Comments on: Save Money By Doing It Yourself http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/save-money-by-doing-it-yourself/ About finding balance in your life, connecting with who you are, and creating a lifestyle where you wake up each morning eagerly anticipating the day ahead. Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:41:58 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: M.L. http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/save-money-by-doing-it-yourself/comment-page-1/#comment-21547 M.L. Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:53:52 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/our-simple-life-doing-it-ourselves/#comment-21547 This is an area of my life that I want to work on, not only for the purpose of saving money, but to have skills to do things myself. I think one of the reasons that so many people find themselves bored is because they don’t have basic skills that give them things to do in their day to day life. So many life skills got lost along the way over the past few generations. I think we have lost a lot by allowing others to do just about everything for us…it leaves us with nothing to do. I want to remedy this for myself. I know how to cook from scratch and have basic sewing skills, but I would really like to add to that so I can do more things for myself. I would really love to find local groups to learn some more skills because I do better learning hands on with someone by my side to walk me through the process. I’ve been keeping my eye out at the library for bulletin postings on groups offering these types of classes, but I haven’t had any luck yet. This is an area of my life that I want to work on, not only for the purpose of saving money, but to have skills to do things myself. I think one of the reasons that so many people find themselves bored is because they don’t have basic skills that give them things to do in their day to day life. So many life skills got lost along the way over the past few generations. I think we have lost a lot by allowing others to do just about everything for us…it leaves us with nothing to do. I want to remedy this for myself. I know how to cook from scratch and have basic sewing skills, but I would really like to add to that so I can do more things for myself. I would really love to find local groups to learn some more skills because I do better learning hands on with someone by my side to walk me through the process. I’ve been keeping my eye out at the library for bulletin postings on groups offering these types of classes, but I haven’t had any luck yet.

]]> By: Ashley http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/save-money-by-doing-it-yourself/comment-page-1/#comment-21153 Ashley Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:06:46 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/our-simple-life-doing-it-ourselves/#comment-21153 This is a great post! We love to learn new things and save ourselves money by trying it ourselves. It's great to see what you can do when you put your mind to it. We just recently finished building a pine log bookshelf that only cost us about $160 and we've seen them selling for anywhere from $400-$700! We are also working on making our own bent shaft wooden canoe paddles. My husband is very handy with car repairs so we save a lot by finding used parts and him installing them if we have car trouble! We learned to do all these things just from other people showing or telling us or reading articles online. We wouldn't do it any other way! This is a great post! We love to learn new things and save ourselves money by trying it ourselves. It’s great to see what you can do when you put your mind to it. We just recently finished building a pine log bookshelf that only cost us about $160 and we’ve seen them selling for anywhere from $400-$700! We are also working on making our own bent shaft wooden canoe paddles. My husband is very handy with car repairs so we save a lot by finding used parts and him installing them if we have car trouble! We learned to do all these things just from other people showing or telling us or reading articles online. We wouldn’t do it any other way!

]]> By: Shirley http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/save-money-by-doing-it-yourself/comment-page-1/#comment-19697 Shirley Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:42:09 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/our-simple-life-doing-it-ourselves/#comment-19697 DJ, you have tackled some really big projects successfully... I think you're doing great! It sounds like you just ran into some weird circumstances that would have happened to anybody, even a mechanic. I'm also positive that the confidence will just happen as you do more and more of these things. The best part about doing things yourself is that if you do mess something up, you also know how to fix it! It's normal to be nervous before you start a new project, but you're doing this the right way by researching first and learning all you can before you begin. I hope you'll let me know when you begin the hardwoods project. Compared to the projects you have already done, that one is easy! DJ, you have tackled some really big projects successfully… I think you’re doing great! It sounds like you just ran into some weird circumstances that would have happened to anybody, even a mechanic. I’m also positive that the confidence will just happen as you do more and more of these things. The best part about doing things yourself is that if you do mess something up, you also know how to fix it! It’s normal to be nervous before you start a new project, but you’re doing this the right way by researching first and learning all you can before you begin.

I hope you’ll let me know when you begin the hardwoods project. Compared to the projects you have already done, that one is easy!

