FabSascha
21-10-2008, 11:56 PM
Hi Everyone,
I’ve been on a money saving mission recently and so thought I’d share my findings with all of you. I’m sure most of these ideas are posted elsewhere on the site, but I thought I’d round up the ones I’ve found most beneficial and thought it would be good if others could add to it to. I’m a tad high maintenance but unfortunately I’m also a bankrupt, so can’t afford the lifestyle I’d grown accustomed to over many years. So I got creative and started thinking about ways to save money. Here are the ones I can think of right now and I’ll add to the list if I can think of any more. These ideas are probably aimed at mainly women who have a lot of time on their hands…….
I hope they’re helpful!
Training Schools - Hair
This to me is the best find I’ve come across in a while. You can get your hair cut for a fiver and dyed for around £20 (depending on what you want done). You go to the training school of a top salon; I go to Toni and Guy as I used to go to one of their actual salons to get my hair done, but all the main salons have training schools. If you Google them you’ll find it. They each have various ways of doing the training – some you have to register with beforehand, some you can make an appointment with. With Toni and Guy, you call up and make an appointment, then show up on the day and they allocate you a trainee. The downside of this process is that the appointments are allocated quickly so you need to call them ASAP on a Monday morning, plus you’ll be in for a long day – I had a fairly basic hair cut and it took around 2 hours, but it’s worth it as in the salon it costs me around £40 so I’m saving £35. Also, to have my hair coloured in the actual salon costs around £65 so I’m saving £45. So for a total saving of £80 you can’t go wrong in my opinion. I think a lot of people fear having their hair done by a trainee as they worry it will go wrong. The thing to remember is that the cuts and colours are heavily supervised which is why it takes so long. The trainee does a bit of cutting/colouring, then the supervisor comes over and checks, then the trainee cuts/colours some more etc.
Training Schools - Beauty
When I’d booked my appointment at Toni and Guy I started to think about other treatments I have done that could be done by a trainee. I then e-mailed local beauty training schools to see if they ever needed ‘models’ to practice on. I found a great one and got a pedicure done that cost me £3! Normally this would cost me £25 so I was thrilled with that. The great thing about having it done by a trainee is that they are concentrating and keen to make a good impression, so the pedicure was absolutely flawless. I’m booked in for a manicure and a facial soon and the school also offers other treatments like massage, waxing, eyelash tinting etc. Most of which won’t cost more than a £5 each. This is a huge saving and again the treatments are carefully supervised. One downside is that you have to agree to have your picture taken e.g. I had to have a before and after snap of my feet, but I really didn’t mind that as I believe it’s a small price to pay, especially for such a great saving. Most beauty schools offer a similar service to that of a standard salon in the sense that you can just call and book, although this can differ from school to school, so it’s worth e-mailing or phoning to see what’s available. Another downside is that you have to time it with when they’re training and very few schools train all year around. But still, if you work it out over a year it’s still an impressive saving. Plus if you plan it carefully and get on the books of a few schools then you should always be able to get a cut-price treatment.
Freebies and Samples
When I was a lot younger I use to put an afternoon aside to trawl the beauty counters at my local shopping centre to pick up any samples that were available. Do this regularly and you can build up quite a collection! The best places to try are Clinique, Decleor, YSL, Lancome, Clarins and any perfume counters. You have to be forward and ask for any available samples. The people serving you might not always be particularly impressed, but who cares? Another thing to do to get freebies is look out for promotions. Lots of counters do them, especially Clinique who do really good ones. If you have the time it’s quite a good idea to try and build a rapport with those who work there, but only if you’re really eager! Be cheeky and see what you can get. There was a recent Clinique promotion running at my local counter and they were offering 4 free samples with every 2 products purchased. I said if they’d give me 6 it’d be a done deal, which they agreed to, but then it turned out they were out of stock of one of the things I wanted, so I asked for 3 free samples with the one product I was buying and they agreed to that too. I believe that you can get away with most things if you’re polite and decent and what’s the worst that could happen? I’ll never be able to say that saying again now without thinking of Dr Pepper!
Boots
I buy everything I can from Boots. I know their advantage card isn’t amazing, but I buy all my phone credit there and any cosmetics and beauty related things I need. This has resulted in quite a collection of points and at one point I had £45 worth (this gives you an incline as to why Bankruptcy was imminent I suppose…..). Obviously if you can get something cheaper elsewhere then do that instead, but if not, then why not make the most of your spending by being rewarded? Boots also run a lot of promotions which are worth keeping an eye on as I use Baby Wipes a lot and most of the time they’re running a BOGOF on them which is handy. Also, the first thing I do when I arrive at Boots is go to their Advantage Card booth (there are usually a few dotted around the store) and check if there are any good promotions relating to what I’m buying. I also ask people who shop at Boots to give me their receipts (as long as they don’t have a card themselves) as I can add the points from their shop to my card too. Yes I do have a lot of time on my hands!
TK Maxx
They have some great beauty stuff there all the time and are definitely worth checking. For example, one of my favourite eye creams was changing it's packaging, so all the ones that were still available in their old packaging went to TX Maxx and were half price. It was exactly the same cream in the same quantity, but cheaper because of the changover. If you have a TK Maxx near you then keep a regular eye on it. The beauty products are usually kept near the till in the most astonishingly disorganised fashion, but if you have the time to go through it all then you're bound to find a bargain.
Well that’s about all I can think of at the moment, I hope you find some of it useful. If I think of anything else I shall add it and please do add your own suggestions.
