Griffiths Family: Lice...pricey little things

This challenge is asking families to attempt to stay within a social assistance budget for five days. Ontario Works benefits provide a maximum basic needs for a couple with any amount of children is $458.00; this sets the challenge budget at $75.00 per family, or $15 per day. A single parent would receive $344.00 per month, therefore, their challenge budget will be $60.00 or $12.00 per day.

The budget includes all food and drink, entertainment, some personal supplies and transportation costs. Each family will be given daily challenge cards which will reveal additional challenges to be completed before the end of each day. As the family completes the challenge, they will blog about their experience.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Lice...pricey little things

I am all too familiar with today's challenge, 'Lice is not nice. But your family has it'. I think nearly every family with young girls in Kenora knows the struggles related with your having lice. I am going to price out and deduct the amount needed for travel to get the supplies needed to get rid of lice, I find it expensive and usually do the preventative measure of having my daughter bathe in Tea tree oil as well. I will have to wash her hair with the shampoo and brush it out with conditioner and the lice brush every 2nd day and follow up with the treatment again after a week. I also strip the beds, wash it all throughout the night to save on hydro, bag all of her stuffed and soft toys for a month, wipe down the couches and headboards, clean and boil her hair pieces and brushes and also vacuum. This is a very time consuming and can be very expensive if you had to run to a laundromat, it would be nice to have a program to help with these costs, I have to run to the health unit for work today so I will ask if they have any resources available. I believe that some schools have resources available for families as well.

I hope my last $18 will pay for the trip there, treatment as well as a bit more pudding for the kiddos.

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Amber Griffiths
Anaiya 8
Jackson 4

Occupation: Finance Administrator / Assistant ED

My kids and I live in our own home, my son is attending JK 2 days per week and my daughter is now in grade 3. We try and stay active and participate in extracurricular activities as often as possible.

Average weekly budget for “basic needs”: $120

Family “splurge”:We like to splurge on skiing, it’s a very expensive sport and I can’t afford to go often.

The one item or service you purchase that you can’t live without: Gas, we are very active and our house, the kids school and my work are on 3 corners of town. Other than that it would probably be the phone, I’ve opted out of having a house phone to save money and have headsets in our house that run off of the Bluetooth from the cell phone.

What do you anticipate being the most difficult in the challenge? Gas, I have informed my work that I will probably work from home a day or two throughout the week of the challenge. My children have swimming lessons during the week and I generally run from Keewatin to Jaffrey Mellick to pick them up off the bus instead of the School (because it’s closer) and then pick up another child before heading to the pool from 4-7 with supper 2 times a week.

What do your children anticipate being most difficult?My children are worried that there won’t be enough groceries for them, my family and friends donate their grocery vouchers from the gas station to me and with mine I usually get between $40-$60 in groceries for $20. I won’t be spending as much on gas so that means I will have less grocery vouchers which will affect what I can buy.

Why did you decide to take the challenge? I decided to take the challenge because I thought it is a great way to raise awareness in our community of the challenges people face day to day. There are challenges that everyone faces every day, I struggle with my current budget and often have to opt out of opportunities because of the financial barrier. My life is all about my children, I would hope this challenge helps them along their journey of becoming humble adults, the gift of seeing people for who they are not what they have.