Extreme Makeover - Farley Edition

Well, dear readers, this is just one of those days I’m not feeling too inspired to blog. But luckily, I have a few of these already-written posts just waiting for days like these. I wrote this one a month ago, and now Farley is in a serious shaggy state again. He’s definitely on my to-do list.

Uh-oh. One day not too long ago I came out of my frugal fog long enough to notice that Farley was looking a bit rough around the edges. Time to get him up on the grooming table.

I have mentioned before that one way I save money is to do my own grooming. I have four pooches, so this is a real savings. Back when I paid a groomer to do the job, I usually paid $50 including tip (I felt obliged to give her a good tip, because I know my pooches are brats).

I wish I knew how to do home-haircuts, because I could save a lot there, too. I tried it once. But when my husband ended up looking like a French Poodle, he refused to have anything more to do with my haircutting efforts again. With a little practice, I knew I could get better. But he just wasn’t strong enough to stand up to the scorn of his peers. They are not Frugals, I guess. So now he pays $20.00 once a month to be tended to by his favorite barber. That’s not so bad, I guess.

Anyway, the reason I know how to groom my dogs is because I went to grooming school. This was something I wanted to do for a long time, but circumstances just didn’t allow it until I move to Texas.

I thought that this would be a good investment, with an eye to opening my own business someday. The course was expensive, ($5,000 almost four years ago) but I was pretty sure I could get an excellent return for my money. Groomers who work really hard (so don’t grumble when you pay $50 for a good groom - those groomers earn it!) can make a decent living. Also, this school is accredited by the state, which is important to me, but this also means that their students are eligible to receive financial-aid. However, I saved money by paying cash for the course.

Well, it turned out that I didn’t go off to work in the grooming field, but I don’t feel bad that I spent the money. First of all, in a marathon grooming session, I will give all my dogs a good going-over. This is $200 worth of grooming services that doesn’t come out of my pocket. I try to give my dogs the “treatment” once a month, so in a year that is $2400.00 I don’t have to give to a professional.

I know, I know –there are supply costs. Well, I bought a gallon of no-tears, sort of generic, dog shampoo for 19.99. It is highly concentrated and dilutes 16:1, so even after three years of steady use I’ve hardly made a dent in it. Other dog grooming necessities, like clippers, blades, scissors, brushes, combs etc. are very expensive, though. However, I received good-quality supplies included in the cost of my dog-grooming school tuition, and they are still going strong. I make sure to take good care of them - I clean them after every use. I have gradually acquired other useful grooming aids, like a table and a grooming tub. It’s possible to make do without these when doing home grooming, so I could have saved there. But they sure make the process a lot easier.

The other way that grooming school has helped to save me money is to be be a better “mom”. Pooches can’t talk, so sometimes it’s hard to tell when they’re not feeling well. I would always tend to err on the side of caution, and that meant that I was in the Vet office at least once a month. When you take a grooming course, you are taught some basic doggy health care (very basic - I don’t pretend to be an expert in doggy medicine!) but it’s enough to help you to make better decisions as to when a problem requires a visit to the vet or not. It turns out that lots of visits were probably not really necessary, and this has been a ginormous savings. My vet charges $47.00 just for the office visit (but he’s worth it, he’s a great Vet). (Here’s a shout-out to Stacy Road Pet Hospital in Fairview, Texas).

And in a larger sense I’m a big believer that education is never a waste. It’s almost like money in the bank. Maybe I don’t work as a groomer now, but if I ever needed to get a job I have excellent training in this particular field. This expands my employment options, along with some other things I know how to do (like blogging). It wouldn’t be too hard to go out there and find something if I REALLY needed to.

However I can understand if $5,000 seems like a lot (because it IS a lot!), or if you just don’t have it. Well, there are options if there’s some sort of vocational training that interests you. Financial-aid for one. Being frugal with an eye to saving up enough to pay cash so you won’t be in hock to Aunt Sallie Mae for 40 years is another (I like that one!).

Also, some areas have great low-cost or even free adult vocational training, largely funded by property taxes. (The area in Texas where I live has nothing close to this program, even though property taxes are MUCH higher than in California. Go figure). When I lived in California the local adult-education program offered accredited grooming training for the cost of supplies and materials only. The instructor was an award-winning leader in the grooming industry. This was the one I really wanted to take; they had a three-year waiting list, though. I didn’t let that discourage me; I would call periodically and say that I was still interested in taking the class, and to please keep me in mind if an unexpected opening came up. After about six months of this I got a call that there was a spot for me! Yay! But I was moving to Texas the next month ! Boo! Oh, well.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that lead-in to the main event. Here are Farley’s Before and After pics. Grooming school: $5,000.00. A cute, clean Farley: Priceless.

Farley Before: Scruffy but Happy