Ben Affleck to ‘Live Below the Line’ with Food Budget of $1.50 per Day

I applaud the spirit of what they doin. However, I don't really understand it. For example, a buck fifty is about fifty rupees a day in India. That will truly by a ton of food. Why do they always put it in dollar terms. The world does not revolve around u.s, secondly a buck fifty or fifty rupees a day is a fortune in India and will buy a very healthy amount of meat, chips, milk, fruit and whatever, every day.

I think what they are trying to do is awesome. So many people do their best to find EVERY negative thing they can to step on what folks try to do. Whether what they do is a small part or a large part. It is a part. Shut the heck up and give them a round of applause. They are in a position where people listen to them and it may put a fire under some folks to perhaps do this or even more. Even if it is just one person. What are you doing? If you are doing more I applaud you are well. I do my part. What it is, is none of your business because I do it for me and my family. I do it for our society as well.  If my mom were still alive she could tell you have to live on a $1.50 a day. We did it all growing up. I have done it it plenty in times of my adult life too. Today I do things because I choose to, not because I have to. So once again, I applaud you Ben. Don't listen to the folks that have to find everything wrong about this., teh naysayers. They are just miserable folks that have to find the darkside of everything. I hope they are not my neighbors. I would not want them there if some disaster strikes! They would be the ones that fall apart and whine about everything. lol

Okay, he isn't doing the biggest thing ever. We all admit that. He would say that. He isn't making the biggest effect ever. But, do you know what? He is doing SOMETHING. That is better than sitting back and criticising people trying to have some kind of effect on Global Poverty.

$1:50  Goes A LOT FARTHER in other nations.... doing it in the US is like living like a starving peasant .... perhaps humbling but also perhaps inaccurate.

I think $1.50 goes way farther in India or Africa than say, Pacific Palisades.  

Are they really living on $1.50 a day?  That means no driving, no wearing the clothes they previously purchased, no using electricity or water or gas that would cut into their food budget, etc...right?

Otherwise, it's not much of a challenge.  The Below the Line website just says you have to deduct food costs, but mentions nothing about how you're to calculate the cost of getting the food.  Driving to the grocery store alone would cost more than $1.50 in gas, much less depreciation costs on the car.

I get that they are lending their celebrity to the cause to raise awareness and that's great.  But if they're not going to be accurate about the challenge they're doing, that diminishes the legitimacy of the organization.

I'm sorry, but these people are a bunch of morons. Obviously they feei like they need to lose some weight, maybe for their next movie payday. Why don't they give $1.50 a day to the people that really need it.

Good on him actually trying to raise awareness and funds around this important issue- at least he's doing something, and not complaining unlike half the commenters on this page. I've never seen so much hate and complaining on such an important issue as global poverty! And if being a celebrity means that he's used to a luxurious or very comfortable lifestyle, then wouldn't it be more of a challenge to take up something like this?  I don't see anyone else saying that they're inspired to jump on board here.  The point isn't to say that you've lived through extreme poverty or pretend that you truly understand what people go through everyday- it's to offer a personal glimpse into the lives of 1.2billion who suffer through extreme poverty everyday.  There are good intentions behind this campaign (and in fact, I'm taking it on this year) so I do not understand why there is so much questioning and criticism. I'd like to see half of you do all the things that you suggest he does- like live beneath an underpass, and walk to work, and cook off a fire and live on <$1.50USD a day. I know there's no way I could, and I've taken so many things in my life for granted I can't even begin to fathom what it's really like.  If living on $1.50 is as easy as so many of you say, then I'd challenge you to take on LBL too- at least then you're doing something to help alleviate people out of poverty. 

Well, good for him. And no it doesn't include the cost of cooking the food and isn't even relevant to the discussion.  I've lived off a box of instant oatmeal for breakfast, a case of Ramen noodles for lunch and 10 for $10.00 boxed meals for dinner several times in my life without the assistants of food stamps and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.  I feel very fortunate to have found a  job that pays a living wage and provides health insurance so I don't have to live that way anymore. 

Does this include the cost to prepare the food? How is he going to cook it? What is he going to cook it in?

Phoney Baloney Hollywood BS!!!

Meh... Its a cakewalk if you are prepared to eat 2 loafs of white bread ($0.99 each) and a whole marinated roasted chicken ($4.99). It leaves you 7% for tax as well and will last you 5 days, 3 meals a day...

Nice gesture but homeless people in the US can panhandle a lot more than a buck-fifty a day. Where's he going to sleep, a homeless shelter? Despite the negative comments about celebs, they can bring needed attention to social problems. But try to do something a bit more meaningful - try living a month on the US federal poverty level, about $800-$900/mo.

#OtherBenAffleckSacrifices Will forgo expensive hair replacement treatments and start using discarded Joe Biden hair plugs instead.

Another Hollywood star who feels the tremendous guilt of getting paid millions to do nothing.  All hollywood stars, much like most singers & pro-athletes, knowthat if they were to be wiped off the face of the Earth today 99.999999999% of the population of the entire globe would not give a rat's patootey.  Affleck, like his wife, is nothing but a self-righteous, pretentious primma-donna.  Try living on $1.50 a day for a couple of years and then lets talk.  If it was legal I would take a baseball bat to him and all his pals. 

Does the $1.50 per day include the cost of his personal chef to prepare the tasty morsels?

#OtherBenAffleckSacrifices Following next bowel movement, will use single ply tissue as opposed to double-ply

good on him, now if he wants to really prove a point, he'll go to india and live with the people and starve for, say....... a whole month or two

It is a good thing that he is raising awareness to poverty. But this is not a realistic exercise:

1. Where will he be staying during those 5 days? Is he going to hang out in his multimillion dollar mansion and just refrain from eating? Or does that entail living like people in the Third World.

2. Different countries have different purchasing powers. $1.50 in a Third World country would actually stretch much further than in the US, which is all but impossible unless you don't eat. You have to take purchasing power into account.

Great that he's lending his name to raise awareness. But the challenge in and of itself is pretty weak. I once fasted for an entire week. Five days with $7.50 to spend on food sounds more like a Hollywood fad diet. The challenge should be longer, and include everything. $45 for the month, to cover all living expenses. That's the reality of life in the 3rd world.  

Wow Mr. Affleck.. 5 whole days!! Ghandi thinks you're crazy. (if you're picking up the sarcasm... good... i'm laying it on pretty thick)

Yeah that'll help... F all the liberal morons doing idiotic crap like this. I work 6 days a week, pay taxes and raise my kids. It's not my fault, or the fact it cost's a load more than $7.50 a day to feed myself, wife and 3 kids that governments destroy their countries and terrorize the people. If all these clowns think that money is the problem, then donate every penny you have to a country and see if it helps.

Cool. I think i'll try $1.50 too. Oh wait. But, seeing as how no public transport goes out to my work place, I guess $1.50 will be used for gas instead of food... Then my performance at work will suffer, and I'll probably get fired.  So, actually... I guess the only way to do this challenge is to be a jobless hippy or millionaire actor.