What skill have you learned that's still paying off?

[Mikaelus]

I was having an argument with a friend the other day, trying to explain that DIY/learning a skill is better than paying someone to do something for you.

MMM has written about this (can't find the blog post), and points out that once you've learnt a skill it pays off forever. For example instead of hiring a plumber three or four times a year, I can do a course on plumbing and then every year I'm saving money on hiring a plumber.

When I was arguing with my friend I gave him the example of mowing my own lawn (it keeps me fit, saves me money on hiring a gardener, etc.), but he still thinks I'd be better off using that time making money and hiring someone else to do it.

Has anyone got a better example from your life to illustrate this idea?

Do you have a personal story of when learning a skill has been much more rewarding in the long run than hiring someone?

[LouisPritchard]

Well I hate mowing my own grass and pay for that (yeah not very mustachian).

For skills, I collected trades during my high school summers. 3 months of electrical has paid lots as far as replacing switches, light fixtures and stuff like that.
I also spent about a year painting while going to college at night.

That by far has been the biggest money saver since I got married, as I can cut a room tapeless and roll it by the time most people can get the tape in place. Also learned how to properly tape/mud/finish drywall and do faux finishes during that time as well.

Picked up a lot of mechanic stuff along the way too out of necessity of owning old crappy cars and being broke. I won't work on newer vehicles but do all my own maintenance, including a recent engine swap on my hunting/fishing truck. That saved me about $2K in labor compared to the local auto shop.

Next I want to buy a older house and really learn finish carpentry. Though I'm betting you can buy premade cabinets at home depot for less than the material to build them. But seeing as how I can do all my own flooring/painting/drywall/plumbing/electrical. I should be able to renovate while living there and flip it after a few years and do it again.

I also picked up a lot of gunsmithing, comes in really handy if you shoot competitively.
PC repair/electronics/soldering has also paid the bills in the past and saved money by being able to repair our computers, small appliances, and power tools.

[warfreak2]

Cooking. Cooking, cooking, cooking.

Cooking.

[Hedge_87]

In high school we had an awesome vo/ag program where you could learn everything from welding to horticulture.  Since I was not interested in the "traditional" class room stuff when I was that age I made sure to pick plenty of classes out there. During my day job I would have to say that my basic knowledge in welding / metal fab comes in at the top. During the evening I would have to say its my building trades skills I learned from high school and a little bit I picked up from my dad. I pick this because we just got done doing a three year flip on the house we lived in and made ~30% profit.

[lizzzi]

Cooking, sewing, typing, and nurse's aide skills. While not in the least trendy or fashionable, these have been invaluable in real life. Also, learning to read music. And being able to do interior painting. I've been astonished at how many people cannot paint their rooms, and hire professionals to do it. From the time I was a kid, my parents always involved us in the painting. (Yes, their home-grown slave labor, lol.) I can train dogs and care for and ride horses, too, although I have not used those skills for a while.

[gt7152b]

Your friend's argument is a good one to a certain degree. Let's say you get paid by the hour and you can work as many hours as you want. Let's also assume you love your job and hate menial chores. If you get paid more per hour than the service you're paying for then that is a great strategy. In my case, I get paid a salary so working extra hours won't get me more money unless I'm angling for raises/promotions. I've found that getting great quality work done during a 40hour week is just as impressive to most people but I'm an engineer working with other engineers so we are very results oriented. Everything I DIY is a great side income that I can't replace by working more hours.

Even though I make a great salary I've often calculated how much I'd have to pay a plumber, painter, mechanic, cook at a restaurant, etc. to do the job for me and I usually have to pay more per hour than I make. If I did get paid hourly I would take off time to perform these jobs if necessary. If I got paid more per hour than I paid for services I still would choose to do some things myself just to break up the monotony of doing the same thing hour after hour, day after day. I get enjoyment from my job but I also get enjoyment and satisfaction from DIY projects and just being as self sufficient as possible. I think your friend just enjoys their job much more than DIY projects which works great for him. Just point out that he should make a per hour calculation for every service and compare to his own hourly wage. It can be pretty surprising.

Another thing to think about is quality of the work done. After a little practice I can usually perform better quality work than a pro because I take more time and care with something that I will have to deal with on a daily basis in the future. The pro never has to see it again unless you call to complain. There are some high quality professional service people out there but they usually command a premium price. I learned to work on my cars because I never found a competent mechanic that gave 2 blinks about my vehicles. In the process, I discovered that I'm damn good at it and enjoy it immensely. I have to be careful not to spend too much replacing parts because I like to tinker so much.

