The smell of saving money

How to make your own aftershave and cost saving shaving ideas

I don't know if you ladies have the same problem as us guys, but those little razors with 20 blades, vibrating moisture enhancer, are aerodynamic, and disposable are EXPENSIVE. I used to buy my razors online here: 

Razors on Amazon However I decide to look into a different way to shave. I looked at electric but I never liked it when I used my Grandpaw's electric.

Then I looked at safety razors.

I actually even asked for one of the safety razors for Christmas a while back. I did like the shave and the blades are cheap, but after a year or 2 using this razor, the honeymoon was over.  It was always an issue to bring it on a trip. The blade is not covered and since it is double sided there was no effective way to shield the blade. The twist bottom was getting very stiff making it hard to adjust the blades. The threads to tighten down the top was getting fouled and not aligning properly anymore. Don't get me wrong I loved using it but it was rapidly getting to be more hassle than it was worth. 

So after I broke the razor one day, I thought to myself "SELF, what would your grandfather or great-grandfather have used?" The answer is a straight razor. They are something that literally can be passed down for generations AND, if taken care of and used properly, actually can give a better shave than the expensive 5 blade rip-offs. 

I searched high and low, across the whole internet for a good deal to try out. I couldn't bring myself to try this new way of shaving with a 300.00 razor. Afterall what if I really didn't like the shave, or it was too time consuming. Then I found Larry Andreassen from Whipped Dog Razors. www.Whippeddog.com

He sells reconditioned and re honed razors and best part is he is local to me. Just down in Arlington Texas. I love supporting our local businesses and Texas companies. I emailed him and asked him all about shaving with a straight razor, and what services he could provide. He was Johnny on the Spot and really did help me with my decision to make the jump. I bought one of his sight unseen razors and was very pleased when it arrived. Not only did I save money but it was a bit of nostalgia that would get a second life. 

I wanted to talk to Larry for this blog and asked him how he got started, why he does what he does, and how he sees is company saving everyone money. We all would love to save money, right? 

He was kind enough to give me this quick interview. 

"Five or six years ago, I read a short blurb in Wired magazine saying a 20 year old shaving with a straight razor would save $20,000 during their lifetime at the current price for Gillette Fusion blades. (I made up the $20,000 figure since I don't remember the exact amount. Forgive!) That got me interested, and after tons of experimentation and research, you have Whipped Dog Straight Razors!

I view Whipped Dog Straight Razors more as a service than a business. How can I best help others try straight razors and wet shaving most cheaply, but still have a great experience? And, that is what I try to do.

Site Motto: Straight razors are cleaned before sale, but not much more. This is done to keep sale prices as low as possible. "All corners are cut to reduce price, but not the corners that will degrade your shave experience." That is my promise. The razor... cleaned. The edge... elegantly shave ready!

That cutting corners part, selling razors with blades that weren't shiny and svelte for example, that flew in the face of the philosophy held by some on the shaving forums. But, if I buff and polish, does it improve the shave? No. It only runs up the cost.

Summarizing, I run Whipped Dog like the mom and pops stores from my childhood, run by folk who knew everyone else in town and gave everyone a good deal. I think of Whipped Dog, to use another analogy, like a pot-bellied stove business. Ceiling fans, Nehi grape soda, checkered pattern tablecoths, cistern water in a bucket with dipper, and dogs yapping happily in the moonlight!

Whipped Dog is a business. But, it is more a labor of nostalgia and pleasure for me."

If you would like to learn more about his company or how he got the company name, look here: Whipped Dog About Page . Give him a shot and I know you will be impressed. And thanks again Larry. 

So here I was with a new razor set, plenty of YouTube time figuring out how not to slit my own throat. I figured out pretty quickly the after shaving portion of this endeavor would be just as important, if not more important, than the pre shave or actual shaving portion. My skin needed some conditioning and aftershave.  I went to the store to check out the latest high fashion after shave at Ulta and found that it was $40.00 for just the aftershave. If I bought this I would definitely NOT be living frugally. So back to the ole Google. I found that it was VERY simple to make your own after shave. A bit of Witch Hazel, bit of your favorite rum or bourbon, and some essential oil for scent, and VOILA, a cheap and honestly great smelling aftershave. 

