Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan and his wife are spending this week taking the minimum wage challenge. The $77 each comes from a $290 a week wage (at $7.25 an hour) less $176.48 for housing and $35.06 for taxes.
Day1 : Down to $130. Ate leftovers but had to buy some prescriptions for the baby. Read more here: http://t.co/JNMyR4esb8 #LiveTheWage
— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) July 24, 2014
They made it to Day 2.
Head over to my Facebook page to see my review of Day 2 on the Minimum Wage Challenge: http://t.co/C4T0RYz6QN #LiveTheWage #RaiseTheWage
— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) July 26, 2014
For dinner last night, I bought two cans of sardines and a box of rice crackers (Cost $7). I like sardines so this was a good dinner. I picked them up at a market on Capitol Hill, so they were a little more expensive than usual, sardines are a just over a dollar in Ohio and in DC they were over two dollars each. Andrea and the kids had rice pasta (Cost $4) last night with vodka sauce (Cost $3) for dinner last night. We try to watch our gluten intake so we usually chose rice pasta; however, it is a little bit more expensive.
The kids all had pancakes for breakfast yesterday (Cost $2) and cereal for breakfast today (Cost $3.50). For lunch, the crew back in Ohio finished the leftover pizza, deviled eggs and watermelon from yesterday’s party. I was still in Washington, so I grabbed a piece of pizza for lunch at the cafeteria on Capitol Hill (Cost $3). It was not a good use of money, but I was starving and rationalized it because I didn’t have breakfast.
Andrea had $6 coupon, so she was able to buy milk and one cleaning supply from CVS. Then she signed up for another ($3) coupon by giving CVS her email, which means we have an extra $3 to spend over the next couple of days.
Today, I drove back to Ohio from Washington and didn’t have any food, so I picked up a whopper from Burger King (Cost $5). This was a terrible investment, honestly I can’t remember the last fast food hamburger I ate, but I must admit it was pretty good. I also bought a cup of coffee for the road (Cost $2).
Tonight I’m gonna spend some time with the family, so we will tally all of the expenses up tomorrow and let you know what we have left. We have plans to go to the Howland farmer’s market tomorrow to see what we can get for the rest of the challenge. Stay tuned….
On a side note, as I’ve said in every interview I have given, we are not going to get anywhere close to the real challenges that families face on tight incomes or the daily stressors that are constant and at times overwhelming. My wife and I already have a better understanding of these challenges and hope that our sharing can bring awareness to the public in order to bring about the fundamental changes we want to see in our country.
Will the Ryans make it through Day 3? Maybe it’s time to sign up for the Ohio Food Assistance Program. Stay tuned …
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