[Theadyn]

Doing my own and others hair over the years has paid off big time.  Got to go to school for free (they were desperate for students), was in business doing it for 9 years, and have been using said skills for 13 years after getting out of the business.  Think I've actually gotten someone else to cut my hair twice in the past 22 years, and one of those times I had a broken wrist with external fixator.  The other time, the hair was just too long.  My late hubby didn't pay for a haircut in the 11 years we were together.  My daughter went to others when it was the 'it' thing to do in high school (and then I would have to fix it anyways, lol).

Taught myself to cook, started doing it since grade school.  Sewing.  Painting.  Sooo many more things out there I want to learn!

[electriceagle]

Your friend's argument is a good one to a certain degree. Let's say you get paid by the hour and you can work as many hours as you want. Let's also assume you love your job and hate menial chores. If you get paid more per hour than the service you're paying for then that is a great strategy. In my case, I get paid a salary so working extra hours won't get me more money unless I'm angling for raises/promotions. I've found that getting great quality work done during a 40hour week is just as impressive to most people but I'm an engineer working with other engineers so we are very results oriented. Everything I DIY is a great side income that I can't replace by working more hours.

What about taxes?

Suppose that both you and the plumber pay a net 33% tax rate and there is a plumbing job that the plumber is willing to do for $200 of real income.

For the plumber to end up with $200 of income, you have to give him $300.

For you to give him $300, you have to earn $454.

You don't have to be as good/efficient as the plumber for DIY to make sense. You just have to be half as good. Consider that your skills will improve as you use them and it often (not always, you budding open heart surgeons!) makes sense to learn skills instead of hiring a professional.

[warfreak2]

For the plumber to end up with $200 of income, you have to give him $300.

For you to give him $300, you have to earn $454.

This is a good point, but you should only apply the tax rate once. Your options are earning an extra $450 to pay $300 to the plumber, or doing it yourself. Also, you have to count employer pension contributions, and other perks proportional to your pay, if applicable.

[frugalnacho]

Your friend's argument is a good one to a certain degree. Let's say you get paid by the hour and you can work as many hours as you want. Let's also assume you love your job and hate menial chores. If you get paid more per hour than the service you're paying for then that is a great strategy. In my case, I get paid a salary so working extra hours won't get me more money unless I'm angling for raises/promotions. I've found that getting great quality work done during a 40hour week is just as impressive to most people but I'm an engineer working with other engineers so we are very results oriented. Everything I DIY is a great side income that I can't replace by working more hours.

Even though I make a great salary I've often calculated how much I'd have to pay a plumber, painter, mechanic, cook at a restaurant, etc. to do the job for me and I usually have to pay more per hour than I make. If I did get paid hourly I would take off time to perform these jobs if necessary. If I got paid more per hour than I paid for services I still would choose to do some things myself just to break up the monotony of doing the same thing hour after hour, day after day. I get enjoyment from my job but I also get enjoyment and satisfaction from DIY projects and just being as self sufficient as possible. I think your friend just enjoys their job much more than DIY projects which works great for him. Just point out that he should make a per hour calculation for every service and compare to his own hourly wage. It can be pretty surprising.

Another thing to think about is quality of the work done. After a little practice I can usually perform better quality work than a pro because I take more time and care with something that I will have to deal with on a daily basis in the future. The pro never has to see it again unless you call to complain. There are some high quality professional service people out there but they usually command a premium price. I learned to work on my cars because I never found a competent mechanic that gave 2 blinks about my vehicles. In the process, I discovered that I'm damn good at it and enjoy it immensely. I have to be careful not to spend too much replacing parts because I like to tinker so much.

But those skills pay dividends too.  It might cost cost me 12 hours of my time to fix a plumbing issue when I could have just paid $200 of after tax money to a plumber to fix.   But what about the next time the issue comes up?  If I rely on the plumber every time, now I have to continue to rely on the plumber.  If I have the plumbing knowledge to fix it myself each further repair is going to save me more and more money.  I don't think it makes much sense to consider each case as an isolated incident when your previous actions will affect that equation in your favor every time it comes up in the future.

