Just a 47-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). The best financial wisdom I have picked up for over the years is that there is usually a way to have something virtually identical for much cheaper.
Just seems to be a constant recurring theme in the discourse of personal finance. A recurring theme in everyday conversation with people around me.
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Today's topics? Haircuts and V-Day cards.
**I finally got a LONG put off haircut. I probably try to go 2-3 times per year. It has been about 8 months since my last haircut and I meant to get it cut in January.
Went to great Clips and had a coupon for $9.99. The stylist did not cut the layers as short as I asked. It had been so long, I Was just like, "eh." IT was getting late and my son was sitting and waiting for me. I Also tend to chop off my hair in May, anyway, when it warms up. I'll be back soon enough.
Anyway, the haircut looked GREAT. I usually ask for it on the short side simply because I can get by 9 months without a haircut, when I do. 
I see why their natural incliniation is to always go this length. But usually they ask me a little more up front - "this long??" - and I ask them to chop off a couple of more inches.
Yes, this length is very nice, but it will get all scraggly a lot faster, too.
Anyway, I prefer shorter hair, overall, but over the years I find that it is just too much time, maintenance, etc. for shorter hair. Over the years I kind of settled on the "Jennifer." Don't remember what they call it, but the long layered hair made famous by Jennifer Aniston on Friends. I may have tried it at some point when it was in vogue, but over time I realized it was the perfect frugal cut. Very flattering for my hair/face (my stick straight hair actually has BODY!?!) and yet it is such a basic haircut I don't think it has ever been screwed up. So, it is the perfect style for the cheap haircut chains. Since adopting this hairstyle I have never had a BAD haircut.
OF course, I initially chose these hairstyles because they were flattering and 100% "wash and go." IT's only with time that I really have come to appreciate the frugal aspect of said hairstyle. Beyond the fact that the only hair product I buy is shampoo...
My last cut was:
Yesterday, more like:
Or, the second picture is more how my hair looked without cutting it for 8 months. It just grows out real nice. Yesterdsy was merely a touch up. It had been cut so short last time I didn't really want to cut too much length yesterday.
At $9.99 per haircut, that's $20-$30 per year for a "movie star hairstyle."
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In other news, I bought V-day cards for the kids' classes, yesterday. There were 50% off. I am sure we could have waited longer for deeper discounts, but last year I went too late - the cards were gone. So, yesterday I dropped by with BM and the cards were not marked down. They had some really cool 3D ones - so we grabbed 2 boxes. I had forgotten to ask at the register if they were marked down, but they rang up $1.49 (versus $2.99). We could make our own, but I am not sure we would come out ahead with the cost of ink and paper. Plus, this took about 1 minute of my time. Just popped into the store on my way home.
Since BM was with me, we had a talk about how waiting after the holidays and planning ahead for next year was an easy way to save money (so you have more left for other more important things). I told him we could even wait a few more days and pay less, but all the good stuff would be gone.
I am not big on spending any length of time to save a buck here and there, but for no effort, I will of course take 50% off!!! $3 saved - easy peasy.
A Frugal Tuesday
February 16th, 2011 at 06:40 pm
February 16th, 2011 at 08:45 pm 1297889104
February 16th, 2011 at 09:16 pm 1297890989
February 16th, 2011 at 10:31 pm 1297895463
I've GOT to get my hair cut soon. Getting all scraggly at the ends.
February 17th, 2011 at 02:09 am 1297908567
Do you cut the boys hair yourself? I got a clipper a couple of years ago and do my husband's and son's hair (though son is getting a bit more picky now as he gets older and wants his bangs long which is quite a trick with a clipper!)
February 17th, 2011 at 02:20 am 1297909218
Honestly, I think their hair is more complicated than mine!
I literally cut their hair until they turned 3-ish, and then I stopped torturing them - I Was terrible. I did the DIY cuts, then the beauty school (a couple of bucks), but these days we just take them to the salon - with the economy we can generally find $6 or $7 haircuts for the kids. Beauty school charges by age, so it's equivalent, but much better and faster these days.
But yeah, I should probably look into some clippers. Can save some money with LM. BM even wants to grow out his hair, so some clippers for his sideburns might be fine in the interim.
February 19th, 2011 at 03:36 am 1298086607
February 20th, 2011 at 04:08 pm 1298218104