]]> By: DJ http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/save-money-by-doing-it-yourself/comment-page-1/#comment-19322 DJ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:16:23 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/our-simple-life-doing-it-ourselves/#comment-19322 Shirley, I love this post...and I feel the same way. I've got a long list of accomplishments that I've done myself, yet I still have a huge fear when things don't go right. I'm wondering if you have that. For instance. I was working on my car, and my husband said he would never do such a thing because he's too afraid of messing things up. But armed with Google ready to go on the laptop, a service manual, and a lot of confidence, I headed out to the garage. After changing out the fuel filter, the car started fine. I felt like a million bucks. It would have cost three times as much to have the stealership do this simple task. The next morning, my car wouldn't start. My heart sank. I was honestly so depressed. I slunk into the house and cried. I felt like a total failure. It took a couple of days to get over my feelings of failure before I could even look at the issue. Turns out, there is a pump in the tank that was going bad...and by changing out the filter, I introduced air into the lines. Even though I filled the filter with fuel and primed the filter to reduce the air, it was still enough to cause the weak pump to not be able to push the air out. I know it's not my fault, that this is a common issue with this type of car. But my knee-jerk reaction was just utter despair. We, too are looking at hardwoods. I'll price them out, then stop and panic. What if I can't do this? I'm not sure when the confidence comes and stays. I'm afraid I'll get half-way through, screw up something major and have to call in the professionals to help. Today I'm at home waiting for the repair man to come fix the oven because I'm way too scared to even TRY to fix it. I research things to death before hand...but the strangest stuff comes up. Like I was changing the transmission fluid filter on my minivan and broke two bolts off (because the directions supplied by autozone had incorrect torque settings for the torque wrench :(). I felt so incompetent. I can't even tell you. The desire to be self-sufficient is still there, I just really have trouble with the confidence part...particularly when I hit a speedbump. DJ Shirley,
I love this post…and I feel the same way. I’ve got a long list of accomplishments that I’ve done myself, yet I still have a huge fear when things don’t go right. I’m wondering if you have that. For instance. I was working on my car, and my husband said he would never do such a thing because he’s too afraid of messing things up. But armed with Google ready to go on the laptop, a service manual, and a lot of confidence, I headed out to the garage. After changing out the fuel filter, the car started fine. I felt like a million bucks. It would have cost three times as much to have the stealership do this simple task. The next morning, my car wouldn’t start. My heart sank. I was honestly so depressed. I slunk into the house and cried. I felt like a total failure. It took a couple of days to get over my feelings of failure before I could even look at the issue. Turns out, there is a pump in the tank that was going bad…and by changing out the filter, I introduced air into the lines. Even though I filled the filter with fuel and primed the filter to reduce the air, it was still enough to cause the weak pump to not be able to push the air out. I know it’s not my fault, that this is a common issue with this type of car. But my knee-jerk reaction was just utter despair.
We, too are looking at hardwoods. I’ll price them out, then stop and panic. What if I can’t do this?
I’m not sure when the confidence comes and stays. I’m afraid I’ll get half-way through, screw up something major and have to call in the professionals to help.
Today I’m at home waiting for the repair man to come fix the oven because I’m way too scared to even TRY to fix it.
I research things to death before hand…but the strangest stuff comes up. Like I was changing the transmission fluid filter on my minivan and broke two bolts off (because the directions supplied by autozone had incorrect torque settings for the torque wrench :(). I felt so incompetent. I can’t even tell you.
The desire to be self-sufficient is still there, I just really have trouble with the confidence part…particularly when I hit a speedbump.
DJ

]]> By: TI http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/save-money-by-doing-it-yourself/comment-page-1/#comment-13835 TI Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:44:01 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/our-simple-life-doing-it-ourselves/#comment-13835 Through experience, we've learned that you can actually finish your own projects much more quickly than hiring a contractor. They typically need to move onto either getting new business ('selling a job') or starting a new project to keep new clients happy, even though yours has not been completed. How irritating! Also, you know the quality of the work you do... Through experience, we’ve learned that you can actually finish your own projects much more quickly than hiring a contractor. They typically need to move onto either getting new business (’selling a job’) or starting a new project to keep new clients happy, even though yours has not been completed. How irritating! Also, you know the quality of the work you do…

]]> By: Shirley http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/save-money-by-doing-it-yourself/comment-page-1/#comment-5127 Shirley Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:36:28 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/our-simple-life-doing-it-ourselves/#comment-5127 Exactly... and said very well! I have been asked the same questions, and I agree completely with your viewpoint. Learning new skills and being self-sufficient is about more than saving money, but unfortunately not everyone understands the pleasure and satisfaction that some of us get from doing these jobs ourselves. It's always nice to "meet" people who do. Exactly… and said very well! I have been asked the same questions, and I agree completely with your viewpoint. Learning new skills and being self-sufficient is about more than saving money, but unfortunately not everyone understands the pleasure and satisfaction that some of us get from doing these jobs ourselves. It’s always nice to “meet” people who do.

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