The 8 Hour Haircut

[JenniferOnFIRE]

I'm still chuffed at an opportunity I had a couple decades back to plant a mustache seed in the head of a teenage girl.  She was working the register at a used book store where I was buying a copy of "Your Money or Your Life" (a classic from the early 90's beginning of the simplicity movement).  I mentioned that it was about a good way to make smart spending decisions and we got to talking.  She shared how proud she was that on a recent trip to Canada, she was able to take advantage of the favorable exchange rates to get a haircut at a nice salon for only $40!

After a moment of silence while I put the screaming inner me back in the box, I took the conversation back to the book on the counter and explained to her the concept of the true hourly wage.  As an example, I showed her that since her take-home pay was around $5 per hour, her "bargain" haircut cost her eight hours of working at the store.

Wow.  She didn't say much, but I could see that this concept hit home.

I often wonder how she turned out, and hope that that little nudge early in life led her to make good financial choices moving forward.

So kudos to you who are raising Mini Money Mustaches - I thank you for making the world a better place.  And for the rest of us - take advantage of teachable moments found in casual encounters.  You never know where the seeds you plant may blossom!

[Juliekay]

You know I used to be judgmental about these things too. I went 8 years without a real haircut yes I cut my own bangs and just had long hair.  However, when you need a good haircut because you have a bunch of split ends, and you are entering an industry where looks are important, you just gotta suck it up and get a decent cut.  I tried cutting my own hair and now the back is choppy looking.  sometimes you just need a professional to do it, and those professionals need to be paid the wage they are due from training.

I've had the cheap haircuts and they look shitty too. Sometimes it's just worth it.

[Chris Pascale]

Hi everyone! I want to say that I loved allmost all subjects in high school. It admited me to have diversity in career choices when I get a degree. And right now I am working on my hard assignments about value of programming development in the world. Hope with some help of professionals from .........writing service I will finish it at the utmost level. They are really pro in writing all types of papers for you!!!

Dude, don't do a totally-off-topic spam.

At least go to the Entrepreneur thread and ask "Should I Start This Business?" and then explain that you do tutoring and are considering something with term paper writing. Everyone will pile on about how you're dirty cheater, and how you suck, and with some luck, you'll get a message or two from people asking what you charge per page, and then you have a couple new clients.

[Frankies Girl]

removed quote from spammer

Dude, don't do a totally-off-topic spam.

At least go to the Entrepreneur thread and ask "Should I Start This Business?" and then explain that you do tutoring and are considering something with term paper writing. Everyone will pile on about how you're dirty cheater, and how you suck, and with some luck, you'll get a message or two from people asking what you charge per page, and then you have a couple new clients.

@Chris Pascale

This is a garbage spammer who has zero interest in back and forth. They don't give two shits about your advice or want your help. They just come here by the dozens, bump old posts that may have a tenuous connection the trash links they get paid pennies to spam for by their stupid SEO "marketing company" from some nasty little sweatshop in a 3rd world country and try to hit as many sites as they can before their IP becomes blacklisted. Rinse and repeat.

Comically enough, the site they're spamming for is an ESSAY WRITING site... and the shill/spammer can't even construct a proper paragraph, use correct tense, and spell basic words like almost or admitted even though they were "admited me to have diversity in career choices when I get a degree." Sure screams legit site to me, I'll tell you what.

Please remove your post or at minimum edit out their spam link as the moderators will eventually delete the actual spammer's postings but never seem to care about removing the posts by folks that respond after.

[Chris Pascale]

removed quote from spammer

Dude, don't do a totally-off-topic spam.

At least go to the Entrepreneur thread and ask "Should I Start This Business?" and then explain that you do tutoring and are considering something with term paper writing. Everyone will pile on about how you're dirty cheater, and how you suck, and with some luck, you'll get a message or two from people asking what you charge per page, and then you have a couple new clients.

@Chris Pascale

This is a garbage spammer who has zero interest in back and forth. They don't give two shits about your advice or want your help. They just come here by the dozens, bump old posts that may have a tenuous connection the trash links they get paid pennies to spam for by their stupid SEO "marketing company" from some nasty little sweatshop in a 3rd world country and try to hit as many sites as they can before their IP becomes blacklisted. Rinse and repeat.

Comically enough, the site they're spamming for is an ESSAY WRITING site... and the shill/spammer can't even construct a proper paragraph, use correct tense, and spell basic words like almost or admitted even though they were "admited me to have diversity in career choices when I get a degree." Sure screams legit site to me, I'll tell you what.

Please remove your post or at minimum edit out their spam link as the moderators will eventually delete the actual spammer's postings but never seem to care about removing the posts by folks that respond after.

I know, I'm just kidding around.

I also reported the person to the moderators.

Link removed in my reply.

[TVRodriguez]

So I see that this was a spam response that brought this thread back to life, but I am replying to admit that I misunderstood the title of the thread, somewhat comically.

I thought it was a thread about a haircut that took 8 hours.  It reminded me of when I've cut my own boys' hair b/c it takes me forever.  Maybe not 8 hours, but a while.  At least 30 minutes.  The barber on the corner charges $10 and takes him 5 minutes per kid.

As for YMOYL, I love that book.  Great that OP may have brought a new perspective to the cashier in the story.  One thing I love about YMOYL is that the authors go out of their way to tell you that you get to decide what is worth it for you when you spend your money/energy.  Joe and Vicki never preach an austerity or forced-poverty mindset.  They make it clear that money is a tool that you earn with your own life energy, and you gain freedom when you start to decide how and when to spend it based on your own values, not someone else's.  I remember one example of a person (from the book) who had three separate categories for personal care, while another folded all that into some other category.  Personal finance is personal.