Lightening Online

I want to try and get back on track with our Friday discussions based around The Complete Tightwad Gazette. This week I’m looking at Home Haircutting.

I was a home haircut kid. Which actually worked out okay for me until the teenage years where had I had the benefits of a hairdresser, I might have discovered I have wavy hair a lot sooner than 18 (the first time I went to a “real” hairdresser). Given curly hair was preferred over straight hair in those days, that could have been a real advantage to me.

Farmboy is also a child of “home haircuts”. I’m not sure how he felt about that. Other than the fact that we decided as parents it wasn’t something we were going to “subject” our children to. It was also something I had no faith in myself whatsoever in terms of believing I could do it.

The one day Farmboy decided he wanted a razor cut (short all over) and bought himself a pair of clippers. I paid very little attention to what he was doing. Until he asked ME to cut it. ME? What if I stuff it up?????

Apparently it’s not all that hard to stuff up cutting hair with a set of clippers. But that didn’t stop me being incredibly nervous.

As things turned out, I didn’t stuff it up. And I discovered that I really quite ENJOYED it. Gaining confidence, I started giving Leighton (who was still pretty young at the time) a little bit of a trim up in between visits. I figured this was a good middle ground point. If I could stretch each visit out by trimming his hair myself, we could still get a well styled cut from the hairdresser (giving me lines to follow) and save ourselves some money in the process.

At around 7, Leighton decided he wanted a hairstyle like dad’s. “Short enough that I don’t have to comb it” was his comment.

One day, just before I was about to clipper his hair, I asked Leighton if he minded if I experimented on his hair. I knew that any stuff-ups would soon be removed by the clippers so I took the opportunity to see what would happen if I took scissors and a comb to his head.

It turned out okay. So the same day, I gave Trailer Boy a trim too. He was about 2 at the time and I was quite pleased with the outcome of my efforts.

Now I give each of my children the option each time they need a haircut. I’m not prepared to impose home haircuts on any of them. So far, given the choice, they’ve opted for mum to cut their hair rather than go to a hairdresser.

I do it more for the convenience than the money saving factor, although the money savings are certainly welcome. Cutting my children’s hair gives me one on one time with that child. We’ve had some great conversations while I’m cutting away. And I find it so much easier than having to ring up and make an appointment and either cart the kids in to the hairdresser or collect them from school for their appointment.

It also comes in handy when you realise the afternoon before school photo’s that your kids hair looks like a mop and it’s too late to book in for an appointment.

The Complete Tightwad Gazette has quite a bit of information on Home Haircutting, including some great instructions with pictures on pages 234-236.

In true Amy D style, lets look at some basic calculations here:

6 haircuts a year @ $15 per time = $90

8 haircuts a year @ $20 per time = $160

Not significant figures?

Let’s look at 4 family members (I’ll exclude myself for now although I do know how to cut my own hair as well. I like the “pampering” of a hairdresser visit although I am going to try my own method again soon as I haven’t been overly happy with how my current hairdresser styles my cut).

$90 x 4 = $360 per year

$160 x 4 = $640 per year

What if I had put this money aside over the past decade in preparation for our big trip next year? I would have somewhere between $3600 and $6400 to put toward our trip. Now, I haven’t been doing this for 10 years (yet) but it does go to show how a simple skill can go a long way toward making dreams come true.

We also have the benefit of the internet in terms of learning a new skill like cutting hair. Here are some links you might find interesting/helpful when it comes to cutting hair:

BASIC HAIRCUTTING & STYLING

Haircutting for Dummies

Haircutting Do It Yourself

Haircuts at Home

Home Haircuts

Search YouTube for Home Haircuts

As another interesting “aside”, as I type this post, I have a 4-year old hairstylist behind me very seriously giving me a “do”. Not with scissors thankfully!

What are your thoughts on Home Haircuts? Have you tried it? Do you think you might? Anyone cut their own hair? I hope you’ll take a moment to wade in on the discussion and share your experiences and thoughts.

Image via WikipediaI think that one of the biggest mistakes our society is making right now is the attitude of “disposability” when it comes to our STUFF.

