Money Saving Tip: DIY (Do It Yourself)

I think it would be safe to say that we live in a country that LOVES convenience.  Fast food restaurants, frozen ready made meals, internet two day shipping are to name a few of the conveniences that are offered.  There is nothing wrong with convenience items or services, but it's important to note that you do pay for that convenience.  

This topic is very relevant to me today as I just got decided that I will be hand making my own meat and cheese tray for Addy's birthday party.  We are serving a light lunch of sandwiches on croissants and when I called the grocery store to order a meat tray I nearly fell on the floor.  It was going to cost me $39.99 for a meat and cheese tray to feed 12 (the smallest size tray available).  

The grocery stores have every right to charge that much - they spend all the time rolling, cutting and making the tray look beautiful and all you have to do is pick it up.  As much as I would like to just drop the $40, it really isn't realistic for our budget right now, so I decided that I am going to buy all the good meat and cheese and spend time cutting it and rolling it myself.   I'll post later on the actual savings.

This is just one example of how Doing It Yourself (DIY) can save you lots of money.  

That being said, I feel like I should emphasize that not all projects are cheaper if you do them yourself.  You need to carefully analyze if it truly is cheaper dollar wise, and if it's worth the time in you putting it together.  

For some, it would make more sense to just buy the meat tray, because you know you'll have no time to do it yourself and you have room in the budget.  Because our budget is a bit tighter I will budget the time to save the money. 

Some other ways you may want to consider DIY-ing (if you aren't already):

-Lawn Care

-House Cleaning

-Making a cake for a birthday instead of buying

-Cooking dinner instead of take-out

-Cooking from scratch instead of boxed/frozen meals

-Making a shelf instead of buying one

-Making your own bread (we make Italian bread sticks for super cheap instead of buying rolls and they are amazing!!)

-Cooking and freezing dried beans in can sized portions instead of buying canned beans.

-Haircuts (this works much better for men/boys than girls)

-Small home repairs 

Really the list is endless.  Jon and I saw something we wanted to buy online this week and he ended up making it for free because we had all the materials.  If we would have bought, it would have cost us $70 and shipping!

Again, you always need to evaluate if the time is worth the savings to you!!  For example, I have come to the realization that making clothes is NOT cheaper than buying if you are awesome at shopping sales.  Addy's birthday dress cost me about the same amount as her adorable dresses I recently bought on clearance at Macy's.  It also took me 3 hours to make.  I didn't care about the time or money factor because it was a gift and I really wanted to do it, but it would be ridiculous for me to start making all of her clothes when I can buy them cheaper and use my time for other things.

What are some creative ways or things you DIY??