What skill has saved you the most money?

breaking_free

Saved £££ after going on a 5-day plastering course then using that skill to skim my own and some of my boyfriend's walls and ceilings. Did all my own painting, bathroom tiling, ripped out my old kitchen (but got a fitter to put the new one in), built a couple of stud walls to create an ensuite. My DIY list is lengthy indeed!

I can't say I enjoy DIY but I do get a lot of satisfaction from doing things myself (not to mention saving a shed-ton of money). Ballpark figure? Perhaps £10K and climbing.

Andy_L

Maths/excel/critical analysis so I can tell if I'm getting a good deal or not

eg being able to save 1% over the life of your mortgage is quite a big number

Section62

MSE_Laura_F said:

I'm keen to know: what skill has saved you the most money over the years?

Being able to read and (most of the time) understand legislation.

Like stuart45 I'd estimate my savings with DIY/building etc to be in six-figures.

But the costs of electricians/builders/plasterers etc are cheap compared to getting sensible professional legal advice.

FreeBear

Ebe_Scrooge said:  Blimey .... completely rewiring 2 houses (in the good old days when you were allowed to),

But you are still allowed to rewire your house. The regulations only say the work should be carried out by a competent person. And as long as the work passes the tests and is signed off by Building Control, it is perfectly legal.

maisie_cat

I'd consider my woodworking skills the largest money savers over the years. In the last 20 years I've done 3 kitchens ranging from installation of prebuilt cabinets to more recently actually making the cabinets from solid wood. I've also installed 5 bathrooms including tiling & plumbing, which is expensive.
In 2010 I built a timber workshop having been quoted £4k and it cost £900 in materials. I painted the outside of the house, again having been quoted a couple of grand. 
Cooking is an underrated moneysaving skill, considering how many people in my family consider following the instructions on a packet as cooking. Cooking from scratch on a daily basis saves a lot of money, especially when batch cooked. 
Food preserving skills have saved me money as I can preserve a cheap  or home grown glut, I have been harvesting our tomatoes this week and will make several kilos of canned pasta sauce for the winter. Doesn't save quite so much money and building kitchen cabinets but adds to food security for the winter. 
The things that are regulated are the things I wouldn't do myself, like gas, which we don't have anyway.
I possible could sweep the chimney but will actually pay a HETAS sweep to do so that I get a certificate for the insurance company, for £70 it's not worth DIYing

GrahamLM52

I initial thought DIY as it must have saved me 10's of thousands over the years.

I started working life in the electronics industry as a TV repair man (remember them?) and later went into electrical engineering building ships and oil rigs, so I'm a dab hand at electrics, repairs and DIY in general. I just repaired a programmable thermostat (saved £75) and an alarm control panel (saved £159).

I hate decorating, but I'll paint and wallpaper when pushed to do it. Just laid a carpet in an upstairs bedroom. I've done plumbing (fitted radiators, taps and showers).

One thing that has probably saved a fortune, but didn't occur to me until maisie_cat said it, is cooking.

I went to evening classes to learn how to cook. I then did two terms learning to cook Indian food. A couple of weeks ago we had a take-away and at the end of it my wife said "not as good as yours"!

Tonight we are having Popodums, Onion Bhajis with Raita, Chicken Dupiaza, Niramish (7 veg curry), Mushroom rice, and Naan bread. All washed down with home-brewed beer. The only thing not home-made is the popodums.

How much would that lot cost from a restaurant? :-)

maisie_cat

GrahamLM52 said:

I initial thought DIY as it must have saved me 10's of thousands over the years.

I started working life in the electronics industry as a TV repair man (remember them?) and later went into electrical engineering building ships and oil rigs, so I'm a dab hand at electrics, repairs and DIY in general. I just repaired a programmable thermostat (saved £75) and an alarm control panel (saved £159).

I hate decorating, but I'll paint and wallpaper when pushed to do it. Just laid a carpet in an upstairs bedroom. I've done plumbing (fitted radiators, taps and showers).

One thing that has probably saved a fortune, but didn't occur to me until maisie_cat said it, is cooking.

I went to evening classes to learn how to cook. I then did two terms learning to cook Indian food. A couple of weeks ago we had a take-away and at the end of it my wife said "not as good as yours"!

Tonight we are having Popodums, Onion Bhajis with Raita, Chicken Dupiaza, Niramish (7 veg curry), Mushroom rice, and Naan bread. All washed down with home-brewed beer. The only thing not home-made is the popodums.

How much would that lot cost from a restaurant? :-)

Sounds nice, we rarely have a supermarket meal deal but when we do often think that ours is better.
I forgot about home made alcohol though, we have apple trees and hubby makes "rocket fuel" cider and also beer, I make wine.
Hubby started life as an apprentice in an electronics repair place, calculators, TVs, radios, toasters etc and still repairs lots of thing when they break, recently replacing the elements on an old dualit toaster to avoid buying a new one..

Ebe_Scrooge

GrahamLM52 said:

Tonight we are having Popodums, Onion Bhajis with Raita, Chicken Dupiaza, Niramish (7 veg curry), Mushroom rice, and Naan bread. All washed down with home-brewed beer. The only thing not home-made is the popodums.

Can I come round to yours for dinner tonight please?  Sounds delish!!

I did an Indian cookery course a few years back - just a one-day thing run by the guy who owns what is widely regarded as the best Indian restaurant in town.  Although it was only one day, we learned how to make a lot of the staples, and I've used that to build up my repertoire subsequently.  Can't claim to be a master-chef, but any time I do an Indian meal the response from the family is very positive :-) 

stuart45

My wife does some voluntary work through the church in one of the poorer areas in the town. She was surprised on people's grocery bills being so high when it seemed to be mostly ready meals, chicken nuggets, crisps, fizzy drinks etc. She blames the lack of cooking education at schools nowadays.
People aren't taught about what can be done with a pound of mince and a few veg.
They set up a mini food bank for the people, with people donating veg from their gardens, but most of it wasn't taken as they didn't know how to use it, and said their kids wouldn't eat it anyway.

danrv

Ebe_Scrooge said:

GrahamLM52 said:

Tonight we are having Popodums, Onion Bhajis with Raita, Chicken Dupiaza, Niramish (7 veg curry), Mushroom rice, and Naan bread. All washed down with home-brewed beer. The only thing not home-made is the popodums.

I did an Indian cookery course a few years back - just a one-day thing run by the guy who owns what is widely regarded as the best Indian restaurant in town.  

Great. Big curry fan here.
Can save loads doing them yourself. Basically two types of curry: BIR and authentic.
I used to make up large batches of base gravy but tend to do authentic from scratch now.