Minnesota state Rep. Jason Metsa, DFL-Virginia, is spending five days living on the budget of someone earning $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage, as part of the Working America Minimum Wage Challenge.

Most minimum wage workers in Minnesota qualify for the federal minimum wage. The state Legislature is considering a bill to raise Minnesota's minimum wage from $6.15 to $9.95, although Gov. Mark Dayton said he'd like to see that number fall between $9 and $9.50.

MinnPost reports the single 32-year-old legislator will be tweeting about his experience @JasonMetsa.

On Monday, Day 1, Metsa reported he spent $2 on a coffee and $5 on a dinner buffet.

Metsa says he'll go grocery shopping Tuesday. His food budget is about $5 a day.

MinnPost lists what Metsa's other monthly costs would be under his revised budget:

• Housing $359
  
• Transportation $278
• Taxes $178
• Household and utilities $116
• Healthcare $70

KSTP reporter Joe Mazan goes to the grocery store with $35 to spend for a week's groceries. See what ended up in his shopping cart.