So here is the recepie for my homemade aftershave. Jim Beam Bourbon, Thayers - Rose Petal Witch Hazel with Aloe Vera Alcohol-Free Toner - 12 oz., A decorative bottle, and some Essential Oils. Mix the Adult Beverage and the witch hazel 1 to 1. Add a few drops of your favorite oil or oils and that is it. It will mellow in smell over the next 25 days but you can use immediately. Your face will smell great and fell even better. Total cost for the bottle you see in the above picture? Three buck, THREE, not 10 not 20, Three. Now that is what I call saving some money. Less than 10 percent of what the comparable in store brand would cost. 

So that is it. I didn't slit my own throat, I have a great shave from a local company, I smell good, and well I just feel better about saving money while shaving. Give it a try. One less thing to empty our pocketbooks. Let me know what you do to save money on shaving in the comment sections below. 

Gary McCoy is Broker and Owner of Tartan Real Estate Services in DFW Texas. Broker license number 0588837. Any opinions in this article are just that, opinions. If you have any specific questions or concerns please contact us at 877-498-7323

The life of a nomad

We call it Glamping

My wife and I haven't been on any trips away from the house in quite some time so we decided to load up the trailer and dogs and baby and run up to Texoma lake for the weekend. It really occurred to me that if  we lived simpler lives we would have more time to take trips like this. Or better yet live out of a trailer full time!

So sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a faithful trip... Sorry now that song will be stuck in your head all day. 

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I know a trailer is a toy, like a boat or four-wheeler. However in our case, a trailer really was trying to simplify our lives. See we have 3 gigantic dogs; Walker, Johnny, and Annie.

Two of which are show dogs and the other loves to lure course (bags not real). On our vacations we were spending way too much money on hotels, meals, and even boarding our dogs sometimes. We decided to follow the "turtle principle": we carry our house with us. That way we aren't stuck in our hotels and all our furry and non furry McCoy's get to spend time in the great outdoors.

If you like camping you would LOVE Glamping (Glamour Camping). It is so relaxing. You are not stuck in one place if you don't want to be and the people that you meet are priceless. We have been from Texas to Tennessee and Kansas to Arkansas. Your movable home can be in the mountains or on the beach, at a lake or in the woods.

One of the things that we learned about traveling this way is you have to be strategic on what you bring. While we have the creature comforts of home things like starting a fire, or packing clothes, or even wifi can be a problem.

We recently found that if you take your dryer lint, and a used paper towel roll or toilet tissue roll and soak them in a bag with old grease from bacon or Vaseline, you can start a fire instead of lugging round starter logs. Plus they are basically free.

And let's face it this:

Is way better than this:

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It is so relaxing and nice to be out of the city, away from constant phones, having to do something every minute to just relaxing like our baby CB is doing.

 Honestly, just get out doors. Quit reading this blog and go have fun with your family or friends. Be a part of nature and live simpler. 

Gary McCoy i broker and owner of Tartan Real Estate Services in DFW Texas. Broker license number #0588837. Any opinions in this article are just that, opinions. If you have specific questions or concerns please contact us at 877-498-7323

Cable Companies hate you

The divorce from cable

About a year ago, my wife and I decided to make the terrifying and crazy leap to "cut the cord". We had been disgusted with the amount of money and time we wasted on cable. Now before you say, "well you had bad service", Let me tell you up front we had the best cable ever. Fiber optic, super fast, a gazillion channels, and a huge screen with surround sound. While all that was good, spending over $150.00 per month was really getting dumb. We found ourselves sitting in front of the TV for hours on end just surfing because literally there was NOTHING on.

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I don't know how cable broke the laws of averages but they somehow did by giving us no programming worth watching most of the year.

My wife was much less nervous about getting rid of the cable box. I on the other hand had a small vigil to mourn the loss of our beloved TV.

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I finally brought up the nerve to set our d-day to have the cable shut off. (I don't know if you know this but they actually make you bring the box back to a store and explain yourself). I had researched exactly the next steps we were going to take for when we really did want to just veg, and found myself looking at online streaming. We already had a Amazon prime account and they have free streaming for many shows, Netflix was another for older  movies, and we decided to go with HULU for our episodes that are still on tv. I was going to stream through my Playstation 3. Here is a link for a free trial of Amazon Prime. Give it a try.

Then the day came. We canceled cable, I took the box back with remotes mind you, and set up the 3 services for our viewing pleasure. Can I just say there were 2 great un-expected results from this... The first was we didn't miss a beat. All the shows we loved were there and we could watch them on demand. Sure there was a few month delay on some from the season finale, but for the most part we didn't have any problems. Secondly, we watch less TV in general. Since it is on demand and there are few if any ads, we really do just have more time to do things like, well blogging for one.

