I love learning new things. Just this weekend, I learned how to make a circle skirt thanks to several tutorials I found online. We’re having a 1950s sock hop activity at church, so now my daughter and I can go in poodle skirts I made just for the occasion. I’ve also been watching videos on tailoring men’s suits so I can finally tailor the two new suits I got for my husband in the past few months.
I am constantly amazed at how easily we can access tools to learn new skills. Years ago, you had to check out a book at the library or take a class in-person to learn something. Nowadays, we have so much information available at our fingertips. The internet is loaded with resources for learning new skills. The best part is that much of this information is available for free!
Why Learn New Skills Anyway?
- It can save you money.
Learning to do something yourself means you won’t need to pay someone else to do it. If you can diagnose why your washing machine isn’t draining and fix the problem yourself, you won’t have to call a repairman. If I can learn to tailor my husband’s suits, then I won’t have to pay someone else to do it.
- It can lead to a job.
New skills will open doors for new employment, whether it’s a formal job or a new stream of side income. My mom is a Jill-of-all-trades when it comes to creative arts. She is also a patient and talented teacher. From calligraphy to cake decorating to quilting, she is always learning new skills. She has a knack for excelling at all of them, then she makes money teaching those skills to others.
- It’s fun and fulfilling!
I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy learning new things. For my last two semesters of college, I had room in my schedule to add a few classes just for fun. I took computer science, logic, and Arabic just for the heck of it. Learning new skills boosts your confidence and challenges your brain. You’ll find new hobbies and probably be happier too!
Free Resources for Learning
A general Google search for what you want to learn often yields many free results. You’ll probably get results for You Tube videos to teach you new things. Be warned that some videos are just teasers for longer videos that you have to purchase. If you look long enough, you’re bound to find what you’re looking for. You can also do a search for what you want to learn along with the word “tutorial.” Often, you’ll find a blog or website with step-by-step instructions to teach you.
- Coursera
Coursera offers nearly 1,000 free university-level classes online. Classes are available in all different subjects and are offered by prominent universities throughout the country. You can take the classes on your own schedule and at your own pace. Looking at the class listing makes me long to have more time!
- Craftsy
Craftsy offers video classes in all sorts of creative arts like cooking, sewing, painting, woodworking, gardening, photography, and more. They have a selection of classes that are available for free. Take a look at the free classes and see what new skills you can learn.
- Udemy
Udemy has over 22,000 on-demand courses offered in all different subject matters. They have lots of business and programming/web design courses, but also have classes in music, photography, fitness, language and more. To find courses that are currently free, just type “free” into the search bar and you’ll find pages of classes at no cost. When you enroll in a class, the materials (video, audio, downloads, etc) are available forever.
How about you?
- What new skills have you learned lately?
- What tips do you have to learn new skills for free?
- Why do you like to learn new things?
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Hi! I just found your website. Same boat here with spouse’s law school loans. Anyways, I just taught myself how to cut my girls’ hair. I watched tons of YouTube videos beforehand, and my girls were so excited to let me do it. One of my girls even asked me if other moms could do ten different jobs like I do. I told her that’s what makes us mommies.
Great post Stephanie as always. I remember going to garage sales or salvation army and finding really good prices on clothes but were too big for my boys when they were young (or hubs and I too) I would bring them home like you and alter them to fit. I felt so good knowing that i was able to stretch our family money by making things last longer… I.e., cutting off pant legs of boys jeans and making shorts, etc. I took an upholstering class at a local college years ago and was able to “dumpster dive” and get furniture by the side of the road on trash day. I could not believe what people give a way. We found a perfectly good patio furniture that the movers couldn’t get in the moving van. They left it at the end of the drive way as they pulled out, so we stopped later and picked it up. We still use that to this day. Great finds!!
Thanks for the information. I know about You Tube and Craftsy and use them, but I have never heard about Coursera and Udemy. I am going to check them out too.
I agree — I love learning new things! I’ve done a few courses on Alison. YouTube is another of my favorite resources, and I keep an eye out for free workshops in my area. I attended a festival that offered free seminars in raising chickens and other homesteading/self-sufficiency practices and am signed up to attend a free DIY Herbal Remedies lesson at a local store this week. I’ve been meaning to attend a Home Depot workshop but haven’t made it, yet.
I’m currently loving learning how to cook more from scratch – amazing for saving money as well as making healthier choices.
Google is very much the go to on this but I’ve actually started creating a word document with both recipes that I like but also cooking/freezing advice etc so I can really get the best from the food I purchase 🙂
That’s a great way to keep track of everything you’re learning!
These are great resources that I’ll be checking out over the weekend! I’ve always done local learning things like free classes offered through the library, university, or local interest groups. The library and university have email news letters that keep us updated on classes and lectures. The local interest groups we found at the farmers market and they have all sorts of free classes that we’ve taken like “how to fix your bike,” “how to maximize garden growth by understanding the sun in your yard,” and “introductory bird watching.” An added bonus is that it’s really helped me meet some great friends to keep learning with.
Those are great ideas Judi for learning locally! I love the added benefit of meeting new people too!
My mom bought me a photography class on Craftsy – I told her the only way she should drop money on it is to make sure that I can access it on my time (as I’m tied up with another project until March). Turns out you can just log in and start the course whenever you want, so I’m looking forward to that. 🙂 It may not make me any money, but there are other things I’d like to learn more about in my field so that I can be more marketable in the future. Good suggestions!
That is so convenient to be able to take the course at your own pace. Learning new skills to be more marketable is important!
I love learning new things! There is such an abundance of resources available to us. Who knows how much money we have saved by learning to do things ourselves. One thing we do though, particularly when it comes to repairs, is to look to several sources in learning how to do something new. For instance, my son was fixing his car and followed the advice from someone he had found on the internet. It turned out to be the wrong advice. As he continued his search for the right answer to the problem he found a pattern of consistency in the instruction from several different sources. In other words, make sure your source of information is reliable.
I love this site! Thank you so much for sharing it with us!
Great advice! Definitely get a second and third virtual opinion before taking action!
Love this! There are so many resources out there that can help you learn just about anything without dropping a lot of money. We do still use the library in our house, but sites like Udemy are pretty common too!
We use the library too! 🙂