The phrase “do it yourself,” or DIY for short, means taking back the responsibility for something that you would otherwise buy or hire out.
DIY projects are all the rage these days. With a desire to be more natural and get back to basics, many people are interested in discovering ways to be more self-reliant.
The internet is loaded with tutorials for doing things yourself. Pinterest is filled with all of the homemade cleaning and personal care products you can imagine. Images of home décor and home improvement projects abound.
In addition to the projects you can do and products you can make yourself, there are also chores or services – like getting a haircut or changing the oil in your car – that you can choose to hire out or do yourself to save money.
There is a notion that frugal people do things themselves rather than buying or hiring out. Doing things yourself has the potential to save you lots of money, but that’s not necessarily the case.
Is it Worth it?
I love DIY projects, but even when I’m being careful, they sometimes don’t always turn out as frugal as I had hoped. While frugal and DIY can sometimes be synonymous, they aren’t always. You’ve probably seen this meme:
If it resonates with you, then you know exactly what I’m talking about!
Be careful of the DIY projects you undertake. Here are some factors to think about when deciding whether a DIY project will be worth it or not.
Time
Time is usually the biggest trade-off when you choose to do something yourself instead of buying or hiring out. How long will the project take? Do you have time to do it yourself? What is the opportunity cost? If you have options to do work that pays more than the DIY project would save you, then working might be a better use of your time.
Costs
Time is not the only factor that goes into figuring out if something is cost effective. You also need to consider the supplies or ingredients necessary for the undertaking.
Desire
DIY projects take work, plain and simple. If it’s not something that you want to do, you may burn out before you get to reap any of the benefits from your efforts. At the same time, it’s okay to do hard things that aren’t necessarily enjoyable in order to save money, learn skills, or build character.
Skills
Is this DIY endeavor something you know how to do already or do you need to learn and practice before you can really do it yourself? Thanks to the internet, you can find videos and tutorials to teach you how to do just about anything. Still, learning a new skill takes time and practice.
A Recent Example
So here’s the project. I’ve been trying to revamp our laundry system for a while now. Normally I use the living room to sort all of the clean laundry into everyone’s individual baskets for them to fold and put away. With a family of 8, this means part of the living room is a laundry staging area on most days of the week.
Our laundry room is small, but I envisioned a shelf with at least three shelves that would each hold three laundry baskets. Then, as we unloaded clothes out of the dryer, they could be sorted right into everyone’s individual basket. Then everyone could take their basket and fold and put away their clothes when it was convenient for them. I wouldn’t need to use the living room as a laundry staging area anymore!
When I told Mike my idea, he measured the area and drew up some plans for some nice laundry shelves, and made a shopping list.
Time— I figured it would take me about six hours to complete (but honestly I’m terrible at estimating how long it will take me to do things).
Cost— Mike took a look at the shopping list and with the help of Home Depot’s website, he added up the cost. He estimated that it would be about $200 before paint. If he was going to make them, he wanted to use nice hardwood, not the cheapest stuff. That also includes the cost of a pocket hole jig. We have paint in the garage, so we figured there was probably something there we could use.
Desire—Mike always enjoy smaking things and was especially happy to make my laundry dreams come true.
Skills—The shelf he drew up was pretty basic so it was something he could manage without having to learn new skills.
Looking at the factors, we had to decide if we wanted to go ahead with the DIY project, buy something instead, or scrap the idea altogether.
We were good on Desire and Skills. And as far as Time goes, we don’t have a lot of it, but Mike is good at making time for things that are important to me, so I know he would have made time.
When he told me the Cost, I was super disappointed. That was way more than I wanted to spend on this project, even though I was so looking forward to a new laundry system.
Because I had such a specific space that I needed the shelf to fit, I went straight to DIY instead of even looking into buying a shelf. After hearing the cost of the DIY shelf, I decided to take a look at the buying options. As it turns out I found a shelf that would fit the bill online at Sam’s Club for less than half of what the DIY version would cost. Plus it wouldn’t take any time out of Mike’s already packed schedule.
So in this case DIY wasn’t a better or cheaper option. Before undertaking your own DIY project, go through a little assessment like this.
Other Reasons to DIY
Of course not all DIY projects are done in order to save money. There may be some DIY projects that don’t save you money, but you do for reasons of expressing your creativity, customizing something, or being more natural. For example, maybe it’s not necessarily cheaper to make your own shampoo but you do it anyway to avoid chemicals.
