These days, everyone is feeling the crunch on their household budgets. Anything that is a nonessential has been cut down or cut out. But as women we have needs, right?
Keeping up our appearance give us advantages in the job market, in the dating scene, and overall confidence in life. How can we keep our beauty budgets, while still saving money?
The beauty world is a billion-dollar industry, so we can easily overspend, and waste our money on the “newest, most advanced” products. The majority of those purchases just end up in the cabinet, forgotten anyway. Try these ideas and tricks to save money on your beauty expenses.
Pick One: Just choose one category of beauty you absolutely can’t live without and splurge on that. You might prefer your hair to look perfect and be able to pass on the nails or makeup. Maybe you can live with more natural hair, and want to smell amazing or have super smooth, manicured feet. If you feel you just can’t give up anything, then try to cut back a little in all the areas.
Hair Care
Going to a salon every month for haircuts and coloring can get expensive. But don’t worry, you can still splurge a little and give your hair the salon treatments. Instead of going every month, space out your appointments to every 6-8 weeks, as this will cut your salon bill by 50%.
To hold you over between colorings, try an over-the-counter root touch up, or box color. Many of the colors are made to expertly match salon brands, and they won’t harm your hair. This will only cost about $8 or $10, leaving more in your budget for necessities.
Your hair doesn’t need to be cut every month, so again, space out your appointments. If you want to maintain your hairs length, just wait about 8 weeks between the last trim. If you prefer to grow your hair out, then you can wait longer, even 12 weeks in between appointments. Always maintain it by trimming it regularly, this keeps it healthy and shiny, without split ends.
Using the salon brands of shampoos, conditioners and treatments is a splurge. You can still purchase them, but use them sparingly, to get the most out of them. Depending on your hair and skin type, you don’t need to shampoo and condition your hair every day. It’s actually better for your hair if you don’t.
Try to stretch your shampoos to every other day or every third day. This helps your hair and skin to produce natural oils, since you aren’t continuously stripping it. Use a normal or cheaper shampoo or conditioner during the week, then on weekends or for special events, use the more expensive salon brands.
Pro Trick: Many of us shampoo our hair even when we don’t need to. If you have fine, thin or dry hair, you can get by with just using conditioner daily, and then shampooing once or twice a week. This helps your hair to stay smooth and moisturized, taming those fly aways. You will be surprised to find how “clean” your hair looks, even though you didn’t use any soap.
Makeup
Your normal schedule at work or at home varies from day to day. But you basically know which days you will be out in the public more than other days. Pick these days to “go all out” with your makeup, or for special occasions and events. Then go lighter or just use the basics on days when you won’t be quite as busy, like casual Friday for example.
This extends the life of your makeup, and also gives your skin a chance to breath. It’s also fun to mix it up and play with your beauty products. Just try something new or different, and you might actually like saving those few extra minutes in the morning!
Fragrances
Perfumes and fragrances are a great way to make yourself feel beautiful, you just have to watch how many bottles you purchase. Find a few scents that you absolutely love, then give away or sell the remaining ones you don’t prefer. Ask your significant other what they like, perhaps they prefer a scent you haven’t even tried.
Use scents sparingly, no one needs to bathe in it. It should just be a subtle fragrance that entices people to be around you, not knock them over when you walk in the room. Try using body sprays, which tend to be less expensive, for your daily routine. Saving your more extravagant and potent scents for special things.
Many lotions and body oils come in great scents and will enhance your natural body fragrance. The natural smell of women is sometimes more attractive, than all the other fake products. Plus, it makes you less of a diva!
Tanning
Effective July 1, 2010 Congress imposed a “tanning tax” for any electronic devices designed for tanning that use ultraviolet lamps. This is a 10% tax that is required for all tanning salons and businesses that offer tanning beds, to pay. Other sunless tanning options like spray tans or tanning lotions are not effected by this tax.
Many people don’t even realize they are having to pay this extra tax. Sometimes it is passed down to the customer in forms of raised tanning salon prices, or directly as a 10% increase. Apart from the dangers of overusing a tanning bed, this is just another reason why using sunless tanning options is better for you and your budget.
There are several really good sunless lotions that can be purchased from your local beauty supply store or pharmacy, for a fraction of the price. They give your skin a beautiful glow, without all the damaging effect of a tanning bed, and the 10% tax increase.
Mani/Pedi
Manicures and Pedicures are a fun, relaxing way to treat ourselves. There are many home spa kits and mani/pedi sets you can do yourself. Limit your spa days to once every few months, and keep up your own nails at home, in between visits.
Take a nice bath in the evening, light some candles, and soak your hands and feet. Choose some new lotions or oils, and some nail color to paint your own nails. This will relax your whole body and make you feel like you went to the spa, for only a fraction of the cost.
Many salons and nail places offer discounts if you make an appointment with them on certain days. Like Mondays or Wednesdays, when their business is slowest. Choose to go on those days, and you can save almost 50% in total. Groupon is another great way to get amazing offers and discounts on spa’s and beauty products. Just subscribe and they will email you that day’s deals.
What are some of the ways you save money within your beauty budget?
