Due to technical problems here at the Roost I missed my Friday post about Grazing and my chance to post my Frugality pictures on Sunday. The grazing post will happen in the next few weeks, but the Frugality Pictures are on a still smoking hard drive and somewhat inaccessible. So, first a thought about frugality. Buying a cheep outlet strip instead of a good quality surge protector is not a savings. Neither is the few seconds saved by not backing things up. Hopefully that lesson is now learned.
Yesterday was haircut day at our house. A family togetherness exercise that happens about every six weeks. After 15 years of haircuts we are finally to the point that there are few tears, little fear, and a bit of efficiency.
It wasn’t always that way, but it is a pretty good time now. So we chatted about life as CC clipped my hair. We laughed about how long she had been cutting my hair and how steep the learning curve had been. She got good fast. Having to go out in public with someone is motivation to do a good job on their hair. She cuts all our hair. (I cut hers too, until she can’t stand it any more and goes out to have someone who can do more than cut a straight line do it.) She even cut hair for the cowboys on the ranch we worked at. They would trade beer for haircuts. By the end of the evening the cuts got a bit interesting, but no one seemed to care.
I’d been fretting about today’s post and the lack of frugality pictures. As she clipped away I started counting up haircuts. She has been cutting my hair for the last 15 years. That’s about 120 haircuts. I’ve probably gotten my hair cut by someone else 3 times in those 15 years (and never been happy with it!) When I have gone out to get my hair cut the price has been around $15.00. Thats quite a bit of money. I asked CC how many times she had gone out for a haircut. She goes about once a year. I cut it the rest of the time. Then we added in the kids. Combined they have had about 160 haircuts in the last 15 years, and gone out maybe 5 times. So, here’s the breakdown,
Me 120 – 3= 117
CC 120 – 15 = 105
Kids 160 – 5 = 155
Total = 377 haircuts at an average of $15.00 each (CC’s would cost more and the kids a bit less.)
Thats a savings of $5655.00 over the past 15 years.
We have had 3 sets of clippers in that time. (Probably could have done it with one, but we moved to NZ where they are on a different power system. Replaced clippers then and when we came back.) The clippers cost about $40.00. One of them came even came with a training DVD which improved the quality of our haircuts a lot.
That rocks! I love how you actually came up with a figure for your savings…
Although that last picture makes me wonder if it is worth it…rofl! Kim
I’ve been cutting DH’s hair for 11 years now and DS’s hair for all of his 8 years. That’s a lot of money saved. Around here its about $20 a piece.
I remember my mother cutting my hair when I was young. She didn’t do it all the time, but many times. That ended one day after she couldn’t get my hair straight and made it shorter and shorter. Arrrggg! That being said men’s hair is so much easier at least if you like it short. When my son moved to a buzz cut, I started cutting his hair. I think he did it because he wanted me to cut it instead of some random person he didn’t know. So for years I cut his hair. This last year I quit doing it. He is a junior in college and needs to learn to get his own hair cut, though I was shocked when he came back for Thanksgiving and it was cut by someone besides me and I didn’t even have to make him.
A long time ago, I used to get my hair professionally cut. In 2006, I went to Burning Man, and I shaved my hair into a mohawk. After I came back, I just buzzed it all off. I liked it so much that I kept doing it. It means that I can have a perfect “haircut” any time I like, just by going to the bathroom and pulling out the clippers. It means I don’t have to take a shower in the morning to get rid of my “bed head” before I go out of the house. It means I can wear hats without making my hair look all crazy and matted. I love it and I can’t imagine going back.
The haircut transformation process can be viewed in this photo album, if you are interested:
http://public.fotki.com/Loraan/2006/2006-08-26_-_burning_man/hair_cut/
And here is a recent photo of me, with my everyday haircut.
http://public.fotki.com/Loraan/2009/knox-house/putting-in-wireless/imgp0296-jpg.html
I’d like to see the ‘after’ pictures!
Yes Jules…I would too! Kim
I had hoped to inspire frugality not fear with this post. The after pictures will not be published, at least until Halloween.
I’ve cut my hubby’s hair for the past 7yrs, and my sons hair all their lives (5 and 3). Granted it’s super easy to do a buzz cut but I’m willing to try other styles if the boys ever want something different. $30 for the clippers that has saved us about $2200 ($20 a cut every 6wks). It’s nice to calculate things like that. It’s offset somewhat by the increase in hat-wearing hubby does, but he looks so dashing that I could care less! (And everyone knows him as “The Guy with the Hat”.)
It’s unreal how much those haircuts can add up to. You could buy yourself a used car for what you’ve saved over the years. We haven’t been doing it nearly as long as you but have enjoyed the benefits of home haircuts for a few years anyway. Kudos for the informative post! I’m sure it’s going to make a lot of people think twice before heading to the salon again.