I’m not sure if our “throw away society” can be blamed on consumers or manufacturers. I suspect it’s a combination of the two. Consumer demand for products at the lowest possible price leads to manufacturers cutting corners in their product quality. It also goes in the manufacturers favour to have items that require replacing more often.

So, who is the loser here? The environment. We’re chewing through resources at the rate of knots and throwing it all into landfill just as quickly.

To be honest, understanding the whole landfill issue was something I remained blissfully unaware of (well, to a certain degree at least) until we had to start dealing with our own waste. We don’t have a convenient garbage pick-up service here. We have to deal with our own.

And it can be quite a SHOCK to the system to have in front of you a couple of years worth of landfill that has been generated by you and only you.

However, here is where I find a certain amount of conflict. Often-times, frugality and environmentalism go hand in hand.

That isn’t ALWAYS the case though.

Anything that involves technology may well create a conflict between frugality and environmentalism.

If you buy the cheaper model, will it end up in landfill quicker?

If you buy the more expensive model, will it’s technology be outdated faster than it wears out? And do the more expensive models really last longer?

Farmboy and I were caught in this dilemma about a year ago. Our television died. Do we repair it or put the cost of repair toward a new television?

We thought we’d done the “right” thing when we purchased it originally, opting for a Sony rather than a cheaper brand.

However, it was only a 51cm television and with Farmboy’s failing eyesight, was this a prime opportunity (ie excuse) to purchase something larger, with newer technology?

After discussions with our local electronics store, we decided that perhaps it was worth fixing. And spent around $100 repairing the television.

A couple of days ago, the television died again. Making us question the sensibility of having spent money on it 12 months ago, only to have it now no longer working again.

I guess this time we’ll replace it. I feel disappointed that our efforts to do what we felt was the “right” thing haven’t paid off. And now we’re left wondering what we’ll do the next time we’re faced with the decision of “repair or replace”.

What would you have done in our position?

Are there certain things you would repair rather than replace?

Do you find it easy to put environmental considerations ahead of frugal ones?

Can anyone recommend a television brand for under $500 (we haven’t decided on a size yet but preferably larger than 51cm - not that we fully understand the way the sizing works these days)? We’re thinking it’s not really worth spending extra money for a “better quality” brand but there are so many alternatives out there, it’s hard to know which way to go.

This week our discussion on The Complete Tightwad Gazette continues with a look at a couple of simple steps that can be taken to start (or restart as the case may be) you on the journey toward a “smarter” (or insert your own term for “frugal” ) way of dealing with your money.

Step One - Record ALL Spending

According to The Complete Tightwad Gazette, the place to start with getting a handle on your finances is here:

“…record spending habits for a period of 3 months” (p9)

Personally, I try to record all of our spending all of the time (with the exception of “petty cash” and “personal spending money” which are unaccountable amounts).

But if you don’t feel you can make a commitment to record all spending long-term, it IS helpful to at least do this for a period of time every now and then. It gives you a more *honest* look at where your money is going. If you don’t know where it is going then it is very difficult to make changes to how you’re spending.

Step Two - Separate Expenses Into Essential and Optional

Once you know WHERE your money is going, it’s important to look at what items you consider to be “essential” and what items you might consider “optional”.

I found this quote in The Complete Tightwad Gazette quite interesting:

“No one but you can say exactly where the line between essential and optional expenses falls. That depends on your value system”. p9

I’m not 100% sure I agree with that statement. I feel that particularly in Western cultures, we have a skewed idea of what really IS essential spending and what is optional. While I do agree that our own values system may cause some variation, I feel that many of us need to take a long hard look at what we consider “essential” when it comes to spending.

Discussion Questions

Do you track your spending and if so, how?

Do you track all the time or just periodically to check on where your money is going?

What are your thoughts on the debate between “essential” and “optional” spending. Have we gotten our ideas on “essential” a little “out of whack”?

Feel free to add any other thoughts and/or questions to the discussion in the comments section below.

Over the next few weeks, I want to do a series of posts regarding “The Complete Tightwad Gazette”. I’m hoping that we can generate some discussion surrounding some of the theories expressed in this book and hopefully learn from one another.

