the dollar diet. Days 1, 2 and 3.

if i was blog savvy i would know how to link you to the article on kivitv news featuring the dollar diet but i'm not. so if you're interested just head on over to their news page and check it out in the lifestyle section. my gym pal, michelle edmonds (you know the lovable evening anchor on channel 6), explained this diet to me on Friday, February 12th. from what i understand the basic concept is for 21 days (because that's how long it takes to form new habits) you shop using two rules: #1. use cash only. #2. buy only what you need! let me repeat....buy only what you need! of course prior to this you must establish your budget for the 21 days. the goals are #1. to stay under your budget, thus saving money. #2. be able to more clearly distinguish between wants and needs #3. stop using credit cards/debit cards/anything but cash to pay for purchases.
i'm already fairly frugal but definately have room for improvement. sometimes i nickel and dime myself right over my budget. not good! over budget is over budget no matter how good of a deal something is (if only our government understood this concept). Michelle is doing a news story with a local family on the diet but i decided to take the challenge as well and blog about it. so here we go.....
My budget for the 21 days is $300.00- that includes everything. food,gas, dining out, movies, haircuts, toiletries, anything we do for the next 21 days.
Day one: withdrew $300 cash from bank.- didn't spend any money.
Day two: purchased 3# of ground beef for $7.00 at Albertson's. probably cheaper at winco but didn't have the time to drive there. plus who in their right mind goes to winco on a saturday? Paid $7 because i bought yesterday's grind (completely edible just store policy that it is marked down to sell the next day or it's thrown away).
Cut quinn's hair myself to save the cost of a haircut. this was my second time and it turned out great! Made bread because we were out and didn't want to spend money at store- had all items in my food storage(it turned out horrible and was hard as a rock but we still ate half the loaf with some yummy jam i canned last summer). $20for valentines date to movie (date night is a definite need in my book-and we don't usually spend money but it was valentines day)!
Day three- spent nothing as i don't shop on sundays.
$300-$27.00 = $273