How to live with 20 euros a week: the challenge gets hard
In the first days of my challenge, my routine was questioned many times. I’m not used to bringing food cooked by myself to university for lunch; generally I prefer to buy something in the restaurants near the campus, but unfortunately spending around 4 euros to eat out was not an option.
MONDAY
On Monday evening I deliberately made a huge salad with carrots and tomatoes so that I could have it ready for the next meal. Doing that I realized it was a bigger waste of time queuing in the shop or the bar to buy food than cooking at home some portions more for the next days. It wasn’t a problem eating the same things because I don’t have a large number of products to choose from, but it is not easy to get used to salad and vegetables without salt and oil (they are obviously over budget).
TUESDAY
On Tuesday I had to face another change in my daily life.
I had planned to go to the gym but at the entrance I had to stop: I was supposed to pay 10 euros for the entry ticket! On other days it would have been unthinkable to give up to a gym session but now it was impossible to spend so much of my weekly money for that purpose. I found myself at a crossroads: what should I do? I gave no more thinking to the question, I turned my feet. Yes, I gave up the gym but not my training. I went running for a while and then made my exercises with my roommate’s sports equipment.
I am noticing with pleasure that this challenge has its perks, it forces me to pay attention to things I had never considered before (as the fact that I spend money every day without bothering about it) and it helps me to discover alternative solutions, cheaper but equally effective.
WEDNESDAY
On Wednesday another of my beliefs collapsed. I thought I was lucky to live close enough to university because it meant that I didn’t have to factor bus fares into my calculations. It came abruptly to my mind that Bovisa is quite far from the city center and it could be very uncomfortable to go downtown on foot. The option to ride a bike was soon discarded because I think it’s dangerous in a big city like Milan, even if it’s a cheap and environment-friendly means of transport. The evening plans foresaw a film at the City Life cinema and I convinced my friends to come with me on foot. Thanks to the supermarket points collection we had tickets for free and once more I was able to end my day up without spending any extra.
Let’s see what the following days reserve me…