[Rural]

Your friend's argument is a good one to a certain degree. Let's say you get paid by the hour and you can work as many hours as you want. Let's also assume you love your job and hate menial chores. If you get paid more per hour than the service you're paying for then that is a great strategy. In my case, I get paid a salary so working extra hours won't get me more money unless I'm angling for raises/promotions. I've found that getting great quality work done during a 40hour week is just as impressive to most people but I'm an engineer working with other engineers so we are very results oriented. Everything I DIY is a great side income that I can't replace by working more hours.

Even though I make a great salary I've often calculated how much I'd have to pay a plumber, painter, mechanic, cook at a restaurant, etc. to do the job for me and I usually have to pay more per hour than I make. If I did get paid hourly I would take off time to perform these jobs if necessary. If I got paid more per hour than I paid for services I still would choose to do some things myself just to break up the monotony of doing the same thing hour after hour, day after day. I get enjoyment from my job but I also get enjoyment and satisfaction from DIY projects and just being as self sufficient as possible. I think your friend just enjoys their job much more than DIY projects which works great for him. Just point out that he should make a per hour calculation for every service and compare to his own hourly wage. It can be pretty surprising.

Another thing to think about is quality of the work done. After a little practice I can usually perform better quality work than a pro because I take more time and care with something that I will have to deal with on a daily basis in the future. The pro never has to see it again unless you call to complain. There are some high quality professional service people out there but they usually command a premium price. I learned to work on my cars because I never found a competent mechanic that gave 2 blinks about my vehicles. In the process, I discovered that I'm damn good at it and enjoy it immensely. I have to be careful not to spend too much replacing parts because I like to tinker so much.

But those skills pay dividends too.  It might cost cost me 12 hours of my time to fix a plumbing issue when I could have just paid $200 of after tax money to a plumber to fix.   But what about the next time the issue comes up?  If I rely on the plumber every time, now I have to continue to rely on the plumber.  If I have the plumbing knowledge to fix it myself each further repair is going to save me more and more money.  I don't think it makes much sense to consider each case as an isolated incident when your previous actions will affect that equation in your favor every time it comes up in the future.

...and it doesn't have to be singlular skills, either. It's cumulative. The first time my husband tore out a bathroom that was rotting (at age 17) and rebuilt it took a lot longer and was probably not as well-done as a prfessionial's  work would have been, though it saved his grandmother a lot of money. But that gave him the confidence to learn other skills, which built over a lifetime. End result is us now, sitting in a house he built, in which we have invested under $80k, but which would have cost us at least five times that, likely more, to have someone else build.

[Paul der Krake]

Systematically tackling problems yourself, regarding of the issue, pays dividends that are not easily quantifiable ON TOP OF the quantifiable dividends inherent to learning that particular trade. Think of it as a "badass currency", it's very illiquid but it's still there. Well, unless you become so defiantly independent that never delegating becomes a hindrance, or you do something stupid and injure yourself.

[TrMama]

Learning to fix my dishwasher took about 30 min of searching for and watching YouTube videos. I've fixed it once and now have both the skills and confidence to tackle it again, or do a different repair.

Cooking and meal planning are also super valuable skills. Sewing, painting and languages are other really rewarding skills.

[ketchup]

Cooking and automobile maintenance/repair are the big ones for me.  Both will pay off forever.

[Eric]

Why, riding a bike of course!

[Grant Q]

Maintaining and repairing all my own shit.  House, car, bikes, computers, appliances, even my old iphone before I switched to Republic.  There's a youtube video or writeup online with step-by-step repair instructions for pretty much anything that breaks.

[Emilyngh]

-financial planning and management
-cutting my family's hair
-cooking
-gardening
-repairing and maintaining clothes (with help from my dear sweater stone)
-using the internet to find recipes and DIY solutions
-making our own cleaning and beauty products
-our own yard work
-diy home decor projects (making decorative things, but also painting, making and refinishing furniture, etc)
-inexpensive party planning and entertaining
-basic house maintenance and repair
-car maintenance and repair (with help from my dear DH)
-selling unused things online

[RyanAtTanagra]

People also underestimate the time involved in finding someone to do a job, scheduling it, and waiting for them.  A coworker had a nail in his front tire, which is amazingly easy to fix once you know how to plug a tire.  I offered to show him but he said he was just going to take it in.  That trip back and forth and waiting probably took 45 minutes and cost $20, but once you have a tire plug kit (about $10 from any auto store), it's a 2 minute job.

