Thursday, March 5, 2009

Being Thrifty

Husband is thrifty.  He is so cheap that some very dear friends of ours gave him Generic Rubbers for Cheap Fuckers.  My Dad calls him "Thrift" and tells people that his son-in-law can squeeze blood out of a stone.  

(Of course he follows that up with "it's a good thing too or Katy would have shopped him into the poorhouse long ago" but that is neither here nor there.)

After 15+ years of marriage, some of husband's habits have started to rub off on me.  As I'm sure you all know, the economy is in the shithouse and it's looking like it might be awhile before things look up.  Husband owns his own general contracting business and while he still has work - he doesn't build new, just remodeling, tenant improvements and maintenance - things are definitely slower these days.  That combined with the eleventy-gazillion dollars we're giving to the University every quarter for my tuition and books has squeezed the family budget pretty thin.  So I have been looking for ways to economize.

Now I'm not terribly vain but I do love my hair.  I don't have thick, flowing locks of perfect hair but it's long and a halfway decent color (going a little gray now) and I tend to fuss over it quite a bit.  I have been going to a salon that Husband sent me to because he does their maintenance and improvements and he said all the ladies there look gorgeous so they must do good hair.  To get it cut and highlighted, after tax and tip was costing me $250 bucks a pop.  I only got it done four times a year but that is still ONE THOUSAND FUCKING DOLLARS A YEAR FOR MY HAIR!!!  That is just obscene.  So the last time I had it colored a little darker so I could quit with the highlights and decided I would let it grow out so it is all one length and then getting it trimmed would be much cheaper.

This morning I was thinking that how freaking hard could it be to comb my wet hair straight down my back and cut 2 inches off it in a straight line?  Husband got his degree in engineering (my father has since forgiven me for marrying an engineer) so SURELY he could cut hair in a straight line and save me the thirty bucks it would cost to go to even a cheap hair place for a trim.  So when I got out of the shower I handed him a comb and the scissors, told him how much to cut off and stood still while he cut it.

He did a damn fine job if I do say so myself...


That 'deer in the headlights' look I have on my face is me just about to scream from frustration.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture of your own hair in the mirror?  It took about 50 shots to get a halfway decent one!

It looks like my hair is crooked but that's just because my head is tilted.  It's perfectly even and exactly what I wanted.  For free.

Now I can go shopping.  After all, I just saved us a whole boatload of money!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

He could open his own shop - thus adding income to the family - resulting in more margueritas for you.

Shelly... said...

I must say he did a fine job!! I agree, it's ridiculous to have to pay full haircut price when all you want is a trim. I have found a place within walking distance to our house and she is reasonable. Problem is the gray is now showing through at 4 weeks and by 6 weeks it looks horrible. Not ready to go all gray either!

Yo said...

i have a flobee. next time, spend the grand to come to SD and i'll cut your hair.

MOM #1 said...

I guess it's a good thing I like big old black girl hair, Mom #2 would never ever let me spend that kind of money on my hair.

She cuts Baby Boy's hair and her hair gets cut for under $15 and that includes tax and tip, LOL.

I guess you can tell we're country bumpkins over here, LOL.