I wish I knew how to work on cars.
It’s never too late to learn new things, but it’s something that I just never took the time to figure out when I was younger and I think it would be nice to be able to do some of those basic maintenance things myself.
And it would be much cheaper…
People on AskReddit talked about what is much cheaper if you do it yourself.
1. Very true.
“Cooking food vs. Eating out.
A pasta meal at a restaurant can cost $20+.
At home $20 would make a whole weeks worth.”
2. Everybody pitch in!
“Building a fence.
Several quotes from contractors ranged from 7$,000-$11,000 for my fence.
Did it myself for $2,500 in 3 weekends with help from family members and a lot of beer.”
3. Keep it clean.
“Cleaning.
In my home country, it was super cheap to hire a cleaner by the hour and many people would have someone come once a week, but when I moved to the US, I realized how expensive it is to have it here
I f*cking hate the floors and dusting and wiping down appliances but I also don’t want to pay someone like $130-$200 once a week to do it for me.”
4. Are you competent?
“Assuming that you are competent:
Cooking your meals.
Just about any home repair.
Washing your clothes.
Cleaning your house
Mowing your yard.”
5. That’s random.
“Organ tuning.
I learned how to do it from experts during high school and college and have been doing my own organ ever since (also piano and harpsichord).”
6. Teach yourself!
“General car maintenance.
Stuff like changing the oil, spark plugs, air filter, and brakes.
I was quoted almost 600 bucks to replace my front lower control arms. I got the full control arm with the bushings and ball joint for 20 bucks each.
Total of 40 bucks and probably a couple hours work. The garage was quoting me 280 bucks for just parts.”
7. Who needs a real haircut?
“Shaved head instead of haircut at the barber.
I started buzzing mine for the first time during quarantine. Used the longest guard I had, 12mm I think. So easy!
I might actually just buzz it a few times a year now instead of paying for haircuts.”
8. Comin’ in hot!
“Making your own pizza.
Can be done for a few dollars compared to spending $20+ elsewhere.”
9. I’ll take care of it.
“Replacing windows.
Was quoted 9 grand to replace 5 windows and 2 exterior doors. Ended up doing it ourselves as part of a larger renovation, and it ended up costing about 3 grand for the windows, exterior doors and 3 interior doors.
There is no way they were going to do 6 grand worth of work.”
10. A huge one!
“Googling how to fix your PC problems yourself and not taking it to the shop.”
11. DIY.
“Changing a flat tire versus getting towed.
Even paying for someone else to come change the tire is cheaper than getting towed.”
12. Home improvement.
“Any home improvement.
Labor is usually 75% of the cost or more depending on the job. If you can do it yourself you will save incredible amounts of money.
That being said, sometimes its best to let a professional do the job.”
13. Gotta have it!
“Coffee.
Buying a barista-made coffee every day adds up very quickly.
Buying your beans in bulk and milk every few days doesn’t add up as fast.”
14. Give it a shot.
“Buying computer upgrades separate from the OEMs, like RAM and storage.
Apple is a perfect example. $1000 for 64 GB of RAM for an iMac.
You can buy 128 GB of RAM for $600 off Amazon.
What a ripoff.”
15. Get ‘er done!
“As a woman, anything related to our beauty saves me so much money!
Waxing, one on one lashes, manicure and pedicure, professional make up, hair extensions, etc etc etc.”
16. Let’s get fancy.
“Drinking fancy drinks.
A fancy cocktail at a restaurant or bar will run you about 7 dollars depending on what you get and where you go.
You can buy the ingredients and make it yourself, and end up paying less per drink than you would at the restaurant.”
17. Most vehicle stuff.
“Vehicle maintenance.
Not talking engine swaps or anything but most stuff is relatively easy to do and parts are cheap. Get a scanner that connects to an app on your phone and if the check engine light comes on see what the fix is. Watch a youtube, get a friend and some beers and try it yourself.
If you have a motorcycle change your own oil. I put in the best synthetic with a good filter for less than $70 while a dealer would charge me $120 for whatever oil they use. It takes maybe 5-10 minutes rather than dropping it at a dealer for the day and because it is so convenient I do it more often.”
18. Pest control.
“Minor pest control.
Buy some borax ant traps for crawling bugs, and buy an indoor bug zapper to kill flying bugs like flies and mosquitoes.
It’s like $20 for an indoor bug zapper and it was one of the best investments I ever made to stop getting bit by mosquitoes inside my house every summer.”
19. Good idea!
“When my aunt got a quote for how much it would cost to remodel her kitchen she was like “Forget that!” and took a basic carpentry course and remodelled it herself which ended up being much cheaper and influenced her future endeavours.
Now she does woodworking and has a pretty good business selling her work at art fairs and she restores and resells antique furniture for fun.”
20. Truth!
“Picking up your take away food.
Covid made it super convenient to order from services like Uber Eats, but when it’s all said and done, a $20 dinner is closer to $40 after service fees, delivery fees, and tips.”
21. Might as well try it.
“Making your own pizza.
Get the dough ingredients. Make a good batch of tomato sauce (freeze the rest) and get the toppings you want.
You’ll save labor and delivery costs.”
22. You can do it!
“Eating healthy.
It is very inexpensive and easy to prepare at home. So many people want to use the excuse ” I can’t afford to eat healthy!”.
Not true at all. If you can afford fast food, you can actually save money by eating healthy.
Vegetables and a protein source (chicken, fish, beef, pork, beans) are easily less than $20 a week per person.”
23. It adds up in a hurry.
“Coffee.
I lived in the US for a year as an exchange student a couple of years back and I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND WHY some people felt the need to go out EVERY SINGLE DAY to get coffee.
And some of the people I know didn’t even go to a regular Café, they went to F*CKING STARBUCKS EVERY SINGLE DAY. B*tch, just buy a f*cking coffee machine and make coffee at home.
“Oh, but I don’t like black coffee, I like other flavors and blablabla…”
First of all: go f*ck yourself. Second: you can learn how to make those complicated drinks in a weekend, you’re just too lazy to learn and too stupid to save money.”
24. Get busy!
“Cleaning.
It will be cheaper of you use grandma’s old cleaning solutions and a little bit of elbow grease.
Paying someone to clean for you might seem good but if you stop groaning and do it you will have it done in an hour or two.”
25. All kinds of things.
“Lots of things are very simple to fix, and parts are available online.
I’ve saved myself thousands by ordering parts online. I’ve fixed my washer and dryer, A/C, cars and trucks, computers etc. Lots of parts are easy interchange and diagnostics is usually pretty simple.
Plus most things only need simple hand tools.”
26. Bingo!
“Mowing your own lawn.
In addition to some good exercise and outdoor time, it gets you away from the kids for an hour as well!
What’s that honey? “RRRAAAAPPPPAAAA” I can’t hear you!””
What are some good DIY tips that you can share with us?
Talk to us in the comments!
We really appreciate it!