I'd say basic car maintenance has been the biggest for me, and even more so with motorcycles.  Motorcycle work is usually very expensive and can quickly turn a mustachian vehicle into non-mustachian, but they are very easy to work on yourself once you start to learn a bit.

[Emilyngh]

People also underestimate the time involved in finding someone to do a job, scheduling it, and waiting for them.  A coworker had a nail in his front tire, which is amazingly easy to fix once you know how to plug a tire.  I offered to show him but he said he was just going to take it in.  That trip back and forth and waiting probably took 45 minutes and cost $20, but once you have a tire plug kit (about $10 from any auto store), it's a 2 minute job.

I'd say basic car maintenance has been the biggest for me, and even more so with motorcycles.  Motorcycle work is usually very expensive and can quickly turn a mustachian vehicle into non-mustachian, but they are very easy to work on yourself once you start to learn a bit.

This is a good point.   Eg., according to time surveys your av American spends 45 min everyday (averaged over weekends and weekdays) shopping.    This is a ton of our lives, and I think of it when I feel like gardening is a PITA.   By doing things like gardening, buying fewer things, making things, etc, I'm saving much of this shopping time.   I think of it too when someone tells me that spending  5 min every month making my own body and lip balms sounds like too much work, people neglect the time they spend thinking about what they need from stores, when they're going, driving, shopping, and earning the money to buy the alternatives. 

[ivyhedge]

I'd say basic car maintenance has been the biggest for me, and even more so with motorcycles.  Motorcycle work is usually very expensive and can quickly turn a mustachian vehicle into non-mustachian, but they are very easy to work on yourself once you start to learn a bit.

^Agreed. And then we sold the car. Booyah!

[WhoopWhoop]

cooking - Learning this has increased my confidence, taught me how to make substitutions, and has made me so flexible it's ridiculous. I think I'm gonna have another $3 grocery store run this week as a result.

financial knowledge - I had a job in this field for a brief minute, and as a result I can completely man-handle financial services people now. I know how to look for the information they're hiding under their polite manners and big smiles. Sweet! That'll last a lifetime.

[lifejoy]

My parents put up their own wallpaper. The part where the pattern is a little crooked is my favourite - a testament to their DIY attitude :) I think too many people seek perfection and will pay through the nose to get it!


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[AH013]

Auto maintenance. Paid for many times over by eschewing a "15,000 mile gold service" to the tune of $200 with a standard $20 oil change and plopping in my own $10 air filter, $8 wiper blades and $10 cabin filter.  And colleagues still swear by how the "convenience" of leaving a car at the mechanic or waiting 2 hours for service is better than the 10 minutes it takes to do all the above.  Handling your own roadside assistance is amazing and also much quicker than waiting for the AAA everyone seems to be happy to pay $75/yr for.

Cooking

Computer repair (virus removal, speed tweaks, file management, etc)

Personal financial planning though probably takes the cake. If you're like most and need even a modest $500k - $1M for retirement, the standard 1% fee on that is $5-10k a year you don't pay out for someone to handle your money affairs.  Plus you know you'll never be screwed.

Hoping to learn many more.

[No Name Guy]

Math.

Pays at work.  Pays when figuring out investments.  Pays to allow understanding of the shocking simple math of ER.

[eil]

Anyone claiming that their time is more valuable than what they pay someone to do a relatively straightforward DIY job either makes a million bucks a year or is stupid.

It's not like you would knock off early at your hourly paying job to go mow the lawn or patch some drywall. Most employers are not cool with that anyway. The argument doesn't hold for salary workers because presumably their time is flexible or they at least have set hours. Ditto for the self-employed. (And yes, I have no sympathy for the 80-hour salaried workaholics.)

We're talking about things you tackle on the weekend or in the evening, when most consumers are making negative dollar amounts because they're too busy watching cable TV or hooning about in their clown cars.

[Hotstreak]

For me, doing my own repairs has paid off huge!  I have recently replaced a badly scratched camera lens cover on my phone for $5 (instead of $50), purchased my own windshield wiper instead of having someone else replace it ($10 instead of who knows how much), installed new belt/tensioner/support wheels on my dryer ($15 instead of $75+), and replaced a water pump on my washing machine ($10 instead of $75+).  I also cook almost all my own food (immeasurably large savings), including fancy dinners ($20 for ingredients instead of $60+ at a nice place).  I glued a chair together that had fallen apart ($5 worth of glue I can use many times, instead of $100+ for a new set of chairs) and have done a LOT of basic plumbing and electric, mostly fixing switches, cleaning and maintaining electronics instead of buying new, and installing my own shower heads in my apartment (really this one cost me money, but having the shower head 7 feet up is pretty dang nice!).

