Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Hello:
I am trying to develop more Do-It-Yourself skills so that I can keep my costs of living down in early retirement. Here are some of the skills I think could help me to keep my cost of living down:
1. investment management- handle my own investment accounts instead of paying an advisor fee
2. tax preparation- prepare and file my own taxes returns
3. food preparation- buy and prepare my own food, instead of eating out or buying pre-packaged convenience food
4. hair cutting- cut my own hair
5. car maintenance- change my own filters, oil, lights, brake pads, fuids, rotate tires, etc.
6. basic home maintenance- electrical, plumbing, carpentry, appliance repair/maintenance
7. basic health care- first aid, preventative health care.
Can anyone think of other good skills to develop in order to keep expenses down? How much money do you think I will save by taking care of these matters myself? Also, do you know of good reference sources to build these various skills?
Thank you for your advice.

Brewing your own beer or wine. We brew mead, it comes out pretty nice most of the time. The mead you find in the store is $20+/bottle.
For women, dyeing your own hair, tweezing your own eyebrows, doing your own nails. Or do your friend's nails, and have her do yours.
A caution on hair cutting: Just because you are a guy and it's easy to buzz your head, doesn't mean you should if you are still working. My ex used to do that and it was not at all a flattering cut. If it works for you and you look good, great. If you don't, try for a different look or just spend the $10 already. For women, I found an easy youtube video on the web that gives you a layered cut in about 3 minutes of prep and cutting work. It's close to fool proof and looks good. I don't plan to get my hair cut professionally in the next few years, I can do it myself.
Basic clothing repair/alteration. You can pick up things with broken zippers, rips, at Goodwill for a song, repair, and then have nice clothes for even cheaper than Goodwill regular price. Not to mention you can fix your own stuff rather than buy new.

Research skills... know how to look things up online and/or at the library. Learn to frame the question so you get an answer out of Google instead of a googleplex of unrelated links.

Savings estimates:

1. No likely savings, but potentially increased profits.

2. $25-$50/yr as long as you don't need to buy software

3. average $1 per meal --> $1095/yr

4. $90/yr (6 haircuts/yr @ $15 each)

5. $50-100/yr, but increased capability when trouble strikes

6. Variable, depending on needs... scale from $0-$5k/yr

7. Variable, depending on needs... no idea on scale
Looking at my estimates, food prep is the priority, followed by home maintenance.

LiquidSapphire:
Thanks for the tips. I can sew on a missing button and hem my own pants, I pretty much taught myself how to do that stuff.
I don't drink alcohol, so no savings by me brewing my own
Good point about cutting my own hair. I have been doing it for a few months now, so I am going to check with a couple of family members/friends and I will ask them for their honest opinion. Aside from the savings, I just like being able to easily fit a haircut into my own schedule by cutting my own hair, and then I can get right into the shower.
George:

I think an investment advisor fee can be 1 or 2 percent of the account value. so if you had a $500,000 account, you might have to pay an investment advisor fee of $5,000 to $10,000 a year regardless of how well your account performs based on the work done by the investment advisor.
Developing research skills is a good idea. Knowledge is power. Thanks.

Computer skills: VOIP saves me significantly. Finding free software alternatives, free books/media, online research (thanks George)... Can always find work, or at least favors, for fixing computers. Building your own is the best way to get the most computing for your dollar.

Hunting/fishing: I often don't enjoy it, but it [usually] is much cheaper than buying meat/fish. And healthier... The less driving the better, ideal being on your own land.

Gardening: This one I usually do enjoy, and always comes out much cheaper than the store.

Here are some ways I've learned some of these kinds of skills.
1. investment management- books, blogs, and sadly, trial and error; also, I read up on all my employer's benefits.
2. tax preparation- I just read the booklet that comes with the tax forms, but Turbo Tax is also pretty cheap and many people swear by that. You can use one application for more than one person--I don't know if they have to be in the same household, but I do know they don't have to have the same name; but you might be able to share with someone.
3. food preparation- I learned most of my skills during camp outs with the Girl Scouts with a few extra tips from a home ec class, my mom, and various roommates. Plus I ask for recipes I like, and I read blogs and cookbooks. For beginner skills, I'd go with an apprentice route--just ask someone you know to let you watch/help in the kitchen.
4. hair cutting- I just grow my hair long and cut it straight across in back--I gather it up into a barrette first and then cut across the barrette. It's okay if it's not perfect because my hair is wavy. There are other personal care skills, but most people do those themselves. You can also look into making your own recipes or finding lower-cost alternatives for things. Google is your friend, as well as hippie blogs.
5. car maintenance- I suck at this, but I took an informal class which helped some and I always get the repair manual for my car. Of course there are other types of transportation--you can learn about bike and skate maintenance, good running shoes, etc.
6. basic home maintenance- I super suck at this but I have some repair manuals, both modern ones and ones written at the time my house was built. I watch repair guys that I do hire, and I always google problems before calling anyone. Also, hang on to all the manuals for your appliances and check appliance web sites. Sadly, the professionals in this area are not always that great. Like I'd never hire painters--ones who actually do everything right are way out of my price range.
7. textiles - my mom taught me to embroider, which includes a lot of needlework skills. There are informal classes on sewing, but they all use sewing machines, which are expensive and which you don't need. There are also YouTube videos on lots of things now.
8. basic health care- I learned first aid from the red cross--, preventative health care.
9. gardening- Look up your local agricultural extension center. Nurseries specializing in native plants will have plants that grow without a lot of special attention in your area whereas big box stores will have whatever's popular, no matter how stupid. There are lots of gardening clubs, and you can even ask neighbors about what they're doing.
You can also ask your friends for advice on facebook.
And just get into the habit of searching for alternatives on Google.