To start off, I have a confession to make. I was originally put off this book by the title. I HATE the word “tightwad”. In my mind it conjures up images like someone who is unnecessarily “stingy”. To the point that it could be harmful to either the person involved or someone they love.

I wondered if my understanding of the term “tightwad” was unnecessarily negative, so I decided to do a search for the word “tightwad” on Wikipedia. I was diverted to a page that says this:

A skinflint is a person considered so miserly that he would even “skin a flint” to save something of it. A flint is a small piece of flintstone used to strike a spark in the tinderbox. The flints in modern day lighters aren’t made of flintstone, but rather of Ferrocerium. A ’skinflint’ dislikes spending money and is also sometimes referred to as a ‘tightwad’, a ‘miser’, a ‘niggard’, a ‘piker’, and a ‘penny pincher’.

I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t exactly inspire me towards greater lengths of becoming a “Tightwad”.

For me, the word “frugal” seems to be a more acceptable descriptive term.

So what does Wikepedia have to say about the word Frugal?

Frugality (also known as thrift or thriftiness ) is the practice of acquiring goods and services at minimum cost, achieved via economical restraints or creative measures. Frugality can be related to the idea of being conservative or conserving money.

That sounds a little bit better doesn’t it?

However, simply copying someone else’s definition of a word doesn’t necessarily help ME to define what frugality is to ME.

My Definition Of Frugality

1. Making informed CHOICES about where our money will be spent based on our own set of values and needs.

2. Managing our money so that we get good value for $$ spent.

3. Understanding the difference between NEEDS and WANTS.

4. Cultivating an attitude of contentment so that we don’t get TOO caught up in the “more, more” mentality.

5. Making the best use of what we have in order to minimise WASTE.

So my questions for you today are:

1. What term do you prefer to describe someone who is careful with how they spend money?

2. What is your definition of the term “frugal” (or whatever term you prefer to use)?

As we were driving into Ballarat on Monday afternoon, I let out a squeal that gave farmboy a heart attack. The word “Aldi” held no meaning whatsoever for him but given I was supposed to be navigating, he assumed it had something to do with the navigation. He didn’t really appreciate my explanation either.

We continued on, only to come across ANOTHER Aldi resulting in another squeal from the navigator. Unfortunately at that precise moment I managed to miss a street we were looking for (in my enthusiasm over there being not 1 but 2 Aldi’s in Ballarat!!!!). Farmboy just didn’t share my excitement.

But I know you’ll all understand. What’s a little “getting lost trying to find our accomodation” when there’s an ALDI I can check out. And right in time for writing this post????

I was “good” though and waited until our last day (by which time Farmboy had forgiven me for getting sidetracked) to visit. So I’m going to start with my first impressions of Aldi.

ALDI

Was nothing like I expected.

It was clean and light and well set out and COLOURFUL. All their packaging just looks like a regular brand! Rather than a “no name” brand.

I didn’t buy a lot because well, we had 1200km to bring it.

The prices? I didn’t find them quite as cheap as I expected. As with everything I think you need to know your prices. In general I thought *most* things were either on par or around 10% cheaper than what I’ve bought elsewhere. I didn’t look thoroughly though. One thing I DID buy was some powdered milk as it was $2 cheaper than anything here. So about 25% cheaper.

I haven’t tried anything yet so I can’t comment on the quality. However, my overall experience was positive and if I had the chance to shop there on a regular basis, I would.

Oh, and I checked and a LOT of the products say they are made in Australia. I can’t comment on where the overall profits go but neither can I comment on where the profits from other supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths go either.

One thing I did find interesting was that pretty much the entire first aisle upon entering the store comprised of biscuits, prepackaged snacks and chips. Hmmm….. And I bought…. a box of chips (treat for the kids), 2 packets of savoury biscuits (for the trip home) and a couple of prepackaged snacks for the kids lunch boxes. I’m not sure if every Aldi is set up the same way but it’s something to be aware of. A few dollars savings can easily be eaten up if you’re tempted to buy that kind of stuff on a regular basis.

