Frugal September

So many things have been going on this month.  We finally got our debt below $200,000.  Yes, $200,000 - the several degrees between my husband and myself, and a very small car loan that is almost finished.  This is a great accomplishment!  It makes me even more fired up.  The plan is to pay off that whole amount by July 1, 2021.  We are really working hard to do it!  Making everything from scratch, saying no to most wants, selling things, reducing every expense possible....these are all things that we are doing to pay off debt.

One of the ways that we save money is by doing all personal care ourselves.  This includes haircuts and hair styling for our family.  As you can tell by my profile picture, I am African-American.  As such, my hair requires a bit of a different kind of attention.  This is also true for my daughters.  I already know how to do many things like cornrow, flat twist, two strand twist, etc.  But this month I endeavored to learn a new skill: braid extensions.  This involves adding hair to one's natural hair to not only provide volume and length, but to a break from the stress of daily styling. Braid extensions can cause tension on the hair line, so for me, being able to do it myself allowed me to control the amount of tension and make sure that there was no pulling, which ultimately lead to hair loss, headaches and even sores if not done properly.

I am really proud of the job I did.  This style could have cost as much as $150 at a salon.  I only paid $15 for the hair :)  It took about 4 1/2 hours:

My youngest daughter did not want extensions, so we worked together to find a style that would be appropriate for her fist day of school:

What new skills are you teaching yourself to save money?