I haven’t paid for a haircut in years!

Posted on by unfuckmymoney

Yes, it’s true but came to an end recently. I used to be a stickler when it came to getting haircuts. I found it absurd that a women’s cut costs upwards of +$60. I found a way to get around that though. I was a hair model!

When you are a hair model for hair shows, you volunteer your time in exchange for a free hair cut and/or colour. I modeled for Wella Hair. This was very fun to do! Of course, you have to have a somewhat open mind for what their vision is for your hair. I never received a haircut I didn’t like. Having said that, I did receive a rainbow ombre colour job for free so that’s the type of adventurous person I am when it comes to hair. It took up a day and a half of my time on a weekend. They would do the cut and colour on a half day. The next day was makeup and wardrobe followed by the hair show. You basically sit pretty while the stylist finishes your hair transformation on stage and you get sent home with a goodie bag of full-sized professional hair products.

My next stint as a hair model was with Sexy Hair. I actually got paid $500US for these hair shows. I modeled two shows for them and in turn, was paid a total of $1000US for my time in addition to a goodie bag of full-sized hair products. These shows were also 2-day events.

So how can you get free haircuts?

  • Keep an eye out on Kijiji, Craigslist or the Facebook Marketplace for calls for “hair models”. Most of them will be supervised hair cuts at a salon academy meaning if anything goes off the rails, their supervisor will come in to remedy the situation.
  • Companies such as Wella Hair or SexyHair actively recruit hair models that their top stylists will work on. Once you make contact with a recruiter, you’ll be on their email list for future hair shows

 

 

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September 2018 Goals

Posted on by unfuckmymoney

How the fuck is it September already? Where did summer go? My goals have been boring AF lately. Of course I want to pay off the elopement debt, workout and have no spend days but how am I challenging myself every month? I think I’ll start with purging things I don’t need or use. I regularly do this but I need to be brutally honest with myself with some items.

  • pay off elopement debt
  • workout 20 times
  • 18 no spend days
  • no holds barred purging of crap I don’t need in my condo
  • think of new, challenging goals for next month

August 2018 Goals Review

Posted on by unfuckmymoney

I can’t believe it’s the end of August already. I’ve been thinking about how fast time flies lately and want to cherish every moment. Having said that, the lingering debt we have from our elopement is bugging me. I need that gone ASAP.

  • pay off expenses from elopement FAIL! But I transferred it to a 1.99% credit card
  • 12 no spend days Pass! I had 14 no spend days
  • 18 days working out FAIL! Wasn’t expecting to fail this one. I worked several part-time job shifts and was feeling unwell towards the end of the month.
  • sell my BBQ. We have two and have no reason to keep two Sold! Yay!
  • make $250 from my part-time job FAIL! I had to cancel a shift because I felt a cold coming on.

August 2018 Goals

Posted on by unfuckmymoney

I can’t believe it’s August already. I’ve been thinking about how fast time flies lately and want to cherish every moment. Having said that, the lingering debt we have from our elopement is bugging me. I need that gone ASAP.

  • pay off expenses from elopement
  • 12 no spend days
  • 18 days working out
  • sell my BBQ. We have two and have no reason to keep two
  • make $250 from my part-time job

July 2018 Goals Review

Posted on by unfuckmymoney

  • We got married last week and I went into a wee bit of debt after becoming debt free. My goal is to clear this debt. Fail! This will take another month to clear
  • Continue intermittent fasting (16/8) 6 days a week. This method has helped me lose some belly weight. Fail! I could only do 5 days a week. Weekends are a free for all. I want all the pizza in my mouth!
  • Purge closet again. I feel I have too much clothing again although my husband says I don’t at all. Pass!
  • Get rid of uncomfortable shoes. I was going to wear these sexy, gold heels to dinner after we got married but my feet said NOPE! I decided then and there that I am finished with uncomfortable shoes. Pass! Good riddance stupid heels!
  • Work out 20 days of the month Fail! I only worked out 18 days
  • 15 no spend days Fail! Probably the closes I’ve been to this goal: 12 no spend days

July was a month of failure. Haha!

