The Nudge - 21 Day Challenge - Pause for a Cause

So far this blog has been about Investing, Trading but now for the next few days I will also be taking liberty under the Et Al in the title and write about my 21 Day challenge to live under Rs. 100 per day for 21 days, to raise Rs. 1 lac for the Nudge Foundation which is run by my ISB batchmate Atul Satija. For every day that I am successful, I will be contributing Rs. 5000 ( have upped it from Rs. 3000 earlier). So now I will be contributing Rs. 1.05 L and My target is raise Rs. 1.05 L in 21 days. I have raised Rs. 28,000 till now and I want to give a special thanks to all those who have contributed even before I started the challenge. Thanks for the pressure. 

Here is the link incase you want to contribute and have ADHD and I may lose you later. 

http://thenudge.ketto.org/anishteli

On 1st of January 2016, The Nudge foundation (T/NF )launched “The Nudge ‘21 day’ challenge and is on a mission to sustainably bring a million people out of poverty. I had been reading about Nudge ever since it was launched and was proud that a batchmate of mine (Halo effect) was doing something meaningful with his life once he had reached a point in life where he had made ENOUGH for his family and decided to do something, I can only dream of doing someday. So more power to you, Atul. 

While most of us do guilt trip once in a while and do what I call - cheque book charity - I had decided about two months ago that it was time to actually do something. I have started small and will write about what I am doing later. But this post is about The/Nudge.

Back to the 21 Day Challenge. The night before signing up, on the 27/28 of Dec 2015, I was reading about Sujit Mathew and his pledge to live under Rs. 100 a day and raise money for Nudge. And once I saw the videos etc of the Gurukul and went though the Nudge website, I decided to join the cause. For once in my life I decided on an impulse, but one that had been probably been building up for a while. And before I could change my mind I went and made my decision public by signing up on Ketto and it was done. Now there was no turning back. And I was yet to tell my wife. I was sure she would be supportive. And she was - except there was a naughty smile on her face when I told her about the pledge. She was like - are you sure you can do this ? Have you thought this through? And I proudly said "Yes and No respectively". Par ek baar maine commitment kar di..... (aur publicly  kardi to ab to karna padega).

Now it helps that we finance types and accountants are good at goal seek. So I will balance the books alright .... without cooking them. So first was to make a not to do list. Then make a food, commute and other misc consumption budget. I will write more about that in the next few posts. But first big bang reforms (agli baar meri sarkaar)

Big ticket items off the list:

 - Eating out for the next 21 days (unless its under my budget of Rs. 15 per meal)

 - Electricity in the room when I am alone (I use a solar powered reading lamp)

 - Lights/fan/ac in office. My office is lit well by sunlight and its winter. ;-)

 - Most dairy products (it helps to be lactose intolerant. I have one spoon milk in my tea)

 - Hot water shower (no cold water shower either). Slowly wean myself off hot water to luke warm to room temperature to cold water. This is one of my weak points. But I have reserves in other departments. And in extreme times I may forget to have a bath. Call it the Axe effect. Pun intended. ;-) 

 - Clean drinking water (Atul warned me about this. But hey, I don't need more than 1/2 lt a day. Ya seriously)

 - Kejri formula of odd-even. I need to be in office by 8.59 am. Walk on odd days and drive on even. Don't cry for me fellow Indians. My office is only a couple of kms away and I still drive (shame shame) to work.

 - No buying books on Amazon when I am getting bored and need to read. I have a lot of stuff I can read otherwise also. So Amazon.in You are blocked.

-  Mobile data off. Data usage only in wifi zones. Whatsapp may not be the most reliable way to reach me over the next few days. Text me. And my friends - if i give you missed calls - please call back. It for a cause :-)

So above are the list of don'ts. Will keep adding to it. Later will be the list and allowed items on my budget. There are some exceptions. And Big Boss (my wife) is watching over me. And I keep reminding her its for a cause and not for the Guiness book of records, so please go easy on me. But heck she won't. As ex-FM Pranabda would say in his bengali accent - It is time to follow the "boojet" (budget for my non-bong readers). So I have paused (partly) on my spending and I hope that it helps The/Nudge - the cause.

And if you have made it up till here, then here is the link again. 

http://thenudge.ketto.org/anishteli

More later

Mazel Tov

Anish