I was probably around 11 or 12 years old when my mom handed me “The Wealthy Barber”, by David Chilton. At the time I was reading mostly short mystery and adventure novels (or choose your own adventure!). To be honest, the book looked… well, boring! I think my mom even had some VHS version if you can believe it, which I thought was incredibly lame. She tried to convince me to at least watch a video covering the concepts if I didn’t want to read the book. For some reason, the video box didn’t look quite that appealing sitting next to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II on our movie shelf.
It required a lot of nudging on her part, but eventually, the way moms seem to get their way, I gave in. I pledged I’d read the first chapter and then decide if I’d like to finish it. That was expressed knowing full well I had no intention of finishing the book. Especially after seeing the bland cover and knowing that it was about personal finance. Holy snooze-fest. What kind of parents give their 11-year-old a finance book to read?
Well, it turns out that smart ones do. After trudging through the first few pages, the book started to earn my attention and became more and more interesting. It wasn’t all numbers and spreadsheets, but an actual story unfolding. The use of fictional characters to discuss and dispense financial advice resonated. Although I didn’t fully grasp it at the time, it was a genius way to present and explain basic financial principles such as saving, investing and planning for retirement. The best part is that the book’s concepts are still very relevant today.
Did You Finish the Book?
So I did end up finishing the book. I remember sitting there reading it at a birthday party and my aunt commenting something like, “Oh, you want to be rich when you grow up?” thinking it was an odd book for a kid to be reading. But I was thinking, isn’t it odd not to want to be rich – or at least financially independent?
In fairness, I probably was a bit odd. I mean how many kids were browsing mutual fund listings in the morning before school? (After the baseball box scores of course!) But back to the book, I ended up liking it so much, I kind of stole it from my mom’s office and it sat on my bedroom shelf for years. I also bought the sequel when it came out 20-something years later, “The Wealthy Barber Returns” – in spite of the fact that I myself was now, Significantly Older and Marginally Wiser too. Both the old and new lessons are all still good rules to live by today.
COVID-19 Strikes & Haircuts are Off the Table
So speaking of barbershops – we haven’t been able to get into them for the past three-plus months. It made me wonder where people from Sarnia were getting their financial advice now!? It also reminded me of when I was in University and cutting my own hair. A way to cost-cut and pay-myself-first. Saving and penny-pinching every step of the way. One of my money goals at the time was to make it out of school with no debt.
My plan to accomplish that was through a combination of forced savings, working summer jobs, budgeting carefully and avoiding unnecessary expenses. Haircuts seemed like an option to cut costs and one of those expenses I decided to scrap. It just seemed like an easy target for saving money – and if I screwed up really badly I could just wear a hat to class. Not that it was a huge risk anyway, because by “cutting”, I mean shaving it all off one single length with clippers. That was the best most consistent result I could hope for before the days of YouTube offering hundreds of instructional videos. Videos available for free with an abundance of suggestions on how to get a salon cut at home with only scissors and a handheld mirror. (Good luck)
Anyway, I figured this would save me a couple of hundred bucks and pay for most of my textbooks. Yeah, I know it’s not a ton of money in the grand scheme of things, but to a college kid, $200 over the course of a year can be a good chunk of change. Now maybe everyone doesn’t want to cut their own hair, but there are still plenty of ways you can save money. Creative ways to find cost savings so that you can ensure you pay yourself that 10% first.
You don’t need to have the best haircut to be successful, just look at Donald Trump. And you don’t need to be a CEO to become wealthy, just look at Roy the Barber! Time, discipline, consistency and patience work wonders.
How Do You Save Money on Haircuts?
So back to the pandemic, or just well… general money-saving talk. Haircuts aren’t super expensive, but they can definitely add up over time, especially with a large family. Home haircuts can actually become a nice little source of savings for those who really want to ‘trim’ their expenses. Or even for the hardcore mustachian types that really want to accelerate their savings to the maximum level.
Women’s haircuts can easily run into the hundreds of dollars, plus any additional luxury spending on salon-priced products. Men’s haircuts are cheaper, but will still likely run you $20-$25 bucks plus tip. I do know a few guys that spend upwards of $70 every four to six weeks, so that can definitely add up. And don’t forget the kids cuts for $15-$20 every couple of months, multiplied by however many mini-me’s you might have. I’ll go out on a limb and guess that TLC show with the 19 kids were doing the home haircut thing – if not they should’ve been!
