Save Money With Low-Cost Luxuries

The big secret of many professionals - including the ones you pay big bucks to make your life healthier, happier 1910 1911 Turkey Red baseball cards easier - is that they once did their work for dirt cheap. Some even did it for free.

My roommate and I got turned Action Man to this secret source of low-cost luxury living on the bus one day when she struck up a conversation with a friendly apprentice hairdresser from the swankiest salon in town. Their conversation started with a discussion about boys, but eventually her new friend mentioned that he'd love to have her and her friends come by the salon and get their hair done for free. Turns out, an apprentice hairdresser has to style a LOT of hair before they give him his own pair of golden scissors (or whatever you get when you graduate into "stylist" category.) In exchange for a free weekly professional styling, we gave our new friend a great portfolio of hairstyles to show his Marvel Team-Up so he could graduate on to doing haircuts and coloring.
Your local hair salon isn't the only place you can find free pullip cheap pros-in-training. If you're willing to be someone's practice-client, you can get anything from massages to dental work at rock-bottom prices. And while running into apprentice hairdressers on the local metro bus probably isn't common, colleges are. In fact, if you live in-city, you've probably got one within a fifteen minute drive. And colleges are full of future professionals who need to practice on someone.
Some examples of the kind of services you might find for free or cheap include:

- Dental exams and Crissy doll medical checkups: medical and dental students learn to do basic checkups in practice sessions supervised by a practicing doctor or dentist to make sure everything is done correctly. Sometimes these aren't the most pleasant ways to get this kind of service (think a little rough cleaning of your gums or a blood pressure cuff that feels a little tight), but with a pro watching, you're sure to get comprehensive care and lots of focused attention.

- Cakes and Pastries: Need a birthday or wedding cake? Look no further than the local culinary school. These students want to create desserts that will wow future clients, so expect them to ask for photos of the finished project.

- Pampering Services: Massage schools, cosmetology departments and hair salons all train using real people. Another place to look for these kinds of services is to seek out salons or makeup artists who post photos of their work on the walls or windows of their place of business. Most of these photos are of people who got their hairstyle or makeup job for free, in exchange for being featured as a "hairstyle model."

- Creative services: Need a new logo for your business or portraits of your child? Advertising in the local college art department can help you find up-and-coming professionals in need of a portfolio. These students are often on the cutting edge of design - they are in school after all - and will be so eager and enthusiastic to have their first real assignment that they won't balk at the low price you're quoting them. Even better, once they've hit it big, you can take pride in letting people know you helped them get their start. Or you can keep it a secret and just tell people you had that now-famous photog take your wedding photos. They'll think it cost you a fortune!

Colleen St.Claire is editor of href="sweetgigs.com">Sweetgigs.com, home to the most unique and creative moneymaking ideas online. With gig profiles, in-depth articles and resources to help you develop your perfect business, href="sweetgigs.com">Sweetgigs aims to help you find your perfect gig and break free of the 9-to-5 grind.