We even have some of our friends that were convinced to do the same and while they are saving money the also saw similar results. So break up with your cable provider, get rid of the extra boxes and remotes and give it a try. You may just find your life just became simpler. And that is the goal isn't it?


Gary McCoy is broker and owner of Tartan Real Estate Services in DFW Texas. Broker license number #0588837. Any opinions in this article are just that, opinions. If you have specific questions or concerns please contact us at 877-498-7323

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Salvage and sustainable building practices

I have been scouring the web for ways not only to de-clutter our lives but also ways to leave the world in a better condition than when we found it. After all I am a good boy scout. We have all heard we should recycle and victory gardens have been popular, but have you ever considered that the things we throw away could be used by someone else? 

For example, one of our friends Carmina, saw that we were replacing our old rotted fence at our house. I blindly just was putting the panels that I took down to the curb for bulk trash day. Being someone that is frugal Carmina sent her husband over and took the panels from the curb and decided to reuse them as the main structure of their chicken coop. What I saw as trash turned out to be her treasure. I don't know why I didn't think of this before as I have done projects myself with other peoples trash (see my pictures at the bottom). It just never occurred to me that these rotten and ugly fence panels could be REUSED as part of another structure. 

This really got me thinking. If you are doing a project why not go and find something that can be reused and or re-purposed. Not only can you come up with a way better use than the dump for these materials, or being frugal,  but you are being the epitome of  green living. Let's face it we tend to throw away perfectly good items because we want newer, better, or are just tired of something. That doesn't make it junk.

So what have I done that reused "junk" items and turned them into something wonderful. Well one thing that popped into my head was from buying old furniture and recovering it.  

I also made a pallet wall from old pallets we got FOR FREE, from a company down the street.

And my wife really did a great job of taking an old ugly brass chandelier and turning it into something special with just a little paint and some new bulbs.

I guess the point of all this is to say that we are all wasteful in our own way but if we do just a bit of searching I am sure there are other ways to build, re-purpose, and otherwise recycle things that would have otherwise gone to a landfill where it does no body any good. You can do something as simple as melting old crayons into fun gifts like  SomArtMoma has done.

Or you can go to the extreme like Brad Kittel of Texas Tiny Houses has done and tear down old barns and houses and reuse the materials to rebuild new homes.

Times are tough all over and we need to try to make the best of everything we have. Let's take a long hard look at things before we just discard them into oblivion. Make something beautiful out of junk.

What ideas do you have or seen that could inspire others to start re-purposing ok used things? Leave a comment below.


Gary McCoy is broker and owner of Tartan Real Estate Services in DFW Texas. Broker license number #0588837. Any opinions in this article are just that, opinions. If you have specific questions or concerns please contact us at 877-498-7323. 

Scaling down

The move to smaller spaces

-By Gary McCoy, Broker Tartan Real Estate Services 

For years, no generations, the American dream has been to have big cars, big houses, big lives, and big... well everything. In the last decades and as the economic situation has changed, we have been moving back to the smaller sides of life. Cars are getting smaller not bigger, people are learning to live with less, and taking into consideration how much they really need.

I for one am excited. That sounds counter-intuitive being I am a real estate broker and bigger usually means more money, but honestly becoming not only more aware of all that you don't need and all the new things you can do with much less makes me excited.

In my 10 years or so of selling real estate I have run across so many people that want to go look at the 4500 sq ft house or say they really need  that media room, or huge 3 car garage. In 99% of those cases I would say their quality of life went down and not up when they moved in. Yards got smaller, things got more expensive, people felt the need to fill the voids in their homes with stuff they really didn't need or really use.

Then there is the sad and uncomfortable aspect that in many cases you have more house than really you can afford, causing you to be underwater (sorry for the picture pun), and in some really horrible cases even loose the home. Smaller is better. Your grandparents knew this. Your great grandparents really knew this and worked hard to ensure that they were as frugal as they could be so when hard times came they were ready.

   

I say get rid of the huge mortgage, get back outdoors, and feel how freeing it can be to not be house poor. That is my goal. I hope we can work toward this goal together.

Going forward I am going to be discussing how to make this move and what you can do to get the most out of the spaces you have. If you have any ideas, or want to share links to your favorite design and small space sites, I welcome it.


Gary McCoy is the broker for Tartan Real Estate Services in DFW, broker license number 0588837. All opinions are just that, opinions. If you have specific questions or concerns please contact us at 877-498-7323.