Tell me about domestic/life skills that have saved you tons of money over time. For argument’s sake, let’s assume someone already said ‘masturbate’ and everybody else had a good laugh over it.
Well, I don’t know about lifeskills, but I know how to make bath salts and sugar scrubs. Pretty simple, once you know how.
Do some of my own plumbing.
Just got The Wife to admit that I saved us a couple hundred bucks last week. Never would have tried disassembling and replacing part of a toilet in the old days, but thanks to my amazing ability to follow a YouTube video, it was a snap.
(Notice I said “some”. Anything that might result in water gushing inside our walls gets left to the pros.)
Make yogurt. I’ll never pay those crazy prices for it again.
So you’re selling them, or just saving some money by making it yourself? (You can tell I’m a guy, the term ‘sugar scrub’ is basically gibberish to me).
Now that I’ve learned to make simple syrup and buy spices in bulk…well, I won’t say never, but it’s rare that you’ll find store-bought amaretto, Kahlua, triple sec or any other flavored liqueur in my cabinet.
I make them myself. The ingredients are rather cheap.
A sugar scrub is basically sugar (you can use kosher salt too) mixed with oil and pretty scents and colors. You rub it on your legs in the shower for a nice exfoliate and the oil helps to moisturize.
Car repairs.
I wouldn’t even like to hazard a guess how much money I’ve saved over the years in garage labour, but it’s a lot. I bought one of my cars for less than half the market value because the head gasket had gone and the dealer was quoting the previous owner almost as much as the car was worth to fix it. It cost me about £80 to do the job and the car was perfect otherwise.
Similarly, I’ve just done some fairly major front end work on my wife’s old Saab. I’d figure maybe £1500 - £2000 in labour alone, if done professionally - not to mention markups on parts. Total cost to me? About £200 for parts.
Nowadays, the only things I’ll take my car in for are tyres and steering alignment - although I’m considering picking up the kit I need to do my own alignments, that should start paying for itself after three or four alignments.
I just bought a closet auger. So I’ll never have to pay someone to aug my closets ever again.
Can pickles. I don’t know about saving gobs of money, but the quality and flavor is so far superior to anything you can buy, it’s worth whatever cost is involved. Same for canned jam, for that matter.
Repair a toilet. It’s really so simple that any knucklehead can learn how by watching videos on line.
Basic cooking, and not even cooking skills. I know some people who would be baffled by anything but a TV dinner, as for not even cooking I mean things like how to make basic stuff like vinagarette dressing(oil, salt, vinegar, pepper) etc.
Basic first aid and medical skills and knowing what is a big deal , not an issue in countries with universal healthcare but in the USA this is a money saver. No you do not need to go to the ER for the runs if you’re otherwise healthy, buy some generic immodium. Vomiting blood? Go to the ER.
You can say that about a large amount of household repairs. I’ve fixed any number of things that I didn’t previously have a clue about by just doing some online research - whatever your problem is, it’s almost a certainty that someone else somewhere has had the same problem and the solution/repair procedure is posted online. For generic stuff (like toilets), youtube is great, hobby/tradesman forums are a goldmine if you have something specific.
I do everything but roofing. Have built room additions, decks, gazebos, electrical, all my plumbing almost. I hate digging so contracted the main drain line. Mechanic by trade, so now that I am retired I take my car to the shop just because it feels so good to drop it off and come back to a finished car. Before I retired I did all my own car repair also.
I have sent my computer out for repair a few times but they seem to screw it up each time so from now on I will read my way through the repairs.I can pretty much fix anything, and I figure I save thousands every year by DIYing it.
I’ve fixed my over-the-range Microwave twice in 20 years - that’s worth $1,500 right there.
And the runoff is used to to make marmalade.
Cut my own hair. Saves lots of money and even more importantly, lots of time.
Another vote for learning some rudimentary plumbing. I wouldn’t attempt a large project on my own, but I can now deal with leaky undersink pipes and toilets that won’t stop running (it’s exhausting catching them, though) with ease. I have saved myself several costly repair bills.
I can also clean out both my furnace and my central air unit, saving yearly maintenance visits by the technician.
The one thing I don’t mess with is electrical repairs. I fear those wires!
Marinara sauce. Learned it as a kid, perfected it as a teen, and my wife, a known Welsh Polack, still buys Ragu. :mad:
I cannot understand why somebody would go out for Italian food if all they are going to get is something like mostaccioli. It’s pasta with, everywhere I’ve ever gone, a thin, wimpy red sauce that might as well come out of a jar. Phooie! A good sauce is child’s play, just don’t get all Guy with lots of ingredients.
Doing routine stuff has saved me a bundle over the years (oil changes, batteries, alternators, etc.). But by far I’ve reap the biggest savings by learning how to do brake jobs.
If you want to save some major dough, learn how to do your own brake jobs. It’s not difficult, and doesn’t require an assortment of exotic tools.