Dye-Ing to Save Some Money!

I just discovered a way to put an extra $2250 a year into my sons’ college savings accounts. No, I didn’t win the lottery. I started thinking outside the box. Or, in this case, inside the box. That’s right – I started dying my own hair. 

Before you let images of brown, indelible goo splattered everywhere scare you away, let me tell you – it was way easier than I expected. To be honest, going to the salon had always been a chore for me. I have to color my hair often to cover my gray, and, really -- who has time to sit in the salon for several hours in the middle of the day every few weeks?   

Beyond the time commitment, coloring my hair had also become a major financial commitment!  I added up what I was spending on salon visits a year – 15 visits a year times $150 was ….$2250 a year – on hair color?!  I figured it wasn’t worth spending thousands of dollars a year on something I didn’t even enjoy.  It was worth a shot to try to bring my hair back to the chestnut glow of my youth -- all in the privacy of my own home. 

There were many options in the $3.99 range, but I splurged on an all-natural product which cost about $15. At one tenth of the price of a salon visit, I was already feeling hopeful.  As the brown glop sat on my head, I realized how much more convenient this was than going to the salon – it only took 30 minutes and I could do it at 9pm at night after my sons were asleep - while catching up on 30 Rock episodes that I had TIVOd. So far, a victory. But how did it look?

The next day at my son’s school, one particularly fashionable mom with great hair came up and said, “I’ve never really noticed your hair before, but it looks great! Where did you get it done?” I was beside myself with joy as I told her it was done Chez Moi for only $15!  Now the really fun part – what else could I do with all the money I’d be saving a year? 

I calculated that if I put the $2250 a year it into savings for my sons’ college funds, at a rate of even 3% a year, it would yield about $45,000 15 years from now!  I would much rather be spending that money on college than hair color – a beautiful investment for sure!