The most time-tested method for saving money that I know of is "Do-It-Yourself". I have heard mention of it on this forum but haven't seen a thread dedicated to the topic. I am putting the topic out there. I will make some suggestions if no one else comes up with a suggestion or question, but let's have some thoughts.
A DIY section in this forum would be a great addition, but since this forum is mainly a shopping and discounts forum, it may not have a lot of posters in that section. It's all up to the admin though if he would want to add that section. But you can post that in the off topic section I guess, since anything goes over there.
This would be a great idea for a new thread. Do-It-Yourself is by far the easiest and best way to save money. This would be a great addition to the forum
I'm still waiting for someone to post an example of a money-saving do-it-yourself project. Or perhaps someone will suggest a project that they would like someone to talk about. Put out a suggestion.
DIY projects are awesome. I just recently came across a magazine called "Mollie Makes". I has a lot of different DIY projects and arts and crafts. Some magazines even come with all the materials you need for a small project. The last one I saw had everything to make a little owl key chain. I definitely would suggest this magazine to anyone who likes to make stuff!
I found this DIY project particularly interesting: [video=youtube;n0VkD_fBfzI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0VkD_fBfzI[/video] You can go to his channel to see the other steps as well as updates.
While videos can show how to do things step by step, I find them boring many times because you have to spend 15 minutes or more to see if the project is what you are looking for or not. I prefer always something that comes with a little (or lengthy) textual introduction to read if it's worth to watch the video or not. However here is a site where there are many DIY projects to choose from and talk about,Log In
I have been looking into do it yourself a lot lately there are a lot of cool sites with cool ideas. I saw one where they made tree stumps into end tables and they looked great! I'm excited to find more ideas on do it yourself i'm excited to try them out myself.
That would be an amazing idea for a thread. I hope a section like that becomes available. I love DIY stuff. It saves you money and it's fun. I don't know of many DIY things, except I make my own flower bouquets. I just use fake flowers, a vase, and gel from the craft store. Cute home decor. I also make my own face scrubs by mixing sugar or sea salt and lemon juice or extra virgin olive oil.
Do it yourself for exotic stuff and for hobby trinkets is fine, but I was thinking of more main-stream stuff. How many people these days make their own clothes? How about car repairs? How about buying a fixer up house and doing the work yourself. Or buy a shell home and do the finish work. Or just build your new home from the ground up.
A DIY Section would be terrific! I love those kinds of projects and am interested in everything from Solar Power and repairs to custom furniture. I feel like users would have a lot to learn from having a section for it and it would create a lot of opportunities for people to share their own projects and ideas.
I'm on board with that, Thomas. Investing time in a DIY project is a project all its own. I would prefer it go toward a long term endeavor or at least have every day uses. Little DIY projects are nice for perhaps supplementing holiday gifts but I really prefer things that we rely on but have little to no part in normally as projects. How much of our money DOES go to clothes, car repairs, & house repairs? Too much.
One of the things that I have been trying to do on my blog is to promote a movement in the alternative energy community based on the old barn-raising mentality. I am also trying to foster development of power from septic tanks. The technology is available, someone just needs to put it all together and market it. It would reduce the amount of methane (probably the worst green-house gas) emitted by septic tanks. It is done in some third world countries. DIY gifts have added value in being very personal. When I was young flour came in patterned cloth sacks. I remember my mother making clothes out of it. Later the cloth sacks were dish cloths. I am willing to bet that Dolly Parton's coat of many colors had some flour sack cloth in it. Sack cloth and ashes.
lmao Thomas, my knowledge of Dolly Parton made me literally laugh out loud at that. I do believe you may be correct in that assumption. Sack cloth is something that really seems to no longer be utilized. Perhaps because of the changing of the guards. It's what you have around to utilize not what you want to utilize. We'd all be dressed in spider silk and diamonds be that the case. Or just me?
a great thing, do it yourself, a homemade, saving money and developing creation and promotes the action, I'm looking for useful things
You can try it anytime, it`s an easy and funny project. I can tell you for sure, since I`m an electrician, I installed something like this on the French roof of my parents` home (well, it was a bigger system), it will help you make important savings
Do it yourself project definitely aren't for everyone. The things that I have tried to do ended up being a disaster and just turned in to a waste of time and money. So things are better left to the professionals.
Thanks for the advice. I think that if there are new appliances that need to be installed or repairs that are not so demanding, doing it myself is always the more cost effective method.
I love that magazine! I bought my first one with a little bird key chain. I wish it was cheaper though, but I can understand why it priced that way, I suppose it makes sense, I just wish I could buy every single issue. Another good magazine is Stuffed about making stuffed "things" from stuffed monsters to stupped camera's and computers. It's my absolute favorite magazine and inspired me to begin my journey into softies. Something that I am thinking of doing is using newspaper, back and white writing only and tearing it into pieces and with the help of Mod podge which you can buy at Walmart or any craft store, giving my TV stand a new look. It's just plane black, shows every speck of dust and the paint is starting to chip off. I just hate it but can't afford to buy a new one just yet. I think if I just give it a new look it will greatly help with the look of it and give it more texture while hiding the scratches and and hopefully hiding some of the dust also. Also I am learning how to make clothes so far the only thing I can make is pajama pants. It's really easy to do the only tricky thing is I am still trying to figure out the elastic part but once I mast pajama pants, I want to move on to dresses for my daughter.
