread. I got used to eating only at night, skipping both breakfast and lunch. Someone then showed me how to cook potatoes in a microwave.

One of the biggest pitfalls though was free food from banquets or parties. While one would think it an oasis, I paid for it later when ravaged by hunger pains over the next few days. I tried to go the coffee route to save money only find that this made things worse by making me unfocused and irritable if I drank more than half a cup.

I can't tell you how happy I was when I got my first thick towel in three years. Before that, I had been using a beach towel every day. If I was lucky, I could do laundry once a month on the grace of someone else. The pants I wore were the same every day until the h***s and tatters became too apparent to be worn at work.

I was someone that was starving and hurting in plain sight that no one saw. I was making lots of money. But seeing others with expensive Starbucks, a week's amount of food money for me in their hands and the container thrown out half-full, I just was beside myself.

I found it hard not to be part of the society that would eat out everywhere. I would buy a cheap 69c McDonald's cheeseburger and then chide myself the next three days for wasting money when I could have just eaten a chicken burger. But I *needed* that connection, to feel part of things.

Over time, I started to gain the confidence of the companies I owed money to and was able to pay things off. I never filed bankruptcy. I couldn't, for reasons I rather not go into here. The day I got my first paycheque with extra cash I went out and bought a new pair of shoes, the first in over a year and half. Walking 3-4 km a day, my feet were quite grateful.

But what this taught me was to figure out every day the exact amount I spend and track it. My rent, my utilities, food, drink, whatever. On a DAILY basis, every day. People say they can survive on $5/day. However, how much is their car for gas, insurance, etc? Or they do not count the drinks or coffee they have as food.

I used to be very materialistic. These days, I prefer to split the money I get to buy food and drink for myself and others. Some people may think this is crazy, but nobody should starve. Items like shampoo, q-tips, medicine, etc, I see all as a blessed gift when I buy them.

But so far, I learned I don't need cable tv (I watch everything via the television station's websites), I don't need pork (or even a 1/6th of the meat I used to eat), I don't need a vehicle (I walk or give my busfare to people with cars to drive me if it's far away), and I learned to really use my work cellphone when I didn't have a computer at home. These days, I still use this more than anything.

There is a big difference between comfortable and lazy. I'm up to $4/day and am eating three 'meals' a day to around 1200 calories and eating out about once a month as a treat.

I think if people could be carefree thinkers rather than carefree spenders, we'd all be happier.
There's nothing wrong with working hard and earning a paycheque. But if you're complaining that you never have any money, take stock of what you really don't need anymore and change.

Learn to watch TV online and dump your cable/satellite if you need a good starting point.
Cut out one type of meat from your diet for a short time, see what effects you have.
Walk or ride the bus to work once a week (or just walk. I never bothered to learn to drive.)

We have casual Fridays, what about Eco-Fridays instead?

Thank you for reading this.