In the grand scheme of things, probably being a DIYer and being able to fix and improve our home over the last few years has saved me the most $$$... doesn't feel like it when you are still spending money on tools and materials down at the DIY store though!
Ugh…you were doing great then you ruined it with your attitude!
I DIY for most things, except serious plumbing and electrical and I don’t get on the roof anymore. I remember when I bought my first gas chain saw. A tree died and the guy wanted $350. No thank you. DW asks what’d spend on that? I said I made us $220 on it.
The right tool, good-to-better quality, is not a waste of money.
Not sure about your local areas, but our Buy Nothing Group is full of requests to borrow specific tools/equipment for short-term use. I've borrowed all manner of high quality tools (and lent out my own meagre supply) to enable me to do jobs without lining the pockets of the DIY stores in the process. Much cheaper than having a shed full of quite specific tools that have each only been used sparingly.
That's a great idea, and one jurisdiction we lived in has a tool library that gets plenty of use.
Working overseas for the U.S. Department of State in the Foreign Service provides lots of frugal opportunities. We generally live in inexpensive countries overseas which all have interesting things to see and do. This, and accumulating travel miles, allow us to keep our travel costs fairly low.
We pay no housing costs (rent, electric, gas, water) except for internet, and save that cash rather than blowing it visiting
all the countries - some of our colleagues spend crazy amounts doing so. In return, I try to provide maximum benefit to our bosses, the U.S. taxpayers.
Meanwhile, we own a house in the HCOL Washington, D.C. area, which we bought long ago and rent out for approximately 2x our PI mortgage costs. Fortunately, our tenants take great care of the property.
When we lived in Europe, we eschewed a car in favor or public transit, biking, and trains, though we did rent or borrow vehicles when we needed them. In other countries, we always bought vehicles adapted to the local conditions to make resale easier and minimize depreciation.
We do lots of cooking and baking at home in lieu of eating out. We love to hike and take long weekend walks, often with groups of friends, which provides health and social benefits while keeping costs low.
In short, we save heavily on the big three expenses, and one of them provides net income.
