3EUR days 7 & 8

I'm sticking with the 3EUR Experiment. I had 0.05 carryover from day 6, and didn't spend any money on day 7. This was possible because I stayed with friends. So, I didn't need to buy food for myself there. I'm there again on day 8, which left me with 6.05 in the account.

I did some shopping today, though. I bought some chicken schnitzel, 100g of chocolate (0.35), and 6 baguette style Brotchen (also 0.35). The chicken was discounted, which got me it for cheaper than I'd expected. At the end of the day, I'm still left with 3.27EUR.

That will roll over into tomorrow.

A couple of things have come up in my mind since the last post.

First, I had planned to go out to a friendly meetup on day 7. But, I couldn't decide whether I would have to count any food bought there against the 3EUR limit. On the one hand, it is clearly eating out, which is covered by the experiment. On the other hand, it is almost like school, which is exempt. In the end, I didn't go, so I don't have a good answer for it.

Secondly, I'm starting to feel like the experiment is inauthentic. In some ways, I was looking at the experiment as a real experience. Working from a limited budget (with a hard limit), and preventing myself from overspending within the month.

I did say I could take advantage of free stuff, but I find that I'm doing that quite a bit. Eating food from friends instead of things from my own kitchen - even when I have enough for myself and have planned a meal for myself. This strikes me as dishonest. I mean, would someone really living with extremely limited funds be able to rely on friends feeding them day after day? I don't think so. Not without coming off as a huge mooch.

So, the whole experiment is starting to ring pretty hollow to me. Which bothers me, and I'm undecided on whether or not it should. On the one hand, I'd like the experience to be authentic, and on the other hand, this is the reality of my life. It's quite possible for me to eat several meals for free each week, with no significant drawback or backlash against me. So, why not take advantage of it. Maybe I could view that as supplementation via soup-kitchen or something like that.

3EUR Experiment

The easy days of day 3 and 4 left me with a balance of 9.19 going into day 5. And, unfortunately, that kinda went to my head. A miscalculation saw me purchase 9.28 worth of groceries.

I hadn't worked out a proper process for overspending. I hadn't expected to. But, I figured that a positive balance carries over, so a negative should do as well. Ultimately, the budget being drawn against is for the entire month (90EUR total), so really, an over-expense comes from that pool of money.

Thus, today, on day 6, I was working with 2.91, instead of 3.00. I managed to make it up though, and spent only 2.86, leaving me with 0.05 carryover for tomorrow.

One of the things I've realized in the short time I've been doing this experiment is that I really don't give enough thought to what I've been spending on food before now. Every time I think about getting a snack or something from the shop, I have to remind myself that it'll count against my food budget. That were I really limited in the total money I have to spend, that I'd be seriously hurting myself later in the month because I wanted something sweet early on.

The other thing I've noticed is that I have to do a lot more meal planning now. I can't simply go to the store and buy everything I might need for a meal on one day. I have to ration it out, and buy things that I can spread over a couple meals, or buy things today so that tomorrow I can buy the rest of the ingredients. Living limited requires me to really consider what I need, and avoid that unnecessary items.

More of the Experiment

Day 3, Saturday the 30.

No shopping today, nothing spent. 0.19 from yesterday, plus the 3 from today leave 3.19 for tomorrow. No shopping happens on Sunday here, so that'll be another 3EUR and will have monday starting with 9.19. Lots of cash there.

To be sure people know how I'm surviving, all food today came from the family. That's free, so it's perfectly valid. I expect tomorrow's food to come the same way. Soon, the majority of my food will not be free.

The 3EUR Experiment

I had a strange notion hit me recently, and like most strange notions, I felt compelled to at least explore the possibilities of it.

This notion was born of the practical considerations of my living expenses. The apartment I am in has me thinking about food, possessions and usage of space. Given the limited space available to me, both for furniture and for food and, quite frankly, everything else, I need to make sure I'm maximizing this limited resource.

Since space for food storage is so limited, I am going to be practically forced to buy groceries on a daily or near daily schedule. Anything bought needs to be eaten relatively quickly, since there is hardly any place to keep it.

That line of thought has led me to consider that I could easily overspend on food, simply by buying things that are unnecessary or expensive. While I do not have a fixed food budget, I feel that implementing one is probably the best way to help minimize my total monthly costs.

So, I began thinking about budgets. I started thinking about spending per month. Then, spending per week. Eventually I came to ask myself: How little per day could I spend and still survive comfortably?

After some thinking, the number that came to mind was 3 Euros. And thus, the 3EUR Experiment was born.

An experiment like this in Canada, at the same dollar value (about $5), would be difficult. Potentially possible, but hard. But in Germany, the basic staple foods seem to be far cheaper. I think it is possible.

I've laid out a few ground rules for myself.

1. The experiment applies only towards my food and household budget. This includes any consumable item (any item expected to last less than 1 month with daily usage) . It does not include things like my water and power bill. It also does not include school or travel expenses. It does include any evenings out or fast food.

2. I'm free to take advantage of the generosity of others, as well as any free items I can find.

3. I am limited to 3EUR per day, and any unspent money will carry over to the next day.

I kicked off the experiment on Thursday the 27th. Of course, by the time I started it, I already had some consumable items (both purchased and found) for the apartment. In the interests of being fair, here's what I already had on hand:

1L orange juice

400g extra hot chili powder

100g sharp paprika

2x125g bar soap

500mL shampoo

125mL toothpaste

1 razor with 2 replacement blades

250g strawberry cake snacks

3 rolls toilet paper

part of a bottle of hand soap

750mL chili oil

On Thursday, I started with 3EUR. My purchases included:

1L milk 0.50

2 bananas 0.36

1Kg sugar 0.65

500g raw rolled oats 0.35

200g cottage cheese 0.49

For a total of 2.35, leaving 0.65 for tomorrow.

Since it was the first day, I was looking to get enough stuff in the house to be able to handle breakfast for the next day at the least. As well, I wanted to start setting up some staple foods that would last me for a while. Thus, the sugar and the oats. The milk should also last me a couple of days. With any luck, I'll be able to build on this, and get some more cooking staples together.

On Friday, I started with 3.65EUR. Purchases were:

1L sunflower oil 1.49

300g cottage cheese 0.89

loaf of bread 0.49

500g cream cheese 0.59

Total of 3.46, leaving 0.19 for Saturday.

With luck, I can save up some cash over the weekend, so I can make a few of the more expensive purchases on Monday.

I still have to pick up more cooking staples, like salt and pepper, and other basic spices. But those should be relatively cheap.