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Biggest Challenges

Different people had different reasons for failing the challenge. In nearly every case, it was an

unexpected expense that put them over their budget, but those expenses fell into several different
categories.

The tricky areas included the following:

Transportation. Schakowsky says “a big chunk of her budget” went to-
ward a 140-mile car trip for her granddaughter’s birthday party – even
though she counted only the cost of gas and not maintenance or insu-
rance. Mbanusi writes that he started buying just $10 worth of gas at a
time, rather than filling his tank, and a $24 bill for routine maintenance
nearly wrecked his budget for week one. And Strickland describes sho-
wing up late for a meeting because he had to walk from his apartment
– in 90-degree heat – rather than taking a cab.

Food. Nearly everyone who took the challenge says eating healthy
food was a problem. Only a few say they actually went hungry, but
most say their diets were less varied and less healthful during their mi-
nimum-wage week. Strickland says he couldn’t afford most fresh fruits
and vegetables and had to rely heavily on cheap staples like bread, bo-
logna, bananas, and peanut butter. Schakowsky reports that she and
her husband “stretched a package of romaine and a few tomatoes to
last the week.”

Health Care. Mbanusi says his budget went off the rails in week two
when he had to pay $40 for a doctor’s appointment he’d made weeks
earlier. Ryan notes that the first big stumbling block in his week was a
$25 charge for vitamin D drops and a few other items for his newborn
baby. Strickland, in an interview on the left-wing website ThinkPro-
gress, says he was lucky to have medicine at home when
he caught a cold early in the week; otherwise, he says, “I don’t think I
would have been able to buy that Afrin nasal spray.”

Kids and Pets. For Ryan, the expense that finally knocked his budget
off track was his 10-year-old daughter’s summer camp. Schakowsky
says she learned that “pets are luxury,” as one of her biggest expenses
was caring for her dog Lucky, who is disabled.