Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

What have you saved money by doing yourself?

112 replies

ThisPlumShark · 21/03/2025 15:58

Painting

OP posts:
Hollyhocksandlarkspur · 21/03/2025 22:10

Beesandhoney123would love to know how to make own dog food please. Fantastic list of skills.

DH really good at finding a sprocket for £1on internet and saving hundreds on appliance writeoffs/repairs. Just stares then takes apart, looks at Youtube or sorts in his brain and does it. Repairs to cars. Also built a beautiful garden room and learnt to groom dog.

We always cook from scratch, host homemade parties, make birthday cakes, paint walls, make own cards and gifts, make own cleaning things, grow fruit veg and herbs, do swaps with friends where unwanted things shared out or things borrowed for occasions eg catering stuff, tools.

Would love to be better at mending but always end up unpicking if I use machine🙄

Em1ly2023 · 21/03/2025 22:11

ThisPlumShark · 21/03/2025 15:58

Painting

Did you just look at YouTube videos? Would love to do this :)

Em1ly2023 · 21/03/2025 22:12

ZiggyZowie · 21/03/2025 17:08

Don't drink,don't smoke,don't get takeaways, don't go on holidays,don't buy new cars, don't buy clothes,don't buy toiletries or makeup,don't buy furnishings

What do you spend your money on/ enjoy to do?

LemonLass · 21/03/2025 22:24

Bologneselove · 21/03/2025 16:41

Dog grooming for my 3 dogs was costing loads so I did a day’s course and bought the things I need to be able to groom them myself. They look great and it’s nice knowing I’ve saved £100 each time they’re cut.

Where did you find the course, pls, @Bologneselove? I have been thinking that this might make sense for my dog

iamnotalemon · 21/03/2025 22:35

I do my own cleaning (I would love a cleaner but can’t justify it) and give myself a DIY pedicure.

HowAmYa · 21/03/2025 22:51

TickingAlongNicely · 21/03/2025 16:20

We built the garden office ourselbes. nstead of paying the company to do it. Halved the price.

omg can you share? DP and I were looking at doing one this year and we have been shocked by the prices. I’d happily diy it!

crackofdoom · 21/03/2025 23:00

I converted my van into a (simple) camper, enabling a warm glow of smugness every time there's a MN discussion about the massive price of camper vans.

I laid my own engineered wood floor, which looks lovely although I never got round to putting the edging trim around the fiddly bits, and that was about 8 years ago 😳

TickingAlongNicely · 21/03/2025 23:03

HowAmYa · 21/03/2025 22:51

omg can you share? DP and I were looking at doing one this year and we have been shocked by the prices. I’d happily diy it!

It was basically a giant flat pack! But it has taken a few days (spread over a few weekends). First weekend was the outer walls and roof, then the inner walls and sealing everything, then the floor. Currently on the painting then we've still got the electrics and plumbing to sort (plumbing as its needed for our business), plus the kitting out. Its been hard work. Fortunately our teenager has been very keen and she's learnt a lot of DIY.

We are lucky we already had the foundation as it replaced an old shed... weve put in the foundations for a shed before and that is messy as we as hard physical labour.

Semiramide · 21/03/2025 23:06

AtrociousCircumstance · 21/03/2025 16:16

@scandalito Recipes and advice please 🙏🏼 - we need to do this! Often takeaways are so disappointing and crazily expensive.

Curries with Bumbi - she has lots of recipes on YouTube and I like her calm style:

DiscoBeat · 21/03/2025 23:11

InterestQ · 21/03/2025 17:08

Tinting my own eyebrows. It’s literally not worth going to the eyebrow lady. Total waste of my time to schlep over there. I keep my brow shape myself and I now only get her to do the lash lift.

The Eyebrow Lady 🤣

CarpetKnees · 21/03/2025 23:31

When I was first a home owner, I did all my own decorating and DIY. Fortunately I can now afford to get someone with better skills than me in to do it.

I cut ds's hair for years.

I always mend / alter clothes rather than chucking out.
We made it a tradition that whoever's birthday it was got to choose and make their own cake Grin. Must have saved ££££ over the years just helping small dc to make a sprinkle covered chocolate sandwich cake rather than ordering a fany one.