If we added all that money up, our fictional hair-loving family of four may be spending upwards of $1600 annually on haircuts! Even the low-cost family of four is still probably spending in the $600 range.
As you can see, that is a good chunk of change – particularly for people who are in debt or trying to balance a budget. So how can you go about saving some money on your haircuts if you so choose?
The Low Maintenance #2
Are you nervous about cutting your own hair or your kid’s hair and messing it up badly? Well, let me introduce you to the #2 guard. The number 2 all around is pretty difficult to mess up. You’re essentially running clippers all over your head to a buzz cut length. Yeah, the back is a little tricky, but it’s not too bad. “But wait, I don’t have fancy barber clippers!” you say. Well, you can grab clippers or a full home haircutting kit pretty much anywhere, like Amazon or Walmart for around $50 bucks. Proper scissors, a couple of combs and 4 to 5 guards all included
Once you have a kit, you may even want to try some very basic haircuts with scissors. It’s really not overly difficult on kids and the kit will pay for itself in short order. If you mess up, you can just go back to that trusted #2 all around. It will give you a nice clean and even cut while leaving enough length that your victim doesn’t end up looking like Edward Norton in American History X.
Stretch it out
If you don’t want to cut your own hair at home then you can always go the tried and true route of stretching out the time between haircuts. I guess this is sort of the opposite concept of accelerated mortgage payments. Increase your time between haircut payments and save money over the course of a year. This will work better with some haircuts than others, but if you have a family of four and everyone gets even two fewer cuts a year, that money can add up.
Rock a Beard
Not precisely “haircut on your head” stuff here, but you may choose to save money on chopping the hair off your face by rocking a beard. Razors can get expensive, especially those fancy ones with 7 blades. Even if you need a beard trimmer to keep things tidy, you can probably grab one for the price of a pack of razors.
Just be careful not to fall into the rabbit hole of beard products, you’ll likely end up spending even more on fancy oils, waxes and beard combs than you would have on razors. But hey, if you want to be like this dude, I can’t really blame you!
Get Your Partner or a Friend to Cut it
During the pandemic, you may have found out that one of your friends or maybe even your spouse knows how to cut hair! If you have a roommate or household member that can cut hair half decently, they may just be willing to help you out and cut your hair for free going forward. Plenty of moms cut their kid’s hair as well. Sometimes it’s not even about saving money, but the time and hassle to load really young kids into a car and trying to have them sit still in a barbershop for an hour. Doing it at home can save money and stress.
Discount Salons / Coupons
Lots of discount hair places or chain stores have mailer coupons or online offers quite often. If you don’t want to get your hair done at home, this could be the next best thing. Some people don’t like the unpredictability of these places, potentially having a different stylist each visit. Others think they’re a great deal. I can’t say I’ve used them personally, but I’ve seen coupons in the mail for as cheap as $6 for an adult haircut and $4 for a kid! Hard to beat on a budget.
Barber College wasn’t just a Simpsons joke
So guess what? There actually are barber colleges where you can volunteer to get your hair cut for cheap or free. Yeah, you may be a guinea pig – but everything is supervised and it’s not like they’ve just handed anyone off the street a pair of scissors before letting them loose on live human beings.
If you have a hairdressing school or program in your area, this could be a good way to help students perfect their craft, while at the same time getting a free cut! You might even get to try out some new styles and ideas without paying $200 at the salon. If you don’t like the results, that #2 all-around is always a viable backup plan.
Pay Yourself First, but Tip your Barber
I have a confession to make. I couldn’t wait out the pandemic restrictions and I ended up cutting my own hair. Ahhh! Nobody’s said anything, so I’ll take that as a compliment that it’s gone unnoticed.
Truth be told, I’d actually prefer to just go to the barber than save the money at this point in my life, and I think that’s is a perfectly valid option as well. For one, it’s just quicker to have a professional cutting your hair and the result is predictable. Time is money, right? A good haircut can also be a confidence booster for many people and help them in their careers. That $70 haircut for someone like a salesperson might be classified as an investment and help them bring some extra swagger to their job.
Others may see little value in a fancy haircut or might have a style that doesn’t require such attention to detail and would rather pocket the cash. Either way, it’s a personal choice and it’s nice to have the option of getting a haircut whenever you like and not worrying about the cost. Put yourself in that position by following the Wealthy Barber’s advice and remember to always pay yourself first.
But don’t forget to tip your barber!
