Day 1 - The Haircut

June 01, 2010

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?