“What do you put in your hair to keep it up?” – the barista asked after ordering my daily latte.
“Just hairspray! And then I twist to make the spikes.” – I excitedly retorted back, always up for a good chat about hair 🙂
“Awesome. I’m thinking of doing my hair like that next.”
“YES! You should!! You’ll save a bunch of money too as you can do it yourself.” – I replied back, which I think excited her more than the actual hair style, and rightfully so! Women’s hair is no joke to maintain. My wife drops $200-$300 every time, and she has to space it out more than she likes just so her frugal bones don’t snap in half!
But rocking the ‘hawk? FREE. All you need is an electric razor, mirror, pair of scissors and the aforementioned hairspray.
Once armed up with those you’re set for years to wow all future passerbys 😂
Of course, I didn’t set out to save money by wearing my hair like this – I just dig it – but it’s been a nice accidental perk indeed… I reckon I’ve saved at least a couple of thousand over the past 15 years doing my hair this way, not to mention loads of time saved too since you don’t have to mess with scheduling and visiting apts every other month, etc… You just pick up the razor whenever you’re ready and knock it! Easiest hair cut ever – maybe outside of being bald 😉
This got me thinking of other ways I inadvertently save too, and here’s what I’ve come up with so far… How about you?
*******
My clothes
I feel like when your go-to outfit is jeans and a tee you’re doing pretty good, frugality wise. And minimalist-wise too, though again in both cases it’s pure accidental. The combo is just the most coziest/easiest to rock! And more often than not, you’ll find a number of holes in them too, all *earned* btw and not paid extra for, thank you very much 😂
I’ve also gotten better about repurposing old clothes I no longer wear anymore. Such as earlier this summer when I realized I needed some new shorts but didn’t have the time – or desire – to go shopping… Instead, I rummaged through the box of donations I had in my basement waiting to go out, and then professionally and methodically took sheers to a few pants hiding there and transformed them into shorts with a couple of snips!
And voila!
Similar to the ‘hawk it’s not everyone’s style, but for this homeboy it works perfectly. And now gives me an additional back up plan for buying pants in the future too! “Jeans don’t fit as well as I’d hoped? Maybe they’d be better off as shorts! *Snip *snip *snip… DONE!”
******
Food.
If I could only pick one food item to survive on, it would be peanut butter. I swear, whoever invented it needs a Nobel prize as MY GAWD is it heaven’s fruit!! I would honestly pay $100 a jar if I had to for it, but thankfully inflation hasn’t strangled it just yet, so I can enjoy my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without scaring my wallet too much.
And lately, it’s been smearing it on another of nature’s dessert too for an afternoon snack: sliced apples! Not only does it rival the taste of chocolate or cookies [or enter any other types of junk food here], but it’s also HEALTHY so you get an additional jolt of feeling good about yourself on top of it! Cheap and tasty – highly recommend.
*******
Transportation
You know those times when friends ask “should we Uber or walk?”, well I choose walking 9 times out of 10 because walks are amazing… They also happen to cost $0.00, but the joy from fresh air and scenery tops the $$ all day every day, unless it’s pouring out or 150 degrees, in which case OK – roof over my head it is!
But if I could I’d use my feet to go everywhere and not even own any cars…. We do, because of kids and where we live and responsibilities blah blah blah, but even then at least we buy used. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever owned a brand new car before?! ***checks memories*** Nope! Never! Wow…
Now that one IS more price-based for me, but it’s also a “this thing is too shiny and I don’t want to stress out about scratching it every waking moment!” type deal. I swear when I hit that fire hydrant years ago w/ my new-to-me Lexus and dented the bumper I immediately sensed a sigh of relief… At least after making sure water wasn’t going to spray all over me 😂 But basically brand new things and me don’t mix well.
*******
Daily wants/entertainment
And lastly, it fortunately doesn’t cost that much to keep me entertained in this world… While every now and then I do desire something that might be pricey, most of my daily “wants” are pretty cheap: trip to the coffee shop…. a new (used) book… a skate around town… a beer with my brother…
Even the coins I collect are all “used” and look like they’ve been passed around a while! No perfect and shiny ones for me – even if they are more valuable.
Maybe all this makes me “simple”, I don’t know, haha, but either way I’m glad it’s how I was made as the opposite would require more energy to maintain 🙂
[Frugal reading, but not so frugal bookmark! Handy when you need one though :)]
*******
So lots of ways I unintentionally save! Of course, I also unintentionally spend more in other areas too I’m sure that may make up for it, haha, but we’ll save that list for another day 🙂 Let’s keep today the day of winning!!
What are some of the things you do that naturally saves you money? Are you the opposite of me with any of these above?
It’s good to embrace such natural frugalness… Temptation kills us in so many other areas of life – gotta be thankful for the stuff it can’t touch!
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)
Get blog posts automatically emailed to you!
