Choosing to cut back on paid services for personal care, auto care, and household care can be a great money-saving idea. Not only do at-home services and products save more money, but they are also often as good as the services and products provided by professionals. Instead of canceling these services entirely, save more money by going less frequently and supplementing with at-home services and products.
Save More Money on Personal Beauty Care
Cutting back on personal beauty care services such as manicures and pedicures is an easy way to save more money since salon services, and tips can take a big chunk out of the budget. Many salon-quality products and tools are available in drug stores. Women who like frequent manicures may want to purchase supplies for at-home nail care since manicure and pedicures can be handled at home for less money.
Saving money on children’s haircuts is another way to trim the budget. Consider whether elementary-age and younger girls and boys need a salon-price haircut. Girls’ bangs and long hair can be trimmed at home in between salon visits for styling cuts. Hair trimmers can be purchased to give boys haircuts at home.
Women who don’t want to give up their favorite hairstylist may want to continue going to the salon for haircuts, but handle hair coloring at home. Hair coloring and highlighting kits are much less expensive than a salon coloring job, and new products offer high-quality highlighting and root touch-ups.
In addition, women who enjoy tanning can stretch a spray tan service by using an at-home lotion that adds color to the skin. Salons will sell personal beauty care products that help to keep skin moisturized while depositing color on the skin. Drugstores sell similar moisturizing lotions made by Jergens and Vaseline, among others, that build up a tan color over time. Combining drugstore tanning solutions with spray tan services can reduce the number of visits to the tanning salon.
Money-Saving Ideas for Auto Care
There are many easy ways to save money on routine auto care and auto repair. Do-it-yourself auto care can include auto detailing, checking the fluids and tires, changing the oil, and minor auto repairs. A do it yourself car wash with specialized at-home car washing products can deliver the same quality as a professional service. Auto detailing supplies for cleaning car interiors are sold at many superstores as well as auto parts stores.
There are many reasons to handle basic car care yourself. Car mechanics try to get the job done as quickly as possible and will suggest add-on jobs that may not be immediately necessary. Auto-Facts.org offers articles on how to troubleshoot car problems, handle repairs, and find reliable online car care manuals. Handling basic car care with online resources can save more money over the long term.
Ways to Save Money on Home Cleaning Services
Not everyone has a house cleaning service, but those who do can make home cleaning services last longer by stretching the amount of time in-between visits. Switching a weekly service to twice a month or a bi-monthly service to one visit a month can cut the cost of cleaning services in half. The best way to reduce cleaning services or to get a house in order is to make and use a house cleaning plan.
One of the most popular money-saving ideas is to make a weekly meal plan and grocery list. Instead of paying for an online menu and grocery shopping service, use a do it yourself approach to create a weekly meal plan and grocery list. This is an easy way to save money because it eliminates the cost of using a meal-planning service and saves more money at the grocery store with a well-planned shopping list.
Easy ways to save money include using do it yourself and at-home services and products to cut back on paid services. Money-saving ideas include handling your own personal care for haircuts, manicures, and pedicures; auto care for car washing, routine maintenance, car detailing, and minor auto repairs; and household care for house cleaning and meal planning.
