Thrifty Thursday: Skills to learn that save you money

You can learn how to do just about anything now-a-days with a simple Google search, and you should absolutely take advantage of the wealth of knowledge available to you.  I'm not talking large-scale stuff here, Folks.  Please don't be trying to rewire your home with a tutorial you found online (and shame on whoever would even post one of those for any over-eager homeowners to fall victim to).  But learning a few basic "handy" skills can make a World of difference in how self-sufficient you can be, and how much you have to rely on others.

When my husband and I were first contemplating the idea of getting chickens, we wanted to see if we could handle the whole process.  So we spent an evening on YouTube watching videos on how to slaughter chickens.  Let me tell you that makes for an interesting date...  But with his culinary experience, and my cold-hearted-bitchiness, we learned that it was a task we could muster through on our own.  So we'll be able to save ourselves having to pack our car full of chickens and cart them off to the slaughter house.  Plus, I figure it'll give our egg birds an added incentive to really start crankin' up production if they don't just think that the meat birds got to go for a fun little ride in the car.  Not funny?  Sorry...

A much less gruesome skill that I highly recommend you learn, is sewing.  Basic sewing machines won't break the bank to purchase, they're very user-friendly now, and they pretty much pay for themselves after the first few projects you complete on them.  Sewing curtains is a great first project, because you only have to sew straight lines, and the finished project has big impact.  Once you practice a bit on easy projects, you can work your way up to the stuff that REALLY saves you the dough; clothing alteration and/or construction.  I can't even begin to guess the amount of money I've saved over the years because I'm now able to mend garments, or completely replace them by making my own.  And yes, I've sat in front of my sewing machine, with the laptop next to me playing a YouTube video of how to do that particular project.

This is the one that I bought.  Photo is from Smitty's in Essex Junction, VT.  He was totally awesome, and I would hands-down recommend him to anyone in the market for a new or used machine

You don't have to know how to do everything.  You just have to know where to get the instructions. 


Thanks for stopping by,
-Lindsey