Save Money Doing It Yourself

Committed to saving money? Break out the tools and do-it-yourself.

by batega

Don’t believe you can? By the end of this post you will learn of at least one place where to find inspiration. You can do it yourself!

There are very few things that a person cannot deal with themselves provided some basic tools and a little knowledge. And there are usually many reasons to do it yourself. Each one is preceded by a dollar sign $$$.

Last year, we experienced a problem with the kitchen sink. Water flow had diminished quickly over the weekend. With hardly any water flowing and business trip first thing Monday morning, I caved under the pressure of a pile of work. We called in the plumber.

Parts cost $30 and labor was $120. Total time to replace the faucet, 30 minutes. That’s $240/hour in labor! Granted, the plumber had time in transportation to and from our house that had to be covered as well, but still, ouch!

I didn’t have the time or patience to deal with it at the moment. It was an expensive lesson to learn. Could the family survive a few days without a kitchen sink? Of course.

As for the tools, each one is an investment in your future if you truly use them. Lacking knowledge? Today nearly every answer is just a few clicks away.

Here are 5 great sites that can help:

Do It Yourself -Home repair and How-to articles. This site features videos and a forum to help you out.
The DIY Network – Popularized by the TV network this site also feature regular blogs by the show host’s themselves.
The Natural Handyman – They have a  large list of articles and great question and answer section.
Acme How To – Another great site packed with articles on how to repair anything around the house.
DIY Chatroom – The Chatroom is a great forum to turn to for guidance from those who’ve done it.

Don’t believe you can do it yourself? For inspiration tune to the DIY Channel in your market on August 22, 9:00 Eastern and watch a show called Renovation Realities featuring the a couple named the Fingers. See how when everything goes wrong Marcel the wife makes things happen with Persistent Purpose. She’s not letting anything get in her way. If she can do it, so can you.

What kind of DIY work do you do at home? Leave a comment and let us know.