Not for everyone, DIY or Barter

[byusteeler]

First, I am new to the challenges but look forward to them each day. I know they are going to save me money and help me tame my debt monster. For todays challenge, I go one better than finding a school to do work for less. Between my husband and I we can do most things ourselves. I don't suggest this for everyone as skill levels may vary. As for beauty schools, I cut everyone in the homes hair including my own. For perms a friend and I trade with one another. We are both daughters of hairdressers so we learned through observation. My husband and son do most of the mechanic work and maintenance on our cars, and as our cars are approaching the 200,000 mile mark this is a huge savings. (My husband is not a mechanic by trade, but we invested less than $20 per car in a Chilton manual which has detailed instructions for most tasks) In the past week we saved nearly $1400 puting a new clutch and brakes on one car and a new head gasket in the other. (It all seems to happen at once.) You may be thinking it is time for a newer car, but so far this year we've spent less than 500 per car for repairs and even a well used car would probably give us a payment of well over $50 a month and we would not know how it was treated or maintained. We also do most of our own home maintenance repair and remodeling. If we can't do it ourselves we barter with someone who may need a service we can provide. We DO NOT do our own dental work we can't do it all. Try something relatively simple the first time, you may find you are quite capable of doing it yourself too! Good Luck and Have a great day.

[keeneye]

That is great that you do so much of the things yourself. I wish that I was more mechanically inclined although I do try to do simple projects myself. I think bartering is a great way to save if you can strike the deal.

I think this is an excellent idea for Christmas gift ideas. If you can make your own gifts, it can save lots of money and usually are well received because homemade gifts usually take more thought ) I found a great website that has recipes for lots of homemead stuff: http://www.pioneerliving.com

Also, if you can barter for gifts that's great too!

[PrincessPerky]

Is there anyway to learn to cut hair from a book or somethng? My hair runs way past my waist (I have been siiting on it for several inches now) and my husband's, while moderatly short at past his shoulders is still 'long'. Which means around here in Charlotte most places charge us extra to cut our hair, the other ones require a 20 minute explination that all we want is a straight line accross the bottom. Then they charge $30 or more to do it. Which means we havn't bothered. Anyway I have been looking for an alternative for a very long time. Thanks

[crosses]

I don't know about books, but I get my hair cut at a local beauty schoool. They charge $4.95 and I have never gotten a terrible cut. That might be an option for you.

I bought a set of hair clippers a couple of years ago and it came with a video on how to cut hair (mostly boys and men).