Paris on 5 euros per day challenge - Days 3-7

So, how am I doing with this impossible challenge?  Well, not too badly, if you don't count the fact that I now have to spend absolutely nothing until Sunday in order to get back on track with the budget.  But, to be fair,  part of the reason I overspent for this week (the other part of the reason being the wine and chocolate that I consumed over Easter - what? it's a holiday!) is that I went to Chinatown today and stocked up on cheap groceries which should feed me right through to the middle of next week.  So can I manage to organize myself better as of next week and conquer this challenge?  Hmmm.  Well, stranger things have happened (I can't think of any just this minute, but never mind), so stay tuned and I'll let you know.  

(I am also working on a post of cheap things to do in Paris on this kind of budget, will keep adding to it and will share it with you at the end of this month).

Well, that will teach me

Okay, so you remember how I was whining yesterday about how spring hasn't yet come to Paris?  Umm, yeah - it's here now, so I'll just shut the hell up.

April in Paris

Well, after a weekend of totally rubbish weather (I particularly enjoyed the frickin' HAILSTORM!!!), today was bright and clear.  So I decided to visit one of my favourite spots in the Tuileries to bask in some much-needed sunshine.  This required me to wear boots, jeans, a turtleneck, a cardigan, a coat and gloves, but nonetheless, I basked. Sort of.  April in Paris is a very nice song, but don't be fooled - springtime is just around the corner, but it ain't here just yet...

How not to be woken on a Sunday morning

You know, I love dixieland jazz as much as the next person (in fact, probably more, because I doubt the next person actually does love it), and there is a band that sometimes wanders up and down my street, playing for all they're worth.  And it's kinda nice, most of the time.  But on a Sunday morning?  Really?  Sooo not a good way to be woken up.

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Update on €5 per day challenge - so far, so good.  Was invited out unexpectedly on Friday night and had a martini for €8, but I spent nothing yesterday and probably won't spend anything today, so that should make up for it.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go defrost that bag of something totally unidentifiable (soup of some kind, I think) in the freezer because that's what I'll be eating for lunch.  How delightful.

Totally crap outfit of the week

The only explanation I have been able to come up with for this heinous monstrosity (can we combine those into heinosity? Can we make that a word?) is that this lady's poor blind grandma started knitting a version of the Guyanese flag but got drunk and somehow ended up making this coat and this lady is only wearing it so as not to offend her poor blind drunk grandma.  Because, really, what other reason could there possibly be?

Paris on 5 euros per day challenge - Days 1 & 2

Yesterday's post was so long that I didn't actually say how it went on the first day - answer: pretty good.  But that was mostly because I felt slightly guilty about the €16.20 that was still in my wallet and instead of trying to spread that out over a few days I combined it with with my €5 for the day and this is what I did with it: 1) bought a Berthillon ice cream and ate it sitting beside Notre Dame while basking in the sunshine, 2) had three glasses of wine over the course of the afternoon with a friend as we wandered from café to café along the blvd St Germain enjoying the sunshine (it's been a rainy week, we had to enjoy the sun) 3) bought a Big Mac meal on my way home (yes, I KNOW but I was starving and that was all I had enough cash for). 

Today I thought I would be sensible with my €5 and buy some food.  Which I did, but when I say "food", I should probably admit that I blew most of the day's budget on a Lindt chocolate bunny.  But come on, it's Easter, I had to have a chocolate bunny, it's tradition!  (However, I am absolutely kicking myself because I met a very nice chap a while ago who works at Lindt - had I known I was going to be doing this challenge over Easter, I would have shamelessly begged for freebies. D'ohh!)  Anyway, I had enough change left to also buy a bag of salad.  What?  Salad and chocolate, how is that not a balanced diet?  I was going to post a photo of the salad and the bunny together, just for the delightful contrast, but unfortunately the bunny didn't survive long after we got home.  Because...erm...it was eaten...by wolves. Yes, that's it - not because I shoved it into my greedy face and demolished it in about three nanoseconds.   Nope, eaten by wolves.  That's my story and I will be sticking to it...

Paris on 5 euros per day?

I have decided to set myself the challenge of living in Paris on 5 euros per day for the entire month of April (and to anyone who has seen the prices here, I know you are laughing hysterically at the very idea, but it's not an April Fool's joke).  It's partly because I want to see if I can do it and partly because I am exceedingly poor this month (so I kinda have to do it), and this is why the tellers at my bank looked at me like I'm a crazy person (see yesterday's post) - because I asked them for a withdrawal from my account of 30 5€ notes.  I personally don't understand why that's such a peculiar request, but I promise you, it involved three tellers and another customer getting involved before they would believe what I wanted.  

Anyway, the rules of the challenge are as follows (and they're my rules because it's my challenge to myself, you can disagree with them all you want but I think they're fair):

1. The challenge doesn't cover my rent or phone bill for the month, which I have paid separately. The challenge is to cover transportation, food, entertainment and miscellaneous.

2. I can use up what I already have (ie - whatever food I have in the cupboard, fridge and freezer,  the money I had left in my wallet as of this morning, which was €16.20, and the five Metro tickets in there as well)

3. I can use any available freebies (ie - wine at gallery openings, food at parties, and the €17.36 per week I get in food vouchers as a benefit from my job, etc)

4. I have flexibility (ie - if I don't use one day's fiver, I can roll it over to the next day; and if I overspend one day, I can make up for it by not spending at all the next day.)

5. I have to lead a normal life; I can't hide at home to not spend money, I have to get out there and carry on, just in a verrrry frugal way.

So there it is - I will post normally every day but will also include a brief update on how the challenge is going.  Wish me luck!