Personal Maintenance

Parents Forum Parent Cafe
#1

Trying to get things moving!

and reading how some people out there spend in excess of six figures a year on personal maintainance, I got to wondering what do you think your annual maintenance bill are (excluding necessaries ie medical care, because that’s health related)

Nails / hair / eyelashes / botox etc

In ‘Beforetimes’

I get my hair cut about 3-4 times a year @ $70
My mani/pedi each month @ $120
Pilates 2 x week @ $60/time = Oh, no!!! - I just did the math on that
My gym membership is a ‘bonus’ with my CC, so I don’t count that.

I don’t do anything else such as botox or eyelashes, but it seems I am quite expensive to ‘maintain’ !

ETA: I’ve cost nothing since February!

#2

Wow -

H cuts my hair - $0, although we did spend about $30 for one of those kits a few years ago. I color my own hair about 3 times a year - $10 a box, at most. I don’t wear make-up or nail polish, don’t do mani pedis. Don’t belong to a gym. Never did Botox, lipo or any such.

I guess I cost about $30 a year to maintain and I’m worth every penny of it.

#3

Haircuts from a local woman in her basement 20 dollars twice a year–40.
most summers a mani-pedi, lets say 60.
I think that’s it. Exercise is my bike/kayak/and feet. No makeup, hair coloring, botox etc.
So, 100 tops.
Feeling pretty spend-y after what @Joan52 said, lol!
Edit: so I’m not saving much with this Covid situation.

#4

Perhaps TMI, but I have tracked all expenditures (every penny in, every penny out) monthly for decades, so I can tell you exactly how much we’ve spent on these personal categories annually (rounded to the nearest dollar) for a family of three:

-Clothing/Shoes/Jewelry
-Cosmetics/Hair/Nails/Grooming
-Dry Cleaning
-Health*/Fitness/Spa

2010 $5,141
2011 $7,521
2012 $6,560
2013 $8,135
2014 $5,898
2015 $4,595
2016 $4,477
2017 $4,620
2018 $3,331
2019 $4,026
2020 (so far) $940

DH and I retired in 2017 and son left our payroll mid-2015, so it makes sense that these expenses started to decline in/after those years. I have always cut everyone’s hair and color my own (beauty school after high school).

*Health in the sense of fitness, not medical care/costs. We have no memberships.

#5

$1300 for an unlimited annual wax pass for brows and whatever else ?

$100 a month for fill and gel every 2 weeks

$50 gel pedi every 4ish weeks

$200 every six weeks for cut and color, $360 every 12 weeks for cut, color and highlights

$300 for dysport (lasts about 3 months)

$800-$900 for fillers but those last a year

I haven’t done lashes yet… but am envious of those of you that do.

#6

$120 for a mani pedi??? ?

#7

Agree. What do YOU pay, @skieurope? :wink:

#8

$25. And that’s maybe twice a year.

#9

Skieurope, if you do a gel or shellac mani pedi plus tip at a nice salon, yes it can cost $120

#10

Because I can still comfortably reach my fingers and toes, I do my own. :stuck_out_tongue:

#11

Would you include gym/fitness in personal maintenance? Because if you do then I think you have to include the “accessories” you need for your activity - like clothing, running shoes, weights, etc.

I’m not including fitness.

Haircuts - every 6 or 7 weeks, so 8x a year = $400 + tips
Hair products from salon $50
Root touch up: 4 boxes a year @ $8/box = $32

I am LOW maintenance otherwise. Do my own pedicure. Never a manicure, not my thing. No other “beauty” services.

Wear very little make up- use Aveeno and eye cream OTC: I’ll be generous: $100/total

If you count the gym I paid about $300 for a family membership at my university. Stopped that for now with no plans to go back currently.

Now if you add up exercise clothing… (hides)

Have been considering an online barre membership from someone I “know” online for winter - that would be $25/month. (I think)

#12

Well you didn’t say we were including tip. ?

#13

Lol! ?

#14

3 haircuts a year at $25 each (includes tip)

I’ve dyed my own hair (box) since I was 11. $8-9 every 6-7 weeks

No mani/pedi/anything ever. I haven’t owned nail polish since middle school when I tried it a couple of times.

Make-up comes from Walmart and I keep it longer than I probably should $50/year

I wouldn’t include fitness because that’s a slippery slope. If you bike, those can be super $$$! Treadmill at home? But my gym membership and workout subscription cost $250/year. Running shoes about $300-400/year. I don’t buy many clothes. (<$50/year) And I only buy 3-4 pair of non running shoes every 2 years ($50 each) so my $$$ spent on running shoes should offset that a little, right? Lol

#15

I used to get a hair cut every 2 months, massage twice a month, botox 2 times a year, facial every 3 months. I pay NYC price for those services. I stopped getting mani pedi. I buy a lot of skin care products. No gym membership because I do not exercise. I am currently saving a lot of money now.

#16

Hair: $1,240
Botox: $1,000 Botox
Skincare products: $120
I do my own mani pedi unless a vacation or event.

I’d say rounding up $3,000

#17

Annually:
Hair - $1,000
Nails - $600
Skincare products - $100
Eyebrows - $100
Gym membership - $600

I spend very little on clothes. Don’t wear/buy makeup.

I am very low maintenance.

#18

@conmama My hair total $ the same! I only bought one lipstick in 2020 but after mask, I really need to find a highly rated sensitive, dry skin foundation. I get a gift for three times a year pedicure, no manicures.

#19

I can see that a thread like this will divide into those who spend nearly nothing and dont understand how anyone can spend that much money on beauty, and those who spend well into four figures and can’t believe people cut their own hair. ;).

I like to think I am truly in the middle. IRL i have friends at both ends of the spectrum and I am a “live and let live” kind of gal. You do you.

I do spend on my hair because it is tricky to cut. I have had good cuts and bad cuts, so I am willing to pay for good cuts and highlights, at about $175 per visit with tip, maybe 4 x year. My friend with poker straight hair can do a walk in at Supercuts and get the same result no matter what so she doesn’t pay for hair.

I don’t get manicures except for special events. In nonCOVID times I would get a pedicure in the summer months, maybe once a month, for about $30.

I dont use high end makeup or creams, i really haven’t seen much difference nor has my dermatologist.

#20

Low maintenance here. Haircut every 6-8 weeks pre pandemic. $60 with tip. Now, don’t cut my hair professionally. Daughter cut it once for me when she was visiting last month. Not quite as good as my hair stylist but not too bad either.

I don’t do the rest of the stuff - no makeup, hair coloring, mani/pedis, etc. What you see is what you get. I’m actually clueless about how to do all that including blowdrying hair. It was never my thing.

Soap, body lotion and some Clinique moisturizing lotion for my face. Shampoo and conditioner. And toothpaste, dental floss, and mouthwash, of course. That’s it. :slight_smile:

I have no problem with others spending their money on this stuff, though. To each their own. Whatever makes one happy.

Thanks for subscribing! Be on the lookout for our next newsletter.

© 2021 College Confidential / Concentrical LLC. All Rights Reserved.