Six Ways to Save Money on DIY Projects

Adulthood is hard. As teenagers, we fantasize about the day we turn eighteen and thereby inherit this mantle of “adult” – total freedom to stay up as late as you want, eat or drink whatever you want, live wherever you want. What they don’t tell us when we’re children is that total freedom also means total responsibility. Stay up as late as you want; you still have to go to work in the morning. Drink whatever you want; you have to deal with the headache the next day. Live wherever you want – but you have to fix everything that goes wrong with your new home, and you have to fix it on your own dime.

So how does an adult face the horror of home repair without breaking the bank?

The key is to learn the art of DIY home maintenance. It’s intimidating for most to people to think about tackling projects by themselves; but with a little bit of practice and a little bit of reading, you can easily learn a handful of tricks to save money and keep your home in proper working order.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

1. Learn DIY Car Repair

Learning how to change the oil in your car can save you a couple hundred dollars a year. A general knowledge of the way a car works can save you even more. Knowing how to diagnose a problem will keep you from paying the extra fees required for a mechanic to diagnose the issues; and it will keep more unscrupulous repair companies from taking advantage of your ignorance.

2. Winterize Your home

If you have an older house, you likely have older windows – at least in a handful of rooms. And old windows, although beautiful, can allow heat to escape your home during the winter. Your heating bill will skyrocket during January and February, not just because the weather outside is frightful, but also because your windows can’t trap the warm air. An easy solution to this problem is to insulate your windows. This is easier than it sounds. You can purchase caulking cord, and line your windows with the clay-like substance; or, if you aren’t too concerned with the appearance of your windows, you can apply bubble wrap to the panes.

3. Create Your Own DIY Cleaning Solutions

Vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, tea tree oil, Borax – all of these are viable alternatives to the expensive cleaning solutions you can purchase in stores. A vinegar-water-lemon solution will disinfect your countertops for a quarter the cost of Lysol or Clorox wipes. Hydrogen peroxide is an effective stain remover and an excellent mouth wash. Tea tree oil can remove the odor from trash cans or musty laundry baskets. The possibilities are endless!

4. Use Cloths Instead of Paper

Instead of buying paper towels or paper napkins, buy or make a selection of cloth squares to clean up spills and wipe down surfaces. It may take some getting used to at first, but over time you’ll wonder why you ever used disposable napkins.

5. Hang Your Laundry on a Line

The fresh air keeps your clothes for getting musty and you save money on the electricity used to run the dryer. It’s a win-win situation!

6. Create a Home Gym

With the price of a gym membership costing anywhere from $80 to $200 a month, staying fit can be a big expense. Cut down on the costs by purchasing a few supplies for a home gym. A treadmill, an elliptical, and some free weights – that’s all you really need to get your exercise on!