How to Fix things around the house yourself and save a TON of money!

This post is written by Mommy Mae (Jaime), mom of 3, college student and money conscious who is happy to share these ideas with you 🙂

If I could pick one thing that has saved me more money this year than anything else, it is doing things myself. Thankfully, I happen to be very mechanically inclined and pretty tech-savvy so this comes sort of naturally to me. That being said, you can find instructions and how-tos online that range from simple written instructions to full-blown step-by-step videos for pretty much everything you need to do around your house. Since I have gotten married, I have:

-Changed a snapped clothes dryer belt

-Changed a snapped washing machine belt

-Fixed the dryer heating element

-Changed the fuel filter in our Toyota

-Replaced the headlight on one car, and the taillight on the other

-Taken apart our computers for regular dusting

-Fixed holes in walls and painted

-Repaired stuffed animals, broken buttons, holes in clothing, broken shoe straps, and a variety of other things that require sewing

-Designed our site, along with learning how to make buttons for our events

To give you an idea of just how much you can save, I will take our biggest saver: the Toyota’s Fuel Filter. We towed the car to the dealership and had them tell us we needed a fuel filter. The part plus labor would have costed us almost $1000…A lower estimate came in from a mechanic nearby with a military discount – if we bought the part, they would put it in which would have still cost us over $500. So, with the thought that we couldn’t possibly make the car worse, I ordered the part with a coupon code from an auto part store and got it for $120. While I waited for the part to come in, I spent the next week researching how to replace it. We got lucky, with Toyotas you can get to the fuel filter from beneath the back seat without having to go under the car. So my husband and I replaced the fuel filter in about an hour and a half and saved ourselves a cool $400+ and our car was working perfect. With the above list, I have saved us thousands of dollars, and learned valuable skills that have helped us in our next crisis. We don’t always have the money to have someone charge us an arm and a leg to fix something that second. But with some research, you can save yourself megabucks by just putting a little faith in old fashioned labor!

What are some ways that you save money fixing things around the house?