BLACK AND GOLD

Black and Gold brand here in Australia is a common generic brand in the smaller, independent type stores. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of the products in this range. I have found many of them to be substandard and disappointing.

There are two products that we use regularly and enjoy within this range though.

1. Ice cream - some people hate generic ice cream and I do agree that the more expensive varieties are creamier. However, in many cases this is what you are used to. We regularly use the Black and Gold brand ice cream and enjoy it. A word of warning though, the neapolitan (which is a mix of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate) sends my kids hyper (and generally speaking we don’t have issues with colours affecting our kids).

2. The black and gold lolly range is Y.U.M!!!! I suspect they come out of the Allen’s factory.

WOOLWORTHS GENERIC

To be honest, I’m not all the impressed with the fact that Woolworths (and also Coles) have chosen to release a variety of different types of “store brand” products. I find it frustrating and confusing. In talking here though I’m going to be mainly referring to the basic products that are generally known as “homebrand”.

My favourite products?

Mint slice biscuits and fake kit kats! And no, buying either of those is generally not the way to keep your spending down (or your waistline measurements). Ooh, and recently we tried their choc chip biscuits too and they were FABULOUS!!!

I do buy biscuits, baking products, dairy products and many many pantry items from Woolworths (when I shop there - it isn’t my main shop).

What I wouldn’t buy generic from Woolworths again?

Frozen corn. It was TERRIBLE!

COLES

Most of my pantry shopping is done at Coles so we use a LOT of Coles generic products. Again, like Woolworths, they have brought out several ranges of their own products so you have to be alert and aware as to which provide the better value.

To be honest, I am yet to find a generic product in Coles that I’m not really happy with. Most of our pantry staples are generic as well as many dairy products and freezer products.

There are some items, like cocoa, that I’ve yet to try (I have tried Woolworths cocoa and didn’t like that but reader feedback has caused me to reconsider) so I really need to consider doing that.

I was also disappointed when they recently switched to using syrup for their canned fruits. They now only offer canned/tinned fruit in fruit juice in their more expensive range.

FOODLAND

I think Foodland is a South Australian company so may not be familiar to many of you. Having said that, I was THRILLED when our local store became a Foodland store as I LOVE their generic brand products. I haven’t found any that I haven’t liked. When I was first living on my own, Foodland was the closest supermarket to me so I did most of my grocery shopping there. In particular, I REALLY like their multigrain bread. We also like their tinned two fruits.

I still choose to purchase many of my products from Coles as overall their generic products are cheaper than our local Foodland. Some would argue the case for shopping locally but that is a topic for another day.

LET THE BUYER BEWARE

A couple of things I have learnt in my journey to be more frugal.

1. Generic is not ALWAYS the cheapest. I have had other shoppers point this out to me before when I’ve automatically reached for the generic product. Items like sugar will sometimes go on special for a price LOWER than the generic product. You do need to be aware when it comes to shopping (which is annoying I know).

2. Generic products DO come on sale. Keep your eyes open because they will sometimes drop by 10% and it’s a good opportunity to stock up.

3. Check things like weight and percentage of product. On the sides of canned goods in Australia, they have to indicate what percentage of the product you are purchasing is in the can. Often-times generic products have a higher percentage but not always so it is something to be aware of.

OVER TO YOU

Please take the time to read these posts and comments made by others. It’s great to get a variety of perspective in regard to these things. As you’re aware, I have been rather distracted of late so if I’ve missed your post or comment, please let me know and I’ll add it in ASAP.

Generic Grocery Brands by Lizzie from Lizzie’s Home.

Generically Speaking by Maggie

Marita states:

When it comes down to it. Everything that ALDI sells is generic and I find in 99% of the time it is better than label brands.

My only label addiction is Pepsi Max. I can not stand generic cola. Hubby loves the Maxi Ice cola. Both of us loath Coke.

Some comments from River:

“..tomato sauce was alittle runnier…” HA!! I tried a savings (coles) tomato sauce and it was like coloured water and tasteless. The Farmland brand (coles) was ok, but it’s been replace by You’ll love Coles, and it’s not as good.

