Frugality

How Long Will It Take for a Washer and Dryer to Pay for Themselves?

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Our new apartment has washer/dryer connections and we bought a used washer and dryer for $150. Prior to that we were doing about five loads a week at the laundromat. It is pretty easy to figure out how much it cost us to do our laundry at the laundromat. The cost was $1.50 per load to wash and $1.25 per load to dry for a total cost per load of $2.75. Taking that total times 5 we were spending $13.75 a week at the laundromat.

Finding the cost of using our own washer and dryer is a little harder to figure. I found a website that has a laundry costs calculator. Using the calculator I determined that we have a total cost per load of $0.53 or $2.65 a week. Our laundry costs are low because we don’t have to pay water and we only use cold water.

We are saving $11.10 a week by having our own washer and dryer. A little math shows that in 14 weeks our washer and dryer will have paid for themselves. It actually is an even better deal than that because I place a high value on not having to spend several hours each week at the laundromat.

The next step is to be even more frugal and reduce the use of the dryer and the volume of laundry.

A Frugal Engagement

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It is possible to get engaged without spending a lot of money.  Being the frugal person I am I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on getting engaged.  The only money you really need to spend on getting engaged is the purchase of a ring.

In my case I proposed before I had a ring and we picked out our rings together on Amazon.  They didn’t cost much and I was able to mostly pay for them using gift cards I had purchased with Swag Bucks.   It is a lot easier to buy your rings for a reasonable price if you do not buy diamonds.  Besides the cost there are plenty of other reasons why you should not buy diamonds.

Even a tight fisted miser like me wants to be romantic but that doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot of money.  If you can’t come up with romantic proposal ideas that don’t cost a lot of money just Google “romantic proposals” and you will find plenty that can be done on a frugal budget.  My proposal wasn’t very romantic but I did get a do over.  Her engagement ring arrived while she was at work and when we went out to dinner that evening I surprised her by getting down on one knee and proposing.  Even though I had already asked her to marry me before the second proposal was an emotional moment and was much appreciated.

Money should not be an obstacle to getting engaged.  You can get engaged and still be frugal.

The Hazards of Cutting Your Own Hair

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I’ve been cutting my own hair for several years. At a conservative estimate of $10 a month for a haircut, I save $120 a year by cutting my own hair. My only cost is a $10 pair of clippers (that I got for free). Being a frugal person I’m always looking at ways to cut my expenses. Before I got my clippers I was getting my hair cut to a short buzz cut anyway so I decided it would be easy to just cut my own hair. I usually just put the 1/2 inch guard on the clippers and buzz away. It doesn’t take any skill and it is pretty difficult to mess up.

Tonight I found a way to mess it up. I forgot to put the guard on before I started cutting my hair. I cut a stripe right down the middle of my head. My mistake was immediately obvious but it was too late, I couldn’t uncut my hair. At that point I had two options, I could either go for a reverse mohawk hairstyle or just cut it all off. I didn’t think I could pull off a reverse mohawk so I cut it all off. Hopefully, I won’t be mistaken for a skinhead while I’m waiting for my hair to grow out. On the plus side I shouldn’t need to cut my hair again for quite a while.

It Must Be Nice

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When I talk to people about my current hiking plans they sometimes reply, “It must be nice.” The implication is that I’m lucky to be able to go on a six-month hike. Undoubtedly, I am lucky to be physically and financially able to go on this hike. It isn’t all luck though. Being financially able to take this hike is a result of years of living frugally and saving money. I’ve also avoided debts or other obligations that would keep me from hiking. Too many people think that reaching a goal like this is just luck and is out of their control. If someone wants to take a hike they can do the same things I did. They may decide that the trade-offs aren’t worth it for them but they should realize that they can achieve this goal – it isn’t just luck.

And yeah, it is pretty f—ing nice.