I figured cost breakdowns for some of the DIY projects I choose to take on, like making my own yogurt, making deodorant, or laundry detergent, but you have to decide if it’s worth it for you. Our choices in what we do ourselves and what we buy or hire out take so many factors into consideration. The decision is a completely personal one that often goes beyond cost.
Day 23 Challenge
Today’s challenge is two-fold. First, look at the services that you currently hire out (oil changes, haircuts, lawn care, etc). Are there any of those that you could do yourself to save money?
Next, are there any products (i.e. laundry detergent) or projects (i.e. home improvements or auto repairs) that you would be interested in doing yourself? Do research on their cost effectiveness and make plans to give one of them a try.
There’s a very specific and narrow situation when DIY pays off, strictly financially speaking, when compared to store-bought: when you already have the skills and much of the tools and materials (like fabric from other projects, pieces of wood sourced cheaply or left over from other projects, nails, screws, paint, paintbrushes, tools of all sorts). It’s obvious. You can’t compete with huge machines which do one thing alone and do it as efficiently as many bright minds put together were able to make them to do.
However, comparing DIY to store-bought is the wrong comparison. The more appropriate comparison is DIY vs. custom made. You still need the skills and the tools, but custom made always comes with huge labor costs – you pay for a dedicated professional which, to be able to compete with mass production, must be excellent in his trade, and excellence is always expensive. However, provided your mama taught you to sew, a dress you make yourself will always be cheaper than the same dress done by a professional tailor, and carpenter’s son, provided he spent enough time with his father in the workshop as a child, will always make decent furniture at a reasonable cost, compared to what the same furniture would cost if custom made. Of course, in order for the cost of tools to pay off, you will need to make a lot of the same thing – i.e. not do just a nightstand, but every piece of furniture in the entire house and then some, and not just one dress, but dresses and trousers for everybody in the family all the time (sewing might be cheaper, tools-wise, than carpentry, but a sewing machine still doesn’t come for free).
But there’s value to DIY that neither store-bought nor custom made can provide. Many DIY-ers, even without having the skills and the tools, get into DIY projects not in order to save money but to undergo a learning experience. Getting your hands dirty and putting tile in your bathroom, if you’ve never done it before, will most likely yield worse results than hiring a professional, and not save you much money. However, if you’re the right kind of person, you’ll love the time spent toiling away at the bathroom, and come to even appreciate the imperfections. And, depending on your taste in beverages, chances are, you’ll spend less than if you’d spent the time in a bar, after you subtract the value of what you have created. DIY, like gardening, is a very satisfying and captivating way to spend time, once you get hooked. The money spent for that is money very well spent.
These are great planning factors for deciding where you can save going the DIY insource route versus outsourcing the job. There are a lot of things that we do ourselves, but dentistry Beyond pulling a child’s loose tooth is not one of them for example.
Hubby changes the oil in the vehicles, lawn mower, snowblower, and his tractor. He has replaced belts on the mower and snowblower as well. He has replaced sinks, faucets even toilets in remodeling projects. When we replaced a bathroom faucet we noted at Home Depot that the faucet was $79, but the sign listed they could install it for $129. So outsourcing the job would have cost over $200, plus the inconvenience of having to schedule it and wait around for the plumber. It took hubby about 30 minutes to do the job. He has the tools and knowledge to do it, so we knew there was no need to arrange a plumber. We rarely go out to eat and we cook with single ingredients versus prepared convenience foods. We know what we are eating and the cost is far cheaper. The cost per pound for a bag of chips is higher than steak for example. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables from our garden is especially frugal as we can just walk out to the garden and get them, no drive to the grocery store.
