Things you DIY (should/shouldn't) to save money

[QuarterMillionMan]

Do you hire a gardener/landscaper to mow your own lawn? Do you have a maid that cleans your house? Do you get manicures/pedicures instead of doing it yourself (DIY)? Do you grow your own vegetables? Me none of the above. Furthermore these are DIY things I do myself;


1) Wash my vehicle with a bucket of water every week, cost savings $6 a week.
2) Cooking most of the time (once or twice a week I'll buy out), not sure of the cost savings but quite significant I imagine.
3) Cut my own hair with 7/8" attachment for the past 20 years, cost savings $15 a month. Haven't been to a barber/saloon in ages. Also, tipping not necessary especially when I buzz myself (lol).
4) Anything plumbing, I was a journeyman plumber for 10 years. I can change a toilet, faucet, disposer, etc (while sleeping, lol). Not sure of the cost savings but friends/family always save money when they ask me to fix something.
5) Knife sharpening, recently acquired skill. Insignificant cost savings but all my knives are razor sharp.
6) Juicing, $5 in veggies makes about double the amount of bottled juices.
7) computer building,, not much cost saving but the knowledge gained was valuable.
8) I wish I could grow my own vegetables but an impossibility living in an apartment.
9) Vacuum seal foods to be frozen, saves money by not having to throw away freezer burnt foods.
10) Sewing hemlines on pant legs w/Brother sewing machine, saves $10 per pants. Sears used to hem pant legs for free w/purchase but when they started charging a fee is when I decided to learn myself and bought the sewing machine and have been doing it myself ever since.
11) Auto repair (ie, brakes, tune ups, timing belts, water pump/radiator, etc). Major cost savings in this department. Also, no run ups w/unnecessary repairs.
12) Recently developed my own will/living trust using store bought software, saved about $1000 - $2000.

[snafu]

I hope you are isolating each of these actions and putting the hard currency into a savings instrument. If they are numbers, they are more correctly identified as 'cost avoidance.' I wish we had better plumbing skills, we're relying on the information on YouTube and Saturday workshops at Home Depot. We've no auto repair knowledge and rely on a wonderful mechanic to keep the autos running problem free. Should she chose to retire, we're sunk!

On the plus side, practice has led to decent negotiating skills which reduces spending. We spend time researching products to lessen costs and avoid products that are likely to disappoint. In spite of living in a condo we grow tomatoes, lettuce and some simple to grow herbs. I don't mind buying gently used items and happily sell items that are no longer used or enjoyed. I believe the most effective thing I do for our family savings is to actively participate in the management our retirement and non retirement portfolios.

[moneysma]

I do a lot of things DIY. I'll usually google it and watch a few how-to videos on YouTube. If it looks easy enough, I do it. If it looks hard, I'll look into hiring someone for the project.

With YouTube, almost anyone can start doing some basic repairs/maintenance themselves. You'd be amazed at how many how-to videos there are on just about every idea imaginable.

[elessar78]

I do a lot of things DIY. I'll usually google it and watch a few how-to videos on YouTube. If it looks easy enough, I do it. If it looks hard, I'll look into hiring someone for the project.

With YouTube, almost anyone can start doing some basic repairs/maintenance themselves. You'd be amazed at how many how-to videos there are on just about every idea imaginable.

Agreed. Nowadays pretty much anything is on DIY YouTube video. It's great! Fixed my lawnmower myself. Building a retaining wall myself<--should save me a grand or two.

[disneysteve]

I've been cutting my own hair for years.

I mowed the lawn for about the first 10 years we owned our home and then I finally hired someone. I hated doing it, wasn't particularly good at it, and struggled to find the time for it.

My wife also cuts her own hair. She doesn't do her nails so no expense there at all.

No maid.

We cook our own meals for the most part.

I don't wash the cars regularly but when I do, it's either at a drive through car wash or at one of the DIY places where for $2-3 I can get it done.

I do my own investing. No paid financial advisers.

[elessar78]

We were paying a kid to mow our lawn but I just suck it up and do it now because I need more physical activity—not less. Strangely, I look forward to it now—after I repaired my mower myself.

I should wash my car more often, but I don't. This winter, on the advisement of a car-guy friend, I'll be hosing it off daily (if possible) to prevent rust by getting the salt off.

[feh]

I do a lot of things DIY. I'll usually google it and watch a few how-to videos on YouTube. If it looks easy enough, I do it. If it looks hard, I'll look into hiring someone for the project.

I take the same approach - I try to fix/repair/install things myself, if possible. I know pretty quickly if I'm in over my head and need an expert.

[elessar78]

I take the same approach - I try to fix/repair/install things myself, if possible. I know pretty quickly if I'm in over my head and need an expert.

Yeah, sometimes I do have the desire to learn how to do these things. Sometimes, it's not the most frugal thing to pay someone to do it but we have a finite amount of time and I'd prefer to spend time with my kids rather than build a wall/dig a ditch.

[MonkeyMama]

I think our biggest cost savings is DIY investing and taxes. I think my tax knowledge alone, has saved us a small fortune over the long run.

