Hidden Costs Of The Side Hustle

October 12, 2022

Out of all the money I spend on my dogs, one of the biggest costs I save on is grooming. Since I work as a professional groomer, I have the tools and the access to be able to groom them as often as I need which is a huge cost saved. These days, a basic bath can start at $35 and cost upwards of $100 after tax and tip for a full groom.

But as a groomer, there’s also a hidden cost that many people don’t know about. We provide our own shears, clippers, blades, brushes, etc. which all cost a pretty penny to purchase outright and maintain for high quality equipment. For example, my clippers alone cost $200, my shears $600, and each blade can go from anywhere to $20-$40. I also like to be well prepared so I have backups for all of my tools if they fail or they happen to get ruined. While I work hard to maintain my tools, things happen like matted dogs that can dull blades or an unfortunately timed kick from a dog that knocks something off the grooming table and it breaks.

This weekend, I had two blades break after the aforementioned situations. My backups were ready to go but I knew they would still need to be replaced and I wasn’t super keen on dropping $60 on two blades. I had just gotten a $25 Amazon gift card so I figured I would look there first. Lucky for me, Amazon was also running a $30 off $100 deal on the blades I needed. Combined with my $25 gift card, I was able to get 4 blades for the cost of 2 plus a few extra treats for my dogs. I’m super glad I was able to get a good deal this time and it’s a good reminder to keep an eye out for deals all the time!