Simplicity, Week 7: SNAP Challenge
Last week, Erik and I took a step I didn't expect. We tried out the SNAP challenge. SNAP is what many of us know as food stamps - it stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The challenge is to experience what life is like for our brothers and sisters living on an average daily allowance of $4.15 per person per day. Years ago, we actually did live on a similar budget, but with this difference: We knew we were in college and life would not always be like that. Also, it's been a while since we lived that life, so last week was quite an experience.
Here are some things we learned last week:
1. Read the instructions...
...before you take the challenge (not after, like us). We thought it was $4.00 per person per day (it's actually $4.15), and I assure you that the extra 30 cents a day - 15 cents for each of us - would have made a difference. We also didn't know that we should avoid accepting free food; it's part of my job to eat with folks and that often happens for free, but we would have been more prepared for that if we had read the instructions first.
2. Meat is expensive.
We always knew that, but our meal of spaghetti with hamburger cost over $1.50 per person per meal. Most of our other meals were between 50-75 cents per person per meal.
3. Breakfast is expensive.
Erik eats cereal and I eat fruit, yogurt, and a hard boiled egg. Both meals cost over $1.00 per person per meal. I skipped the coffee that week, and part of me really regrets that; coffee functions as a very mild anti-anxiety medicine for me.
4. There is abundance in communities.
Here's our list of free food from last week:
-We received lunch on Sunday from the church (it was a fundraiser, and we may not have taken sandwiches had we not been able to donate; I'm not sure if that was quite within the rules or not, and we didn't count our donation as part of the food budget.)
-We received dinner on Sunday from my parents - a long-standing tradition that is really wonderful for a pastor family.
-I received lunch on Tuesday at a church potluck (to which I didn't contribute).
-Wednesday was my mom's birthday and we went to dinner with my parents. They insist on paying for those things even when we're not taking the SNAP challenge.
-Thursday dinner was another one at church - this one rotates between families providing dinner, and it wasn't our week.
By this time, we were feeling a little foolish and like we weren't getting the full sense of the challenge. I'm sure we weren't. But this also meant that on Friday evening, we got to invite friends over for dinner, which we paid for (within the SNAP budget). It wasn't a full repayment for all we had received, but it was a wonderful opportunity to pass along the abundance we had experienced - and we wouldn't have been able to do that if we had paid for every one of the other meals.
I don't know how this does or doesn't reflect the life of those living within the SNAP budget, but it drove home for me the reality that life is truly more abundant when we live it together.
5. The margins are very small.
Our budget for the week was $56. We rationed Girl Scout cookies (25 cents for one Samoa or two Thin Mints). I rationed fruit snacks - which normally keep me going at work. I had to eat out once because I was traveling, and I worried because my Taco Bell lunch cost $2.19 instead of our established budget of $2.00.
At the end of the week, we had over $6 to spare. We were amazed! That was not how we expected to end the week. Our big celebration? A few more Girl Scout cookies each.
I'm grateful for the experience, and grateful that it was only a week. And I hope we can keep working to make sure everyone has enough.
Simplicity, Week 8: Honesty
Simplicity in speech is about being honest; being honest even when it's hard; being honest even when it's painful. It's following Jesus, who said, "Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no" (Matthew 5:37). That's what I'm committing to, starting this week, but certainly not ending this week.
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