The One Month Challenge... Day Four

Today is the fourth day in which I am undertaking The Simple Dollar's "one month challenge." A simple explanation is that the challenge involves writing down everything you spend in one month, not just trivial purchases, but also bills. Then, at the end of the month, mark everything "essential" or "non-essential", and compare the amounts. A more detailed explanation can be found at the link above.

I realized January was not a good month to pick to do this challenge. It's slightly unusual as school is out, so I am at home with my parents until the 7th. At home, I am more likely to spend money daily than I am at school (ironic, isn't it? For many it would be the other way). January is also unusual because I have to buy textbooks.

The first two days of the month, I spent no money. Yesterday, I spent $99.75 on textbooks, and today I had a haircut, and gas.

It's also very unusual for me to have a haircut, as I normally cut it myself. However, my hair is reaching down past my shoulder blades, so it's getting a bit hard to cut my ends to the same length. It was nice to have someone else tidy up my ends and cut my bangs and face frame for once. I probably won't have another haircut until at the earliest this summer. I also had a two dollar off coupon for my haircut, so at least it wasn't as expensive as it could have been.

There is another reason why January is an atypical month, which I'll probably talk about tomorrow.