Do It Yourself

I was reading an article titled How to do everything yourself on March 23rd and came to the conclusion that this is probably the biggest growing field right now. I've asked on Twitter what people's favorite How-To sites were and have gotten a couple of general sites. If you know of any specialized or less known sites, please send them my way.

According to the article, the biggest selling book on Amazon is a book called Grow Your Own Drugs: Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Fixes by James Wong. It's a back to basics and using herbs for remedies book, for all kinds of ailments.

I'm a fan of doing things myself. Partly because I like to learn new things and partly for frugal and environmental reasons. You want an example? It will cost a family of four approximately $25 to have a decent meal at IHOP. If you made those pancakes at home, from scratch, it will cost you about $2. Big difference right? Ever since I learned how to make pancakes from scratch, it has been a favorite in our family. Even better, I can put less butter, less oil, and anything I deem not necessary. I control exactly what we put into our bodies. It's cheaper and it's better for us.

There are obvious things that I will not be doing myself, such as working on my car's engine. I don't have expertise in that and will gladly pay someone who knows what they are doing for that. What about you? What do you do yourself? Do you find yourself learning more and doing more yourself?

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Photo courtesy of D'Arcy Norman