For me the biggest thing benefit is the pride walking around my home and knowing that I can take care of the things I use.  Being self-reliant on lots of the basics gives me a lot of confidence that I'll be all right if something stops working, and lets me customize things to exactly how I want them.  Now that I've mastered a few of the basics I know I can always learn more, and when I move out of this apartment and in to a house I know I can do minor renovations, upgrades, and earthmoving on my own.  The money comes in to play when I see friends spending for that stuff, or being worried they may need some basic repairs done and keeping money put aside for that stuff, while I can put mine to work making more money instead!

[frompa]

Well, yes, cooking of course.  And then, there's baking one's own bread.  And fixing one's own bicycle.  And learning masonry to build the oven to cook one's own food and bake one's own bread.  And figuring out how to use one's bike to grind the grain for the bread.  (Okay, that one I'm still working on, but it's in my sights.)  And just getting at some point that all of it, and I mean ALL OF IT, is shit we can do ourselves.  Having the confidence to take on everything ourselves without having to throw infinite $$ at everything is the ultimate goal and the ultimate skill. WaHOO, it is awesome.

[Zamboni]

This is by far the most important one:  negotiating. 
Just about everything is negotiable if you ask.  People are afraid to ask for more pay, price discounts, and all kinds of other things in the US (studies show that especially women are afraid to ask for things.)  Figure out how something can be a win-win and then ASK for what you want!  Heck, ask for more than you want!  Get used to hearing no, in fact spend some time practicing asking for more than you think is reasonable so you'll get used to it and learn how to accept it graciously (do this in low stakes settings for you where getting nothing is okay/not damaging to relationship), but you'll be surprise how often you'll hear yes.  If no is not an okay answer, then say you'd like to come back to it later and then do try again another time!  This is by far the most profitable skill I have developed.

Others:
Public speaking using graphics.
Recording and editing professional looking video.
Repairing clothing (seams, sewing on buttons).
Growing food.
Typing really fast (thanks, MOM, for recommending that class in junior high!)
Cooking, mowing, and all of that.

[Stagleton]

I was having an argument with a friend the other day, trying to explain that DIY/learning a skill is better than paying someone to do something for you.

MMM has written about this (can't find the blog post), and points out that once you've learnt a skill it pays off forever. For example instead of hiring a plumber three or four times a year, I can do a course on plumbing and then every year I'm saving money on hiring a plumber.

When I was arguing with my friend I gave him the example of mowing my own lawn (it keeps me fit, saves me money on hiring a gardener, etc.), but he still thinks I'd be better off using that time making money and hiring someone else to do it.

Has anyone got a better example from your life to illustrate this idea?

Do you have a personal story of when learning a skill has been much more rewarding in the long run than hiring someone?

jeez, sounds like everyone I grew up with. That's one of the problems with the US; too much division of labor; "I push paper and that guy fixes my toilet". The irony is the plumber making just as much/more than someone who has a job which requires a college education.

Anyway, I disagree with both of you; a lawn is a waste of space and bad for the environment. Move to an apartment block

[stevesteve]

Excel.  I've gotten a number of side jobs that basically amounted to using vlookup or index/match and people thinking I was a wizard that I could do what was taking them dozens of hours quickly.  It really is amazing how being able to type into a cell passes for knowing excel and being able to do a sum passes for expertise.  If you express interest and people know you're quick they will give you money for pretty easy work.

Then of course there are the numerous around-the-home skills that save money.

[1967mama]

For me, its definitely been cooking. When I was first married, I had NO IDEA how to cook a thing. Now, after 20+ years of marriage and several children, this one skill probably saves us thousands of dollars a year. Even tonight, though sorely tempted to order in pizza, I knew I'd enjoy the taste (and price) of my own sooooo much more.

The advent of the internet saves me a lot of money on recipe books, too!  Now I just keep a few classics around that I picked up for pennies on the dollar at thrift stores.

[Lyssa]

Enough math to know bad financial advice when I see it, cooking, some sewing, typing, negotiation strategies and tactics.