Cheers
Sascha x
I’ve been on a money saving mission recently and so thought I’d share my findings with all of you. I’m sure most of these ideas are posted elsewhere on the site, but I thought I’d round up the ones I’ve found most beneficial and thought it would be good if others could add to it to. I’m a tad high maintenance but unfortunately I’m also a bankrupt, so can’t afford the lifestyle I’d grown accustomed to over many years. So I got creative and started thinking about ways to save money. Here are the ones I can think of right now and I’ll add to the list if I can think of any more. These ideas are probably aimed at mainly women who have a lot of time on their hands…….
I hope they’re helpful!
Training Schools - Hair
This to me is the best find I’ve come across in a while. You can get your hair cut for a fiver and dyed for around £20 (depending on what you want done). You go to the training school of a top salon; I go to Toni and Guy as I used to go to one of their actual salons to get my hair done, but all the main salons have training schools. If you Google them you’ll find it. They each have various ways of doing the training – some you have to register with beforehand, some you can make an appointment with. With Toni and Guy, you call up and make an appointment, then show up on the day and they allocate you a trainee. The downside of this process is that the appointments are allocated quickly so you need to call them ASAP on a Monday morning, plus you’ll be in for a long day – I had a fairly basic hair cut and it took around 2 hours, but it’s worth it as in the salon it costs me around £40 so I’m saving £35. Also, to have my hair coloured in the actual salon costs around £65 so I’m saving £45. So for a total saving of £80 you can’t go wrong in my opinion. I think a lot of people fear having their hair done by a trainee as they worry it will go wrong. The thing to remember is that the cuts and colours are heavily supervised which is why it takes so long. The trainee does a bit of cutting/colouring, then the supervisor comes over and checks, then the trainee cuts/colours some more etc.
Training Schools - Beauty
When I’d booked my appointment at Toni and Guy I started to think about other treatments I have done that could be done by a trainee. I then e-mailed local beauty training schools to see if they ever needed ‘models’ to practice on. I found a great one and got a pedicure done that cost me £3! Normally this would cost me £25 so I was thrilled with that. The great thing about having it done by a trainee is that they are concentrating and keen to make a good impression, so the pedicure was absolutely flawless. I’m booked in for a manicure and a facial soon and the school also offers other treatments like massage, waxing, eyelash tinting etc. Most of which won’t cost more than a £5 each. This is a huge saving and again the treatments are carefully supervised. One downside is that you have to agree to have your picture taken e.g. I had to have a before and after snap of my feet, but I really didn’t mind that as I believe it’s a small price to pay, especially for such a great saving. Most beauty schools offer a similar service to that of a standard salon in the sense that you can just call and book, although this can differ from school to school, so it’s worth e-mailing or phoning to see what’s available. Another downside is that you have to time it with when they’re training and very few schools train all year around. But still, if you work it out over a year it’s still an impressive saving. Plus if you plan it carefully and get on the books of a few schools then you should always be able to get a cut-price treatment.
Freebies and Samples
When I was a lot younger I use to put an afternoon aside to trawl the beauty counters at my local shopping centre to pick up any samples that were available. Do this regularly and you can build up quite a collection! The best places to try are Clinique, Decleor, YSL, Lancome, Clarins and any perfume counters. You have to be forward and ask for any available samples. The people serving you might not always be particularly impressed, but who cares? Another thing to do to get freebies is look out for promotions. Lots of counters do them, especially Clinique who do really good ones. If you have the time it’s quite a good idea to try and build a rapport with those who work there, but only if you’re really eager! Be cheeky and see what you can get. There was a recent Clinique promotion running at my local counter and they were offering 4 free samples with every 2 products purchased. I said if they’d give me 6 it’d be a done deal, which they agreed to, but then it turned out they were out of stock of one of the things I wanted, so I asked for 3 free samples with the one product I was buying and they agreed to that too. I believe that you can get away with most things if you’re polite and decent and what’s the worst that could happen? I’ll never be able to say that saying again now without thinking of Dr Pepper!
Boots
I buy everything I can from Boots. I know their advantage card isn’t amazing, but I buy all my phone credit there and any cosmetics and beauty related things I need. This has resulted in quite a collection of points and at one point I had £45 worth (this gives you an incline as to why Bankruptcy was imminent I suppose…..). Obviously if you can get something cheaper elsewhere then do that instead, but if not, then why not make the most of your spending by being rewarded? Boots also run a lot of promotions which are worth keeping an eye on as I use Baby Wipes a lot and most of the time they’re running a BOGOF on them which is handy. Also, the first thing I do when I arrive at Boots is go to their Advantage Card booth (there are usually a few dotted around the store) and check if there are any good promotions relating to what I’m buying. I also ask people who shop at Boots to give me their receipts (as long as they don’t have a card themselves) as I can add the points from their shop to my card too. Yes I do have a lot of time on my hands!
TK Maxx
They have some great beauty stuff there all the time and are definitely worth checking. For example, one of my favourite eye creams was changing it's packaging, so all the ones that were still available in their old packaging went to TX Maxx and were half price. It was exactly the same cream in the same quantity, but cheaper because of the changover. If you have a TK Maxx near you then keep a regular eye on it. The beauty products are usually kept near the till in the most astonishingly disorganised fashion, but if you have the time to go through it all then you're bound to find a bargain.
Well that’s about all I can think of at the moment, I hope you find some of it useful. If I think of anything else I shall add it and please do add your own suggestions.
Cheers
Sascha x