I've never had anything break at my house that I couldn't fix or replace for a lower price than calling out a service tech. If you have the tools (many of which I inherited) and the Google you can fix it. Just a few weeks ago we had a windstorm and a few shingles blew off my roof. I used a little internet knowledge and a little knowledge from my dad and fixed it in < 30 minutes for around $25 in materials.
Other skills I've acquired:
1. Hunting. For a $35 license I could harvest around 5 deer this year at a cost of < $5 for ammunition and net around 100-150 lbs of delicious meat.
2. Welding. My wife bought me a $100 flux core welder from Harbor Freight and it is the revolution for DIY repairs. Things like a steel hinge breaking that you'd normally just replace can be easily put back into service.
3. Auto repair. As others have said, fixing your own car can drastically reduce ownership costs. I've paid for exactly one repair in the last five years for our vehicles. Buy something with a cult following like a Civic hatch (economy car) or a Jeep Cherokee (small 4x4) and the internet will help you with insanely detailed repair help.

Hair - I'm a guy, and I cut my own hair, but not in a buzz cut. I figured that after seeing my hair cut so many times, I could do it myself. Even the first try came out okay, but I've gotten better. (I still wince at seeing my wedding photos. I should have shelled out that once!) I cut it about once a month, which saves about $200/year in this high-cost area.
Textiles - I alter clothes using a sewing machine and needle and thread. I also saw a high-quality sewing machine at a thrift store once. Plenty of Youtube videos on this. Buttons, rips, alterations to slim shirts or take in pants, etc.

I really think that gardening can have a big impact on the amount spent on groceries. Depending on your diet, climate and skills, growing your own leafy greens, lettuce, herbs and so forth can save a lot of money. I try to focus on things that cost a lot and we eat a lot of. So, chard, kale, spinach and broccoli are good crops for us. We eat a lot of potatoes, but they're cheap and we don't have much room, so I still buy them.
Cooking from scratch is also a huge saver, more so if you learn how to cook beans and such well enough that no body misses meat.
We've saved a bunch by figuring out how to do our own home repair, maintenance, and alteration.

Probably one of the biggest ways to save money is to "Learn To Entertain Yourself".
However I may have a different definition of "Entertainment" than others and don't mind doing things on my own.
For me entertainment is anything I ENJOY DOING that "could" be considered superfluous....meaning I don' HAVE to engage in it. (cooking could fall into this if I didn't need to eat...I LOVE to cook...LOL!)
I love to Read and learn new things. I will sit down with a pen and paper and write. I will engage in one of the several hobbies I like.
I will post on the ERE forums. (entertainment can also be serious as well as fun).
Most importantly most of the things I have found myself attacted to as hobbies, while they might require a good upfront investment in tools (faceting machine...OUCH), once you have everything you need the only things you have to get are basic supplies....I can happily spend 2 or 3 hours cutting a $2 piece of Amethyst. (and this I could sell so its not superflous but its still entertaining.

@FrugalZen - I think most DIY skills will eventually have the potential to make you money. I took up surfboard making in College and word spread without any effort that I could make boards. Within a few months I'd made enough to cover my tools, 2 boards I made for myself and a few beers to keep sanding from getting too boring.
Once again I learned how to do it from the internet. There's really not much you can't DIY if you can find a good forum.

Welding is one of the most useful skills you can have if you ever plan to build or fix just about anything.
But in general just being able to DIY will save heaps, I don't think I've employed a tradesman for about 30 years.
It's not just about saving money either, for me it's a matter of being independent.

Craigslisting, freecycling, ebaying, ... with enough skill in these areas you practically never have to pay for anything. If you do have to pay, a little skill in valuation will make it possible to sell it for the same as you paid for it.

Cheese making and preserving food when it is abundant.

Sharpen up your negotiation skills. Easier said than done....

Going a bit of a different route with this list. Some overlap/duplicates here:

Critical Thinking
Priority setting. Following those priorities
Strategic design
Process building and following
Skill/experience/comfort/confidence in discovering or designing creative solutions
"Advertising yourself" - finding like-minded people

"Advertising yourself" - finding people with opposite desires to work for, hire, or buy/sell with


And some that are a little more out there:

5S
Root cause mindset
Zero loss mindset
SMED tools (ECRS - Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, Simplify. Poka-yoking)
LEAN concepts of reducing inventories (extra stuff)

And some "real" skills:

Bicycling (Riding safely, quick, and efficiently... Maintenance and repair... Sizing and fit... familiarity with equipment)
Automotive hypermiling
Use of a flask or other container for carrying your own liquor. (if you go to bars or events and like to drink)