Renewing my mortgage without consumer debt for the first time

Posted on by unfuckmymoney

When my mortgage was last up for renewal, my credit score was in the low 600s and I had $43K in consumer debt and owed $20K to the CRA. I decided to stick to my existing lender since I figured nobody would give me a good rate. My rate was 4.1% for a 3 year term. This is horrible considering the Prime Rate was the lowest it had been in years.

Fast forward three years and a credit score in the high 700s (Equifax) and low 800s (TransUnion). My credit report doesn’t even reflect that I’m debt free yet but that didn’t matter. I was ready to find a new lender to renew my mortgage with and give the double finger to my existing one.

The first step was to gather all my documents which consisted of:
● Two years of Notice of Assessments
● Property Assessment & proof that Property Taxes are up to date
● Condo docs (Bylaws and two years of Meeting Minutes)
● Recent pay stubs
● Letter of Employment

I met with my mortgage broker who is wonderful and handed off the documents. Our family has dealt with her mom and her for years.. I told her I was looking for a 3 or 4 year term. She said she would, of course, look for the best rate for me.

In the meantime, I received my mortgage renewal notice from my existing lender and laughed my ass off! The rates were atrocious:
6 month open: 7.00%
1 year closed: 5.99%
3 year closed: 4.99%
5 year closed: 3.74%

I also noticed my TransUnion credit score went down 15 points. I get weekly updates through my Capital One credit card. I didn’t panic since I knew she’d be taking a hard credit check as opposed to a soft one.

Within one week, my broker contacted me and said she secured a 4 year term at 2.99%. Yay! I met with her the following day to sign my mortgage commitment which basically states the conditions of the mortgage and that they’d pay out my existing lender. I also had to gather a few more documents for her, one of which I had to pay $199 for. Grr. She also got me to sign a document that I was aware that she will make about $1500 from the lender for going through her. Of course, that was fine with me.

My mortgage payment will be dropping to $880.75 per month which frees up more than $100 per month for saving. I highly recommend using a mortgage broker when buying a house or renewing your mortgage. Don’t blindly agree to what your existing lender offers you unless you have no choice. Mortgage brokers will get the best rate for you and take the stress off of buying a house or renewing a mortgage.

We eloped in the mountains. Here’s how much we spent.

Posted on by unfuckmymoney

I never wanted to marry The Ex and I confused that with not wanting to get married at all. Then I met my now husband. We are both simple, frugal people and are on the same page about weddings in that we don’t want a big one or one at all. That’s why we eloped.

It was a ceremony involving us, the marriage officiant and a paid witness and our photographer. We wanted to get married in a picturesque location so we could show pictures to our family and friends. Finding a marriage officiant that would hike out to the location we wanted was a bit tricky. Finding a destination photographer was easier. I know we could have done it for way cheaper had we stayed in our home city but we wanted something truly memorable and great pictures we could give to our parents. A city elopement would have been way cheaper but the pictures wouldn’t have been as jaw dropping.

Actual cost $3823:
Dress+earrings: $105+15 = $120
Makeup+lash extensions: $30+160 = $190
Kilt+shirt/tie+tailor: $577+45+105 = $727
Wedding bands: $212
Wedding officiant: $652 (pricey because of the travel time and there’s a 15 min hike to our location. Also includes witness fee.)
Photographer: $1360
Hotel (2 nights): $334
Wedding license: $103
Dinner: $125

I chuckle when I see how much my dress was compared to my husband’s kilt but now he can wear it to special occasions… or just around the house for me. Haha! Yes, I know I spent $160 on lash extensions but to me it was worth it. I’m Asian so I have short lashes and I can’t put on strip lashes for the life of me. I wanted to look good on my wedding day and lash extensions really helped me feel like a queen. #noregrets

The process of getting married was exhausting! Who knew? I spent the first half of the week packing and making sure I got everything on my list. I’m normally a very light packer so this drove me nuts. I had to bring all my full-sized hair and skincare products, makeup, makeup brushes, etc.

The second half of the week was spent driving there and finding the precise location for the ceremony. The instructions that I found on a trail website were so vague. It was as if they didn’t want us to find this treasure but once we did, I could totally understand why they were so vague. I did my own hair and makeup which thankfully, turned out well.

We are very happy that we chose to elope instead of having a full-blown wedding. It felt so intimate and we felt so happy and at peace in the mountains. Most of all, we have a memory to share that is truly ours.