The Chop Shop

No, I am not talking about dismantling a stolen car.  This is what my husband calls the area when we cut hair.  I first want to say that I am not a stylist, I have never been to cosmetology school and I have great respect for all of you out there that cut hair.  That being said, I have taught myself to cut my family’s hair.  It all started eight years ago after we got married.  We were just out of college and in school loan debt.  I was looking for ways to “cut” (ha, ha) spending and I realized that my husband was paying about $12 every three weeks for a hair cut!  You can do the math, but I already did and it’s about $210 a year. 

I went out and bought a set of clippers and a pair of sharp scissors.  I also came across a video that was probably shot in the 80s and was very thorough, but my husband wasn’t interested in revisiting his rat tail days, so I ditched it.  The first time I tried I ended up having to shave it all off.  Bless my husband’s heart though, he let me keep trying.  I think that he would agree with me that I actually do quite a good job these days. 

We use exclusively the clippers on my husband’s and oldest son’s heads.  They both have fine shaped heads for this style.  My mother hates it, but I think he looks cute (my son, not my husband).  The younger two kids have finer, thinner hair and smaller heads.  They do best with scissors.  This was something to learn as well, but after a few times and a lot of chocolate chip bribes to hold still, I don’t think that people on the street would guess it's a homemade haircut.   

I did not utilize any resources for my learning other than my husband in the mirror saying, “How about a little more off of that side?”  However, you might try the internet or the library if this is something that you want to try.  I think men’s hair is easier to deal with because it is short and it will grow back quickly if you really screw it up.  However, my sister and co-author cuts her girls' hair without training.  Her husband won’t let her go near his head, though.  Also, I am certain that my children will probably get to a point where they will not think that my limited style retinue is cool enough, but I will save my $$ while I can.  I hope that I can eventually teach them to do each other’s and they can make a buck or two in their college dorms or houses when they are older.

The purpose of this post and this blog, essentially, is to present ideas for you to reduce  your spending.  Some ideas might seem outragous and you might find others fit in to the routine without much of an adjustment.  Either way, I dare you to make a change and challenge yourself.  You will probably have some frugal disasters, but all great frugalistas have.  Good Luck!