Last year, I amused myself on Twitter posting “You know you’re doing #belowtheline when…” comments.
Not sure how many of my (tiny) Twitter following I lost that day, but ooooh at least a couple of them got liked or retweeted and shared with a wider audience.
Obviously I would hate these gems to be lost to posterity, and perhaps they’ll strike a chord with fellow participants in LBTL, so here’s the round up:
@LBLUK You know you’re doing #belowtheline when…
…you do a spreadsheet for a £5 shopping list. Then panic when a missed line makes you 10p out
…budgeting for one apple from a pack of 6, rather than the whole bag, becomes a moral dilemma
…you seriously consider visiting 5 shops to spend £5, then do it anyway.
…you spend hours on @mysupermarket finding out who sells the cheapest chickpeas
…you know what value kidney beans cost & are shocked it’s more than last year 30p vs 21p ouch
(2015 update: panic over. Found kidney beans for 23p at Aldi and Asda.)
…choosing supermarkets because they sell value bread for 45p not 50p. Sort it out @sainsburys
… making a pilgrimage to a supermarket you never normally set foot in. Hello Stamford Hill
ASDA.
…considering ASDA Smartprice Cheese Singles even after realising they only contain 10% cheese
…you decide to forfeit an apple so you can add milk to your tea. And the tea bags to make it.
…you do a dance in the aisles at Iceland after finding a £1.50 chicken in the chiller cabinet
…you freeze your fingers off separating a bag of frozen mixed veg.
…discovering your tin of potatoes contains 400g rather than 345g is cause for celebration.
…discovering the tin of chickpeas contains 215g not 240g means changing your meal plan.
…a 45p bag of flour offers pizza, bread, pancakes & pastry…if only you had milk/eggs/butter
…you eat a really weird meal the night before, to use up everything else in your fridge.
…all your food is cold because you took so long taking photos of it…
…a slice of bread and jam represents the height of indulgence…
…the LiveBelowtheLineRobot becomes your favourite email address, updating any
donations.
And a couple of brand new, never seen before, versions for 2015:
…you find the nearest branch of @LIDLUK just because they sell the cheapest bag of oats(39p!)
…you’re so distressed @AldiUK no longer stocks their cheapest box of eggs you tweet the company.
…you get a bad back from scrabbling around on floor-level supermarket shelves.
…you realise you’re going to have to clean your kitchen before taking photos of the food.
…you struggle keeping yr profile page diatribe on global poverty to 512 characters
…people mention Gwyneth Paltrow and you get defensive. Look, I never bought any limes OK?
And by the way, if you fancy supporting my efforts to feed myself on £1 a day for 5 days and donating to UNICEF’s much more worthwhile work to keep children worldwide safe, healthy and fed, here’s a link to my fundraising page: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/muchmorewithless