WHAT IS THE $5 CHALLENGE ABOUT
It is where people pledge to spend not more than $5 a day on their transportation expenses and their meals. This challenge is part of the campaign ( Singapore Against Poverty ) to raise awareness about poverty in Singapore. According to Department of Statistics, it is known that 105000 families in Singapore are earning an average of $1500 per month. After paying for all their expenses such as utilities and other loans, they will be left with $5 to survive with daily, taking into account that they will have to pay for their own transport and meals.
Thus, by doing this challenge, we will learn to put ourselves in the shoes of those that are less privileged and learn to spend wisely while appreciating what we have.
After pledging, I did the challenge for 2 days as i wanted to really challenge myself to this activity.
DAY 1 ; 16 June
I woke up at 9:50 am and nearly forgotten that i was doing this challenge. After coming to realization that i have to be committed to this challenge, I went to the kitchen to grab some cookies and a bottle of Yakult for my breakfast.
Afterwards for lunch, I headed down to the coffee shop and got myself a pack of mixed vegetable rice which cost $2.70 . I drank plain water instead of my usual store-bought apple juice as i wanted to stick to the budget.
Then, I took the train to Singapore Polytechnic for my MMA training which started at 5pm and ended at 7.30pm. Since i’ve bought concession pass, my fares are technically prepaid already, so i didn’t add my transport expense into the $5 budget. After training, i went home and had my dinner. I cooked myself a bowl of Macaroni with Black Pepper Sauce as i wanted to save the remaining money and put my culinary skills to test. So at the end of the day, I was quite proud of myself as i don’t usually eat at home or even cook. However, for this challenge, i actually cooked and eat from home. Besides that, I managed to stick to the budget and even had money remaining. Thus, i am quite proud of myself for getting through the first day of this challenge 🙂
DAY 2 ; 18 June
I totally slept in on this day as it was raining cats and dogs on this Sunday morning. I woke up at 11:50 am which was already too late for breakfast. Thus, i went to the kitchen and make myself a fruit bowl which consists of grapes and strawberries.
After running all my errands on this day, it was finally time to eat. I usually eat my dinner at around 5pm to 6pm as I didn’t want to eat after 7pm. Thus, i went to bought some sushi which cost $4.50. I decided to buy it even though it is considered expensive as i was doing this challenge but since this was the last meal of the day and i still have money remaining, i just decided to pamper myself and just buy it.
This marks the end of the $5 challenge for me. To be honest, during this entire challenge, it was really hard for me to stick to the budget because i am a big spender and an impulsive buyer. Thus, i am very easily tempted to buy stuff or try out new food. I remembered during the first day of the challenge, my CCA mates actually invited me to have dinner with them, however i politely rejected them as i know that i will definitely burst my budget if i were to go with them. Doing this challenge really trained me to be more disciplined and have more self-control. At the same time, I learnt to be more appreciative for the things that i have and be grateful that i am very fortunate to even have food to eat, clothes to wear and a roof for me to stay under.
My heart aches for those that can’t afford to even buy a proper meal every day. Some even have to work 2-3 jobs a day just to sustain the family. This is definitely not an easy job as you must be ready to sacrifice a lot of things such as your freedom and energy. Besides that, having to survive on only $5 a day, including transport is nearly impossible. Imagine having to walk home after a long and tough day at work just because you can’t afford to pay for the increasing price of the transport fares. Imagine having to skip meals because you simply can’t afford to have the proper 3 meals… This is simply too tiring and challenging to deal with everyday.
With that said, I will change my bad spending habits and learn to be a thrifty person. I will only spend when necessary and think twice before buying something. Even though this challenge is over, i will still do this challenge once in a while to remind myself of how the less fortunate are living and how lucky i am to even have food to eat.
All in all, be grateful for what i have and thank god for blessing me with much more than I deserve ❤
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