Many articles and tips about saving money expect that you will have all the time in the world to make everything yourself, fix everything yourself, reuse every item you find, and shop around at a million garage sales and stores.
My goal is to provide manageable tips that can be accessible to people who work, have families, and/or who have limited time. So today’s tip is to recommend that you break these “do it yourself” tips down into learning one new skill. There are many things that you can do for yourself instead of hiring someone else or buying another product for your home.
Here are some examples:
∞ fix your own car (or at least change your own oil)
∞ cut a family member’s hair
∞ grow your own produce
∞ hem or fix your own clothes (or your other family members’)
∞ make your own cards for special occasions
∞ mow your own grass
∞ unclog your drains (with more than just Drano)
∞ make your own gifts (I will cover this more around the holidays)
These are just a few ideas. So instead of feeling like you have to do all of these to save some money, pick one new skill to learn.
You can do this in a variety of ways:
∞ attend a class or workshop at a local community college, store, or online
∞ look at videos online (like at http://www.youtube.com)
∞ have a friend teach you
∞ read a book (or more than one) on the topic
∞ join a group of other people with similar interests (http://www.meetup.com)
∞ check out http://www.instructables.com for a variety of how-to instructions and videos on many do-it-yourself projects
Let me know what other ideas you come up with! For now I am working on getting our mower fixed so my husband can mow our lawn. Also, I hope to get back to card-making so that I have more than just store-bought cards on hand for special occasions.
Surviving on a tight budget 
You know… many women have been known to mow grass too!