Still to learn:
- home repair skills
- more sewing
- gardening (postponed until we have a garden)

[Mrs. Frugalwoods]

My parents put up their own wallpaper. The part where the pattern is a little crooked is my favourite - a testament to their DIY attitude :) I think too many people seek perfection and will pay through the nose to get it!


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Hah! Yes! We do pretty much everything ourselves (as many others here do): financial planning, investing, taxes, cooking, cleaning, haircuts, home repair/upgrades, bike & car maintenance, sewing/clothes repair, dog care, we even create our own entertainment!

We apply an 80/20 rule to all of this, because we're not experts in any one of these areas, but we've taught ourselves to be good enough. So we say, if something is 80% better/improved, don't worry about the other 20%. This helps us tackle new projects because we're not aiming for perfection.

[Hedge_87]

This helps us tackle new projects because we're not aiming for perfection.

I apply a different theory atleast on the construction side of things. I realize none of my projects will ever come out perfect however I strive for perfection on these projects. I have one of those grandfather's that is full of little "sayings". In regards to carpentry projects his favorite is, "if you shoot for perfection you will typically get good enough. If you shoot for good enough you will get firewood."

[Paul der Krake]

Home maintenance skill: painting.

Buy quality paint, both base coat and regular coat, sand the walls really well between each coat to smooth things over, and be patient. Anyone with a couple of hours and a few hundreds in materials can get a professional grade result for a fraction of the price.

[Punchingat50]

CNC Machining. People always need things made custom; especially car guys.

Of course start up costs are a bit high but it's like a license to print money once you get known.

[rocketpj]

Cooking.
Public speaking.  This one doesn't bother me at all, I always find myself enjoying it.
Writing.
And of course, COOKING.

Cooking pays off financially, emotionally and in quality of life very quickly.  As a young fellow who was a decent cook I stood out, it was a big part my wife's initial attraction to me (that and living on a boat). 

[ketchup]

CNC Machining. People always need things made custom; especially car guys.

Of course start up costs are a bit high but it's like a license to print money once you get known.

This is something I've always thought was super-awesome.  How did you get started with CNC machining?

[Conjou]

Why, riding a bike of course!

+1

And then I'd add cutting my own hair, carpentry skills, and fixing said bike.

[Mikaelus]

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback.

So many people mentioned cooking - yeah! I hadn't even thought of that, but you're so right!

[PDXgrl]

Um... does "looking it up on the internet" count as a skill?
I've leaned how to fix my washing machine, basic carpentry, how to reupholster chairs, gardening tips, etc. thanks to the power of the internet!

Of course the results aren't always fantastic, but it's fun to try it myself first. I figure I can always call in an expert later if needed. haha!

[Hedge_87]

Um... does "looking it up on the internet" count as a skill?

Um.... absolutely it does! I had to learn this too once I moved away from my home town and didn't have dear old dad to come show me how to something (he's not very good at explaining things over the phone.)

[ChrisLansing]

I'll apologize ahead of time for slightly hijacking the thread, but -

I keep seeing painting and wallpaper listed as skills that keep paying off.     I was a professional painter/wallpaper hanger for 15 years.   I'm doing other things now, but I'm wondering if it would be a good idea for me to make a website detailing the professional methods and techniques so people can do very nearly professional quality work.   Some things, like cutting in at the ceiling line require practice, but many things don't; such as installing the roller cover the right way on the roller frame.    Would such a website be able to make a little money?   

[Mrs. Frugalwoods]

I'll apologize ahead of time for slightly hijacking the thread, but -

I keep seeing painting and wallpaper listed as skills that keep paying off.     I was a professional painter/wallpaper hanger for 15 years.   I'm doing other things now, but I'm wondering if it would be a good idea for me to make a website detailing the professional methods and techniques so people can do very nearly professional quality work.   Some things, like cutting in at the ceiling line require practice, but many things don't; such as installing the roller cover the right way on the roller frame.    Would such a website be able to make a little money?

Good idea! Not sure if it would make you money right away, but I'd certainly read it! I'm always cobbling together sources to inform our projects. This Old House does a great job, for example, but their site is difficult to navigate and has tons of annoying flash features. Clear, concise, well-written steps from a pro would be welcome by a DIY-er like me! I've blogged about a few of the projects we've done, but there was certainly a lot of trial and error before we got to our finished product--I only knew all the steps AFTER we were finished.

[dadu007]

Typing. An invaluable skill learned as a sophomore in high school. Now known as "keyboarding."