Spouse is an IT person, so saves us plenty there. (For one, we never buy software - plenty of free stuff that is fine for our needs). Building own computers has its edge.

Home repairs seem highly coveted in the frugal crowd, but is just not our personal strength. But we manage that by going for a low-maintenance angle. We prefer to live in a condo for the long run, anyway (much lower maintenance). That said, we can handle very minor repairs and often check the internet/youtube first before we call out more help.

Car repairs - we have an *Awesome* mechanic. We used to have a more awesome mechanic in old city. But, I suppose with many things, hiring good/reasonable help seems to be decent middle ground.

If our financial and tax savings is #1, then I'd say our home cooking is our #2 money saver. These things are fairly substantial.

Most the littler stuff comes down to weighing the difficulty and our disgust for the task. We've moved ourselves and painted ourselves (easy/low skill). I doubt we will ever hire cleaners if able-bodied (don't despise house work in the way we despise yard work).

The one thing I absolutely refuse to skimp on is legal type stuff, so would absolutely not do a will and trust without a lawyer. $1000-$2000 saved today can often mean huge legal bills and headaches once you pass. In my line of work, I deal quite often with all the headaches afterwards. Lawyers are not cheap, so cleaning up messes after the fact is extremely costly. & not everything is fixable when you leave unintended consequences in your will. Cost aside, I would never do that to my heirs. Could often mean YEARS of stress and red tape. (A simple will is not an excuse - all the nightmares I have had had been more lower income/simple situations. Most my wealthier clients have their affairs well in order).

[disneysteve]

Just a couple of weeks ago, I repaired the rack in our dishwasher myself. There was a spot that had rusted and DW didn't want to keep using it that way. We searched online for a new rack and it was over $100. So DW went on Amazon and found a "paint" product intended for this purpose. I took the rack outside, used a drill attachment to grind down the rust to the bare metal, and followed the directions to apply multiple coasts of the resin stuff to coat and seal the area. In fact, I noticed a few other rust spots starting and took care of those too. Total cost was about $7 and a little time to do it myself rather than over $100 to buy a new rack.

[hamchan]

I do my own nails or get it done for free at work. I painted our apartment myself and installed carpet myself. It's not perfect, but that doesn't bother me and it looks a lot better than it did. I have fixed my toilet a few times now. Right now it's "fixed" with a piece of yarn and is still holding strong. One of these days I will just replace the part. The landlord would do it for fee, but I don't like him coming into the apartment unless he has to. He creeps me out. I don't pay for housecleaning, although I wish I could. No car, so I don't have to wash one. I make my daughter mend things and sew buttons back on.

I have done my own legal stuff in the past out of necessity (divorce, custody mods) but I prefer not to. It's a huge headache. I do my own taxes, always. I removed some stitches myself once instead of going back in to the doctor. I was maybe 13 at the time. Lol

[lorraineb]

I've actually stopped doing a lot of the DIY because I found that the time ended up being more costly than paying someone else to do it. If I like the activity, there;s no issue, but I used to change my own oil on my car. I can actually get it done for less at a shop than the supplies cost if I buy it myself with some good coupon/discount searching. I find that as i get older, there are more and more of these things that I once did that just don't seem to make sense anymore.

[elessar78]

I've actually stopped doing a lot of the DIY because I found that the time ended up being more costly than paying someone else to do it. If I like the activity, there;s no issue, but I used to change my own oil on my car. I can actually get it done for less at a shop than the supplies cost if I buy it myself with some good coupon/discount searching. I find that as i get older, there are more and more of these things that I once did that just don't seem to make sense anymore.

I agree with this. Similar to my post above, there is a cost to our time. May be a dollar cost, may be an opportunity cost. But people tend to look at the physical outlay only ($15 for a quart of oil, $10 for a new filter—that's less than the $28-$40 the shop is asking for the oil change). But if it takes an hour to get set up, change, and clean up—what's your time worth?

I often also think of it in terms of how much I make an hour. "Did I just work 4 hours to pay for _________??"

[JoeP]

I like to learn new skills as part of the DIY experience, provided the risk for costly mistakes is low, and provided the end product comes out looking better that something done by a struggling amateur.

A few years ago, I finished half of my basement. I knew NOTHING about steel studs, how to hang drywall, how to install a drop ceiling, how to build a custom built-in entertainment center, how to wire ethernet cables and speaker lines, how to wrap a support column, how to hang doors, etc. But I learned from online resources and put together something I am hugely proud of.

If anyone asks, it took me about 16 weeks, with anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week. Sure, it could have been done more quickly hiring it out, but I wasn't doing too much during the winter, and saved money, and learned skills.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Another thing I just thought about is wrist watch band adjustment. Have you ever worn a wrist watch with the band too large which results in the wrist watch dangling from your arm like a bracelet (someone is probably looking at their own wrist watch dangling from your arm right now, LOL). Anyway I hate that. I have learned to move the pins to tighten the band or even remove links to get the watch to fit perfectly and snuggly around my wrist.



Edited to add: BTW a jeweler or watch repair shop can make band adjustments but they charge about $10 - $15 for the service.