Posts Tagged ‘solutions’

How I Got Free Long Distance on My Cell Phone

As some of you may know, when I moved to my apartment last year, I got rid of my landline and use my cell phone as my main phone.  I’ve been on a pay-as-you go plan simply because I liked the flexibility of being more in control of my monthly payments. If I didn’t use the phone a lot, I didn’t feel cheated about paying for service I didn’t use. If I used it a bit more, then I was happy to pay the extra, simply because I knew it wasn’t every month.

Recently though I was investigating moving to a monthly plan that would give me more minutes in the evenings, so I started looking this week. Turns out my provider (Virgin Mobile Canada) also had these “extra” packs you could add to your monthly plan that would give you extra things, like unlimited texting and calling to certain phone numbers, or let me choose when my unlimited calling block occurs every day (instead of only in the evening), and so on. I spoke to a very nice customer service rep who explained all the details to me, and I decided to go for it. The main selling point was simply that I would get unlimited calling and texting to 5 phone numbers I could add to a list. This means that I can now call my sister in Kingston whenever I want, for no extra long distance charges! Or my friend in Vancouver, with no extra long distance charges. What’s even better is that I can actually change who’s in my list once a month, so if I know I’m going to call somebody in particular frequently, I can change the numbers on the list and be done with it. Isn’t that great? I’m excited.

But what’s even better is that this whole new plan only costs me $2 more a month than I’m paying now. Yep, you heard me right, for $2 more a month, I get unlimited texting and calling across Canada to 5 numbers. That’s definitely worth the extra $2 in my opinion. Yippie!

How to Save Money Like a Girl

Any of the ladies out there reading this blog know what I’m about to write about when I mention the words “hair appointment”. For the longest time now, there has been a HUGE discrepancy between what a man and a woman pays to have his/her hair styled. I’ve always wished stylists would charge a bit more on a sliding scale, instead of just a “flat fee” for a hair cut. My hair is currently a medium-length right now (it’s just passed my shoulders), and so these days I just get a trim. And yet my current stylist charges me $73 for that privilege.

Now, when I’m getting a full-on hair cut where I lose 4 or 5 inches of hair, then yes, by all means charge me a higher amount. In my opinion there’s a little more risk and skill involved, but for a simple trim? Seems quite absurd, don’t you think?

Step 1 in my efforts to be frugal was to start doing the one part of my typical trip to the salon that I can do at home: colour my own hair. The biggest obstacle here is that my hair is long and thick, so it’s quite a chore to do this myself, or even with help. It’s a literal pain in the neck. I weighed several options on this, and finally decided I’d keep my eyes peeled for a new salon. I love my stylist, and the salon I go to, but the cost of these trips was killing me. A cut and colour plus tip was running me almost $180, and to do that every two months was just insane. I was trying to stretch it out, but I was getting frustrated at the state of my hair.

Step 2 occurred this evening.

In my travels around my neighbourhood I had spied a semi-decent looking hair salon that I thought about going to. I searched online, and discovered they had a website, and the prices seemed pretty reasonable. There were also testimonials on the site, which I always take with a grain of salt, considering anyone can just make them up. However there was one from an actress, and she commented about how great the stylist/owner was, and went on about how she loved going there. So I searched for her as well, to see if she was a real person, and sure enough, she was! So that testimonial was definitely plausible and probable to be true.

On my way home from work tonight I decided to stop in and check things out. The owner was at the front desk and greeted me warmly, and patiently explained their pricing structure to me. Going to the newer stylist would save me about $20-30 per visit, and I always like going to the junior people because they need the practice too, you know? Besides, the owner assured me that she’s always available to consult with the stylist if we’re doing anything radical and either of us is nervous. But since I’m just going for a straight colour and cut, things should be fine. So I booked an appointment with the new stylist. And how much is this visit going to cost me? How much do you think a cut and colour will run me at this new salon?

$90 + tax and tip.

Yes, you read correctly. About $100. That’s almost $80-90 cheaper than what I was paying previously! If I went to the senior stylist, it would be a little over $100, which is still cheaper! How insane is that? And how insane have I been not to check them out sooner? Needless to say I am quite pleased at the price, and am hoping that the stylist works out, because she will definitely be staying on my speed dial permanently.