A few months ago, my full-time client decided that my job was so crucial to the company that they should hire someone permanently to do it. Someone in California. I’m in Texas, and that’s a heck of a commute for anyone, so overnight, we lost half of our monthly income.

It’s not personal, it’s business aside: Look really hard at your freelance contracts, and make sure you have a severance clause written in for full-time freelance work. Learn from my mistakes, people.

Scary Worth it 300x201 It Only Hurts A LittleI’m still out of work, like everyone seems to be right now, and so as a family we’ve had to cut costs every single place we can. Places like my bangs. Trust me, that picture hurst me as much as it hurts you, but it had to be done.

And my hair looks *totally* cute now. That’s kind of the point of this post…a lot of things I was afraid to trim off the budget turned out to be things I don’t really even miss, now that they’re gone. And so, here are five nearly painless places I probably should have cut my budget back a long time ago.

Legal disclaimer aside: Neither Babble, nor this blogger, endorse the *trimming* of one’s own bangs. Some things in life should just be left to the professionals.

01 It Only Hurts A Little

Color your own hair.

You can't show up to interviews with three inch Madonna roots, so you're going to need to keep up with your hair. However, getting rid of those roots costs a lot of money (my hair runs me $300 for cut, color and highlights at the salon), which is what you're trying to save. CROSSROADS.

However, one of those box color kits that comes with a coordinated highlight bleach is $16.95 at the drug store, and a frosting kit (cap, hook, brush and drap) runs you $3.99 at the beauty supply store.

It takes a little time and a decent grasp of high school geometry (or college drunken billards) but at an 94.4% savings, it's worth every penny saved.

Pro tip: Warn your six year old before you begin, especially if she's hopped up on codeine cough syrup and prone to walking in on you.

It Only Hurts A Little