Being A Handy Person

Photo Courtesy of: www.talencio.com

I know I talked in one of my previous posts about the importance of doing it yourself to save money. I want to stress the importance of doing things yourself again because I think it is one of the easiest ways you can save money. 



We spend much of our earnings on getting other people to do things for us because of convenience. Don't get me wrong, there may be instances when you shouldn't attempt to do things on your own if they are simply more than you can feasibly do. Please be realistic!

However, if your only reason for not doing something yourself is the fact that it is "hard" or it simply makes you uncomfortable you need to wake up and smell the coffee. One of the things I personally do that makes some people, especially women, uncomfortable is changing my own oil in our car. Luckily, I have a dad who raised me in a household where gender roles didn't exist. I grew up cutting the grass, weedwacking, and changing the oil on the car with him. My dad didn't view these tasks as too manly or hard for me therefore now as an adult woman I don't view them that way either. 

Additionally, I frequently take on other do-it-yourself tasks like fixing appliances, electronics, and even home improvement. In fact, I did a great deal of home improvement in our current home while pregnant (Low VOC paint is amazing!). Ladies especially need to understand how much these small tasks can save you money by doing it yourself. Additionally, you save money by not having to buy a replacement for something. Start small, have a small electronic that is broken that needs to be replaced anyway? Take it apart (you are gonna spend the money on a new one anyway) and see if you can fix it. You might just save something from going into a landfill and save yourself some money in the process!

There is a wealth of resources out there on the internet that can be obtained for free and help you do more yourself. Next time you need to change the oil on your car have a friend who knows how to do it come over and take you through the process step by step. You would be shocked how simple it is and how much of a markup you pay for that kind of a task. Of course, the same thing goes out to my male readers. When I complete a task I would have otherwise paid someone else to do I usually put the difference into my savings account just to remind myself that I didn't have to pay someone else. This is a great way to save money for your future and at the same time learn new skills.