Frugal February (or Cheapskate Month)

As I mentioned on my Madagascar fundraising page, I’ve been working on a few more unusual ideas for sponsored events. It’s partly because I’ve done most of the obvious sponsored events before, and partly because I want a bit more of a challenge. More than 90% of the population in Madagascar live on less than two dollars a day, a situation very difficult for us to understand as comparably well-off Westerners. So, this February I’ll be trying to get an idea of what this is like, by living on $2 a day.

£37.27

Since this is a leap year, that’s 29 days. 29 x $2 = $58, which is roughly £37. I’ll be attempting to live on just that for a whole month, with every penny that I save from my usual living costs going straight to charity, as part of my donation to Azafady. Unfortunately I can’t get away with not paying my rent and certain bills, so I’ll be paying those as usual, but everything else counts. This is Frugal February (or as a friend has dubbed it, “Cheapskate Month”).

Food it turns out, isn’t particularly cheap, so I’ll have to spend the whole lot on eating. That means no going out, no takeaways, no beer, no cinema trips, no morning coffee and most worrying of all, no Red Bull! I’ll post updates on how I’m doing throughout the month both here and on Twitter (hashtag #frugalfeb).

If you fancy sponsoring this foolhardy quest, head over to my Bmycharity page.