Good Save!
Over the years I’ve tried many ways to save money in 
our family but one of the best things I think I ever did was learn to cut hair. Mom had always cut our hair (I can maybe remember 4 or 5 times going to the beauty shop for special occasions) so it just seemed like the thing to do.
My hair cutting career started when Lynn was commissioned into the service in 1968 and had to have his hair cut short … all the time. That was easy. All I had to do was get a set of clippers, put and attachment on and buzz it and then 
trim his neck. At that time we were so short of money I even got him to cut mine and he got so he could do it quite nicely. One time he got so bold as to cut it and die it red.
O
ne of my favorite pictures is this one of me cutting Dad’s hair just a few weeks before he passed away. He never failed to say “Don’t take much off the top.” He always made me laugh so much while cutting his hair he’s lucky he had ANY left when I was done.
When boys came along I was able to keep their hair 
trimmed for quite a few years with the clippers and the attachments. I even cut some of the neighborhood boys hair. As they got a bit older they began to get a little pickier so I had a few lessons from someone going to beauty school on how to cut boys hair. They had the option of either me cutting their hair or paying for their own hair cut … so they opted for me.
I cut the girls hair when they were little but as they got older I chickened out except for bangs and just cutting around the bottom. I figure I cut their hair maybe half the time.
So … over our lifetime I wonder how much money we saved. I figure we probably bought maybe ten sets of clippers at around $20 apiece.
Lynn probably every two months for 42 years = 252
3 boys probably every two months for 18 years = 324
Girls probably every 4 months for 14 years = 169
Dad maybe 20
Mom maybe 50
Others maybe 100
I’m going to charge myself $10 a hair cut … So let’s see …. oh man … hmmm …
I figure I gave about a thousand hair cuts with my $200 investment in clippers and and saved roughly $9,000. (and that’s not counting tips).
Lynn did a fantastic job with that red-tint and haircut! I think I paid a “stylist” quite a bit of money for the times to get a look very similar. I looked like the model Twiggy. Remember her? Same haircut, same skinny body. But what I really barged in here to say is that I began cutting my husband’s hair in the 1970′s–the girl’s hair, too. I finally gave up the hobby around the time my hands started to hurt. Wish I’d realized at that time it was likely the precursor to the RA I was diagnosed with a few years back. Cutting corners however you can is a good practice–one Americans would do well to get back to today with the economy the way it is.