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Posts archive for: 1 October, 2006
  • On £2.50 - Day One

    Well, I've made an expensive start because I'm using up some of the food I already have. So the damage for today is:
    Breakfast - Crusty Roll = 29p, Salami = 75p. Total = £1.14
    Lunch - M&S Pizzetta = £1.99, Tomato and Onion Salad. Windfall apple. Total = £1.99
    Dinner - Ribeye steak = £3.00, cucumber salad. Total = £3.00
    Total for day = £6.13. Not a very good start.

    Also to be included in the amount spent should be some other items which may or may not see me through the two weeks, and the cost of which will not be itemised daily.
    Organic Tea Bags (80) £1.29 (from Aldi)
    Original Hovis Wheatgerm Bread £.97 (from Sainsbury's)
    Organic Cream £.79 (Sainsbury's)
    Organic Skimmed Milk £.81 (Sainsbury's)
    2 Organic Lemons £.50
    Quarter packet Organic Butter £.23 (this is what I have left at present - I'll have to buy more later).
    Total = £4.59

    Items from my vegetable garden, which for the purposes of this exercise will be deemed to be free are: tomatoes, French beans, vegetable spaghetti, sorrell, apples, cucumber, onions, chives. I doubt they'll last out the two weeks, though.

    Total Spend so far £10.72
    Amount left to spend £24.28

    Update:
    Closer inspection of my expensive organic lettuce has revealed that it's gone all manky, so I've thrown it out, and now have a further £1.59 to spend.

  • Feeding Myself on £2.50

    For some time I've been wondering just how I would manage if I had to live on benefits. Job Seeker Allowance is £56.20 per week (or it was in 2005 which is the only year I can get figures for). Someone on this tiny income would also get housing benefit to the full amount of their rent, free prescriptions, pay reduced Council Tax (or maybe pay none at all - I'm not sure). There are probably other benefits I don't know about. If they were registered disabled they would receive more money in benefits and would have free bus travel and free disabled parking.
    Anyway, £56.20 does seem to be an incredibly small amount of money to live on. How much of that I wonder would someone be expected to spend on food? Would £2.50 per day be enough? I think I'm going to try and find out. I'm going to see if I can possibly do it. The problem is that I've already got food in and I'm going to be using some of it, so it might work out more expensive. I've also got fruit and vegetables that I grew myself, and I'm going to be using them, so that should make things cheaper. Maybe the two will balance out. What I'm going to allow myself, at least to start with, is £35 for two weeks, although I may have to increase that amount, depending on how things pan out. At the moment, I think I spend about £60-£65 a week on food, as I buy mostly organic and I also like gourmet foods.
    I'm thinking this is going to be very difficult.
    If anyone can supply me with more up to date benefit figures, I'd be grateful.

  • A Fictional Me Appears in Tyalskye and Pacy

    I've mentioned before about Avrilo and her Tyalskye and Pacy detective stories. I have to mention it again though because I (along with Emsbabee) am delighted to feature in her latest one, which is appearing in installments. If you would like to read, and you should, here are links to Part One and Part Two and Part Three.

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