We are good in the budgeting area as hubby had always put the maximum amount in his retirement account when he was working. He planned ahead well and he is collecting two pensions, which more than cover our monthly expenses without touching the savings. We both drive vehicles that are over ten years old as well. Like you, we insource haircuts. We acquired the right tools and supplies from Sally’s, that include the capes, clippers, hair clips, combs and a really good set of hair shears. While I am not good at cutting hair, hubby does a great job. He gives my boys their haircuts every 3-4 weeks. I have been asked by my younger son’s teacher and a couple other moms where I take him to get his haircuts as the local barbershop does not do such a nice job. It takes him about ten minutes to do each haircut. That is less time than it would be to drive one way to the barbershop. So it saves me time as well as several hundreds dollars a year. I take a seat every couple months and have him trim my elbow length hair. He is very meticulous in doing the full sectioning, pinning up and then letting my hair down in increments to trim each layer. It takes him about 20 minutes to trim my hair. He loves my hair long, so there is no worry that he would cut it too short. I don’t miss going to the salon as it always took up half a day, I never liked the results or the high cost. I easily save over $500 on my hair alone. My mother thought it was great that he gave the boys their haircuts, but thought it was terrible that I had him cut mine until she got a really bad haircut at her salon. She complained about it to me and said my husband would have done a better job and it would be free. Well a number of months later she was visiting when hubby was giving my teenage boys their haircuts. She complimented him on how nice their haircuts looked, but it looked like too much work the way he was using different attachments with the clippers and then the shears and comb on the longer hair on top. I commented that he knows what he is doing, he does a great job and the boys like his work. She commented that she really needed her hair cut, but didn’t want to go back to the salon. I mentioned that hubby had his tools out, have a seat and have him give you a haircut. Well to my surprise, she did. He caped her and asked her much she wanted off as he held up his hand and asked her how many fingers worth, she said two. So he trimmed and shaped her shoulder skimming bob for her and she was happy with the results. It saved her a trip to the salon and over $50. I was happy she finally asked him to cut her hair as she is on a limited budget, so it saves her money and she no longer tells me that he should not be cutting my hair, but asks when can come over to get a trim. I color her hair for her as well, but she gave me a firm NO when I offered to cut her hair.
We have an antenna on our roof that lets us get about 30 channels plus Amazon Prime for movies, versus cable television. So our cost is about $12 which includes the free two day shipping. I have one coworker that pays over $250 a month for their bundle. That’s $3000 Annually, crazy! But her husband insists that they have it. She and her husband both have new cars and pay over $1000 a month in payments, I mean that is more than our mortgage! We sanded our deck and applied a paint called durabak, it Is a truck bed liner paint that was over $100 a gallon, but it lasted over ten years, and we just touched it up with another coat this summer, so it will be good for another ten years before we have o do it again. No worries about rotting boards. I am definitely a firm believer in insourcing all we can. This summer I plan to can tomato sauce as well as doing pickles and other vegetables from our garden as well as freezing.
Thanks for sharing Carolyn! I love all of these, especially about your husband cutting your mom’s hair! That’s awesome!!
I was really surprised when she got up and took a seat on the stool, but I wasn’t worried how it would turn out as he always gives me a good haircut. It only takes him a few minutes to trim her hair and I color her hair afterwards. It saves her hundreds a year, which helps her a lot being she is on social security. She tells her friends that she gets her hair done at her daughter’s house, but she doesn’t elaborate that hubby cuts her hair. I think she is afraid her friends would look down on her getting a home haircut. Of course that never bothered her when she butchered my bangs when I was a little girl.
I have taught myself to reupholster my dining room chairs. I also make curtains, purses, bedspreads, book bags, etc. I make the majority of the Christmas gifts I give. It has saved us tons of money.
Those are great Linda! Thanks for sharing!
Ah, yes. Every year I relentlessly read ideas for DIY Christmas presents, searching for inspiration. And each and every time, the blogger will give ‘save money!’ as a reason to DIY your Christmas presents. You don’t save money on making your own Christmas presents unless you can source the materials for free or super-cheap. Homemade is almost never cheaper than store bought. As an example, I have a friend who makes gorgeous wallets. Each one takes 8 hours and about $30 worth of supplies. She has to price them at $60 to be able to pay herself. Meanwhile, a similar wallet in a shop costs $5.
Yes! I totally agree!
I’m not sure (okay, I’m pretty sure) that it will be cheaper to build my own desk, but I have a specific vision in mind for what I want. Now that my husband got his new job where he will be having three-day weekends all summer long, and he has the know-how to build it, as well as the extra money, I am thinking of asking him to build it for my birthday present this year. It is something I have researched, but I just cannot find a desk that matches my unique vision of the perfect desk. I had thought of doing it myself, but I am smart enough to know that it is way beyond my capabilities, as I am just a novice in doing anything DIY, I can’t even use power tools comfortably yet. Wish us luck, lol!
It’s supposed to say (I’m pretty sure it won’t be). I just forgot to change it before posting. lol
Customization is one of the biggest reasons to DIY in my opinion. I bet your desk will be awesome!!