Lesson 13: Using Gift Certificates Wisely

A while ago I was given a gift certificate for $25 for Aveda. It just so happens that I will be needing a brow wax and hair cut in the now, so I have decided to use it. Here are my calculations. A brow wax and hair cut combined at Aveda will create a total of

$25 for brows + $50 haircut= $75 minus the $25 certificate which will bring you back to $50

If I use my gift certificate there I will only pay for the hair cut, but there is still a calculation of tips. Tips are 15% so I will take 10% of $50 which is $5.00 and divide the $5 in half to get my 5% which will come out to $5.00 + $2.50= $7.50 in tips owed for the hair cut. But when you tip at a salon you don't want to look gauche by using pocket change so that comes out to $8.00 total. Then you have to take into account the brow waxing tip. You might have got the service for free but the associate still expects a tip. In Calculation, %15 of $25 is $3.75 for a tip, but that is rounded out into $4 - 5. So your equation will look something like this:

-$25 + $50 +$8+$5 = $63 total for everything not including tax

Then I thought about it. I don't have a uni-brow, so there obviously isn't that much of a problem with them for me to spend $25. No matter if I will be getting the service for free, the price exceeds the maximum threshold I am willing to pay for the service. I just need them to be groomed not excavated to perfection. So I decided to go with Paul Brown, which charges $16. I would then put the $25 certificate to use in decreasing the cost of my hair cut. Now my equation looks like this:

$20 brow wax + $50 hair cut - $25 certificate = $45

We still need to add in the tips so I will re-write the equation like this:

$20 wax + $4 tip + $25 discounted cut + $8 tip = $57 total for everything not including tax

If I compare the two prices $63 - $52 = $11 savings total

So by figuring out the maximum threshold I am willing to spend, then distributing the services by cost, I can create an opportunity to save. Anyway, my font and spacing is all wacky, I'll try to fix it later. Wow even blogger (my service provider) is anti-math!