Learn a New Skill

From home repair to cooking, one easy way to save money is to do things yourself. If you learn to bake your own bread you will not be tempted to purchase over priced loaves of fresh baked bread at the bakery. If you know how to perform simple home repair you will not need to call someone everytime something breaks in your home. If you learn basic sewing skills you will be able to prolong the life of clothing by mending, hemming, or patching.

In today’s culture there are many skills that in previous years were known by many, but today are known by few. And those few charge a high price to help others. I realize that everyone does not have the free time to become experts in every area of life, but learning simple basic skills is a real money saver.

The question is then, how does one acquire these skills? I often have people tell me that they would love to sew but don’t know how. Five years ago I said the exact same thing. I tried to sew in the past, but just couldn’t quite figure it out. Finally I met someone who was an accomplished seamstress and begged (I’m not kidding) for lessons. Many people who are experts in their fields will gladly give lessons in exchange for something else. In my case, this woman was so happy someone wanted to learn she gave lessons for free. I now have basic sewing skills and am able to do things that in the past I would have paid someone to do for me. It was an investment of time on my part and in return more money stays in my pocket.

As for baking, I love fresh baked bread. I really didn’t know how to make bread, but over the years asked others why their bread tasted so good and learned as much as I could by asking questions. I also watched cooking shows and checked out numerous library books on the subject of baking. I also baked many, many loaves of bread that were less than perfect, while I was learning the tricks to baking a great loaf of bread.

With regards to home repair, learn by watching others. The next time you have to call a plumber watch to see what they are doing. Ask questions and educate yourself while they are working in your home. You are paying for their service, so use that money wisely and learn some home repair. My husband and I have also checked out several books from the library on home repair. Two of my favorite books are the Reader’s Digest New Fix-It-Yourself Manual: How to Repair, Clean, and Maintain Anything and Everything In and Around Your Home and Back to Basics. I have learned many new skills just from reading these two books. They are popular so will probably be available at your local library.

Use the internet to your advantage. You can do a google search for anything! Many times when I want to know how to do something I google it and find a great tutorial, usually with pictures to help me finish the job. Finally, if you have a website and some talent take some time to add a few tutorials to your site. From making soup to changing a tire, people search for instructional posts an how to do everything. Share your knowledge with the world.

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