Day 1 - The Haircut


Benjamin Franklin once said, "A penny saved is a penny earned."  

With that in mind, our family sets out for a 30 day, $600 challenge.  Can a family of six eat, live and have fun during the month of June without resorting to a life of Ramen Noodles?  Our goal is this:  to keep all out-of-pocket expenses to $600 for the month.  That's $140 per week, $20 per day or approximately $3.33 per day per person.  We will strive to use what we have, engage our creativity and look for low cost sources of entertainment.

The first week I knew would be fairly easy.  Although I haven't been to the grocery store in five days, I tend to be an "over-buyer" and I know that the pantry and the freezer will befriend me in the days to come.  This will be a great opportunity to try some of those impulse items that are taking up space in the pantry - like the four pound bag of Quinoa that I bought at Costco in March, or all the "O" foods we bought for the pre-school alphabet bucket.  You know - Olives, Ovaltine, Orzo, Organic Oatmeal, Spaghetti-O's?  You get the picture.

The first day, I decided I would not spend any money.  The only problem - Arielle needed a haircut!  I have a rule for the girls in the house:  No haircuts after the February Father-Daughter Dance.  We need their hair long enough for the spring recital ballet buns!  As you can see, Arielle is looking a bit shaggy.  I checked out some cosmetology schools, but nothing seemed to be cheaper than our local kids' hair salon.   The only cheaper option?  Do it myself.  

Now, I have virtually no haircutting experience.  I did cut my Grandma's hair a couple times when she was nearly housebound, but then again, she wasn't very picky.  When I asked Arielle if she would let me cut her hair, however, she was thrilled!  



I felt a twinge of guilt as she looked at me with the utmost confidence.  In her eyes, I was a shearing superhero!  She was obviously unaware of the pain and suffering that a poorly executed haircut can bring!


So we began.  I decided to cut her hair out on the deck so the mess could just blow away.  In my mind I was trying to remember the one-hundred or so haircuts that I have witnessed in my lifetime.



I went as slowly as I could to avoid any drastic mistakes.  Hint:  Cut the hair about 2" longer than you think it should be.  It shrinks!  After an hour and a half of trying to make sure that everything was straight, my husband came out and reminded me that I should not approach cutting hair like "evening out the row" in a pan of brownies.  (You know, eventually the whole pan is gone!)  So I took his advice and called it a day.  The end result?


Pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

Savings:  $18 After tip