Nannyfannybanny · 22/03/2025 06:58

Bignanna,it wasn't all just to save money... when we have had "experts" in, for instance to service the boiler,new windows, and doors, inspite of the fact we checked references, spoke to neighbours about who was good,there was always issues, some serious. In our last house we had a baxi back boiler behind the gas fire, the bloke BG,left the core plug out, the water in the loft tank overheated and bubbled over! Last bloke only removed the front panel and vacuumed,(3 long haired dogs) I did 6 weeks evening classes at the local college, basic plumbing.Only "issue" with all the DIY,was DH only retired 2 years ago,so I had to live for months in a partial building site. We also replaced the fence,200ft of garden,it cost several thousand doing it ourselves. The old posts had rotted at ground level,so he had to drill each one out (sort of hammer drill, like a small kango) it took about 4 hours each time,so a year to do the fence overall. We erected the shed,2 greenhouses. He buys the correct tools, pressure washer etc, does the conservatory roof every 6 weeks (we live near the sea🤣) course I do my own nails! We have a proper hair kit, I do his, I wouldn't let him cut mine....I have mine done every 2 months,a gals gotta have a treat.

TheTallgiraffe · 22/03/2025 07:23

Loubylie · 21/03/2025 16:12

Cancelled Disneyplus and do nightly puppet shows.

Please could you let us know how you made the puppets?

CouchSpud · 22/03/2025 07:27

DingDingRound3 · 21/03/2025 16:06

I haven’t, I work more and pay other people as my time is usually worth more than theirs.

This makes no sense because your time is spent working more

Sunpeace · 22/03/2025 07:28

I hate having people in our house and would rather spend money on other things so we do as much as possible ourselves in terms of DIY and wouldn't want a cleaner/gardener.
I do my own nails, brows, hair colour, facial etc but pay for haircuts and the occasional massage

m4rky1985 · 22/03/2025 07:30

If I can do it myself and to a good standard then I'll do it myself!

I'd never touch anything like major electrical work / anything to do with gas or plastering however decorating / painting etc I'm good at so will do it myself and with the knowledge of knowing I've done a good job as its my house and I want it to look right/good.

Also things like washing the cars etc I'll do myself - again as I know I'll do a proper job and use proper equipment / clean wash mitts etc - I know some of my neighbours pay £25 a fortnight per car for a quick wash/showroom shine and in the warmer months its actually quite enjoyable doing it myself.

ehb102 · 22/03/2025 07:41

Cooking and baking.

AChickenPooAndABiscuit · 22/03/2025 07:41

Bologneselove · 21/03/2025 16:41

Dog grooming for my 3 dogs was costing loads so I did a day’s course and bought the things I need to be able to groom them myself. They look great and it’s nice knowing I’ve saved £100 each time they’re cut.

We started grooming our Bichon through necessity (Covid) and we never stopped! We really enjoy it now and it does save a fortune once you’ve got the clippers and stuff Smile

Thisbastardcomputer · 22/03/2025 07:55

Using washing powder instead of plastic tabs or liquid, the clothes are cleaner and the washer doesn’t stink

Soontobe60 · 22/03/2025 08:00

BiscuitTheft · 21/03/2025 16:44

I recently asked some advice on the Housekeeping thread and saved £££ by carefully washing some huge “dry clean only” curtains.

Oooh I commented on that - glad to see the machine washing worked!

Soontobe60 · 22/03/2025 08:01

CouchSpud · 22/03/2025 07:27

This makes no sense because your time is spent working more

If you earn £50 an hour and pay someone £25 an hour, then it does work!

ladymammalade · 22/03/2025 08:08

Cooking - I never buy ready made anything, I batch cook.
Painting/Decorating
Tiling
that’s about it!

F1rugby23 · 22/03/2025 08:29

Painting, cooking from scratch (mostly!), make proper coffee at home, making packed lunches, make birthday cakes, husband cuts all our hair, dye my own eyebrows, do my own nails. We would never employ a cleaner or gardener (that's a lie I would if I could afford it!). I also book holidays by booking flights and accommodation separately to get best deals. We used to use eurocamp sites by booking direct and taking a tent. Husband does lots of DIY and car repair where he can.

kandland · 22/03/2025 08:52

Childcare
Eyebrows
Nails
Haircuts
Hair dyeing
Hair removal
Tutoring
Window cleaning
Handyman jobs
Simple appliance repairs
Cleaning
Laundry
Fitness and nutrition
Decorating
Travel (no taxis)
Self-therapy

DingDingRound3 · 22/03/2025 10:22

CouchSpud · 22/03/2025 07:27

This makes no sense because your time is spent working more

Well it does make sense if I enjoy my work more than:

painting
any DIY
shopping (I pay a stylist)
cleaning the house/ windows
gardening
ironing

The only thing I do that I could outsource is cooking. I like cooking and I won't eat the traditional outsourced stuff - pre-prepared meals. So I don't work in the period of meal prep. We could have a house keeper, but it doubles up as time I'm around with my teens. They might be doing homework, but I'm on hand.

I did cut my hours to do childcare when my kids were little. Not to save money, but to spend time with my kids.

To me my most profitable time is working so the time I spend not working is spent doing stuff I want to do. I'm very lucky in that I like my work, and it's well paid,