I have a 2001 F150 XLT with 109,000 miles on it, owned since 9/2002, and I've saved $1000's in repair costs by DIYing in my back yard. Did some things I wouldn't have dreamed of back when I first started DIY'ing in 1970.
One thing I recommend are DIY junk yards like Pullapart. I have 3 within 35 miles of me. They seem to always have comparable versions of my truck on their lots. If you own a vehicle with a small market share, these are unlikely to appear on their lots. They charge between $1 and $2 for admission, and you only pay for the parts you remove from the lot and take home. You can bring your own tools, but not power tools, tools which use fire, or jacks.
Besides a source of cheap parts, they are excellent for practicing your repair skills, especially the ones involved with removing / breaking off old rusty nuts & bolts.
Best deal I ever got was to pay $3 for a broken left external rear view mirrow glass portion. IIRC, a new one cost around $300. This particular model was one of the very,very,very few that could simply be removed with a small pry bar. Most other mirrors are a lot more difficult to remove and replace. As easy as this was to work on, I did break one into pieces while trying to remove it. I paid nothing for that, since I didn't take it out of the lot. I soon found another one, and was able to pop it off the old junker and onto my junker.