Haircuts & Cinnamon Rolls

 

I am an extremely low maintenance kind of gal. I like to roll out of bed 10 minutes before I need to leave to maximize on my sleep and give me just enough time to throw some clothes on and be out the door. I intentionally keep my hair long for this very reason. Some people think long hair is a pain to take care of, but I disagree. What could be easier than tossing it up into a ponytail or better yet, fluffing it with my hands and knowing that's good enough?

The beauty of my natural laziness when it comes to things like war paint (aka, make-up) and hair is that I did not have to struggle with giving up my monthly trips to the salon. Its actually been about year since I've had my hair cut at all. For those of you who are hairstylists, feel free to cringe at this thought :) I feel for you ladies out there who are struggling to pay the bills and realize you needed to cut back on the cutting of your hairs. That's a tough thing for a woman! So I am certainly NOT saying you should give up your haircuts. But what I am saying is that a great way to save money is to find a style that requires haircuts less frequently.

If that doesn't work something even better would be finding a friend who is willing to cut your hair for you. For guys this is usually even easier. This was the case for Alexander. He likes his hair short, and that's easily done with a pair of clippers. We don't own any, but our friends do. Today we stopped by their house and our friend Aaron showed me how to use them. Alex nervously decided to trust his noggin unto my hands, and away we went.

Now in case you are wondering, I couldn't take any photos of the actual hair cutting because I was too busy cutting his hair. But I can happily say that everything turned out just fine. Afterwards Aaron broke out the vacuum to clean up the fluff and also to help clean up Alex :)

Not only did our little excursion save us $12, but we got to spend some time with friends. I have discovered something in the past few years that I think easily goes missing when you live in a land of plenty. When you have money you don't need people, or at least you don't think you do. You miss out on community and building relationships. When the cash is plentiful its normal for us to just think about going to the store and buying what we need or paying a stranger for a service. I think as Americans we really miss out a lot on the joy of the command Jesus gave to love and serve one another. To most of us, that command looks like going on missions trips to inner city ghettos and doing building projects or organizing Vacation Bible School for underprivileged kids or gallivanting off to a foreign land to feed the hungry. Don't get me wrong, that kind of thing is important and if God ever calls your heart to participate in such a thing I pray you will answer with a willing "Yes!" and be blessed by the experience. But serving and loving each other doesn't have to be so big. Or so organized. More often than not I think its as simple as helping someone with an everyday task. What a blessing to our hearts it was today to be invited into our friends' home to use their hair clippers.We did save money, and if you are able I encourage you to find a way to cut your hair at home, but the real benefit of today was spending time with friends... and enjoy some of Jennifer's most excellent Orange Cinnamon rolls!

Combining Forces

I don't know about you, but sometimes I find it pretty hard to work fitness into my day. I find it especially difficult sometimes because unfortunately my favorite things to do are group classes. Sadly, group classes cost money. We used to have a membership at a very nice health club that offered all kinds of fun group classes. I did everything from group weight training to Pilates to Zumba, and even a step aerobics class led by a lady who was old enough to be my grandmother (she totally kicked my butt).

Obviously those days are long gone. I do miss the hot tub in the locker room. It can be a bit discouraging, but thankfully I've been able to survive off of free DVDs from my local library (thank GOD for the library!) and being car-less.

Nope, you read that correctly. Go ahead and check again. See? I said being car-less has actually been enormously beneficial. One of the things we decided to do to save money when we realized things were quickly going down hill financially was to become a one car couple. My husband needs the car most days of the week so when I need to get some place I either take the bus, walk or ride my bike. Not only do I get the benefit of the extra activity in my life, but I also get to be all hip and trendy and claim to be "going green" by not using more gas and contributing to the collective carbon footprint of America (whatever that means).

Now that the weather is finally becoming nice I've been able to start running outside again. I'm not actually much of a runner. I top out at about 5.8 mph, 5.9 on a good day. But it's a fabulous way to torch major calories and great for getting to the grocery store. Last year when I realized that one of my favorite places to buy groceries is about 3 miles away from my apartment I knew I had stumbled upon an elusive pearl of penny pinching: being able to combine my exercise with my efforts to save cash. Whenever I want to pick up a few things and the weather is cooperating, I strap on a very light weight cotton backpack, cinch it up as close to my back as possible so it doesn't bounce around, and run to the store. I get what I need and hop on the bus to come home.

Now that's functional fitness if I have ever heard of it. If you've been trying to think of ways to save gas money and also trying to think of ways to get more activity and exercise into your day, why not combine forces? When you need to run errands ask yourself three questions:

1. Can I get there by bike or on foot?
2. Will what I need to buy fit into my backpack or into my bike basket/saddle bags?
3. Is the store close enough for me to get there and back without purchased food becoming too warm?

If number three is a concern an easy fix to that is packing a thin insulated lunch bag with an ice pack in your backpack.

I really encourage you to give this a try! If you have children, take them with you and make it a triple whammy: fitness, errands and family time all at once. What could be better? Give it a try this week, and let me know how it goes.