I buy other generic stuff, flour, sugar, paper towel, “glad” wrap etc. but a lot of the foods just aren’t as good. Canned tomatoes are more liquid than tomatoes, baked beans are hard and tasteless, both savings brand (coles). Farmland brand which is now you’ll love coles is better, but if I was in Foodland, the generic black and gold brand baked beans were nice. Generic biscuits are okay and jelly crystals, but I don’t like the cake mixes. years ago I tried a generic garlic bread and it wasn’t nice but hubby bought some home today to have with our pizza coles “smart buy” which has replaced the blue and white “savings” and it was nice. I’d definitely buy it again. I don’t buy the smart buy icecream, it’s yuk in my opinion, but the you’ll love coles vanilla is okay. Mostly i buy generic for single use things such as tissues, cottonbuds etc, or for foods where the taste doesn’t really matter, for instance flour will be mixed with other things and can’t be tasted in the final product.

Polly has given her feedback which has prompted me to rethink my stance on the cocoa and give it another try (it has been over a decade since I tried the generic cocoas):

I completely agree with you. However as a somewhat chocolate compulsive/expert, I think the homebrand cocoa is superior to the other supermarket brands. It is the richest, and finest I have come across, with a high percentage of cocoa….

Chris has added:

Totally agree with you in buying generic. My mom raised us in name brands but I raised my children with generic brands. Now they rather use generic than name brand…LOL

If you have something you’d like to add on this topic then feel free to jump in via the comments section. If you have a post on generic products, feel free to send me the link and I’ll add it to this post.

A FEW OTHER POSTS I’VE FOUND

Buy Generic Groceries

How to Choose Generics or Store Brands

Generic Groceries

From time to time, I get asked whether my $100 a week average grocery spend includes non food items.  To give you a bit of an idea, I’ll summarise below.

Items I DO Include Under Groceries 

• Toilet Paper
• Tissues
• Some cleaning cloths (such as for washing up dishes)
• Soap
• Shampoo’s etc
• Toothpaste, toothbrushes and floss
• Cleaning Products
• Dishwashing Liquid and Dishwasher Powder etc
• Laundry Detergents, Fabric Softeners etc
• Pegs
• Garbage Bags & Bin Liners
• Glad Wrap, Alfoil, Snap Lock Bags, Freezer Bags, Baking Paper etc

Items I DON’T Include Under Groceries

• Make Up and Skin Care - I have a personal care category for these and also use my own spending money
• Nappies &  Wipes - I used to have a “baby” category for these (and dummies etc) but now we only have a few dry nites to buy so these also come under “personal care”
• Houehold items like mops, mop heads, toilet brushes etc - these come out of our “household” budget
• Bandaids, Panadol and other “medical” type items come out of our medical budget
• Stationery items also come under “household”
• Toys and stickers for the kids - the kids have their own budget category which covers sporting activities, music lessons, tennis coaching and a few little bits and pieces that I buy from time to time (toys, stickers, craft supplies etc)

I hope that helps to clarify things for you.  One of the dangers of comparing your spending to someone else’s is that the term “groceries” is rather broad and while some people will include anything that can be bought in a grocery store, others will divide off certain items.

There is no RIGHT or WRONG way to organise things here.  It’s just a personal preference.  I find the larger costing items can throw both my budget and my tracking out and make it harder to see where we’re up to from week to week.

What I do works for ME and while you are more than welcome to do the same, please don’t feel that my way is the ONLY way.  This is also why I encourage you to compete with yourself when it comes to reducing the grocery budget.

The real victory comes not when you manage to achieve the same grocery figure as me.  The real victory is when you realise that once upon a time you spent $X and now you’re spending $10 (insert whatever figure you like here) less. 

No doubt there are some items that I’ve failed to include on either of these lists.  If you have a question about where I include certain items in my budget, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll endeavour to answer it.

Next week, I’ll go through those items that I DO include and explain ways that I’ve found to reduce our spending in the area of non-food items.  I *was* planning to include of all this in todays post but I’m rather tired after being away so you’ll have to forgive me for making you wait another week.