Who could say no to saving more than $4000 a year? That too, without living in an RV or eating peanut butter sandwiches for an entire year.
You can save more than $4000 a year by leaning a few basic skills that can come handy all round the year. Instead of hiring a professional or an expert to work, you can learn how to do it yourself and make a truckload of savings each year.
Here are the 5 lucrative skills that save you money.
1. Learn to give yourself a fine haircut
According to a report from BusinessInsider, the average cost of men’s haircut in the US is around $28(which is quite affordable). But in some cities like Los Angeles or San Fransisco, it goes up to $50. And I am talking about an average haircut from an intermediately skilled barber.
Learning how to cut your hair can seem strange in the beginning. But with the right gear and proper training, you can become a decent barber within 2-3 iterations. AlphaM has a great video on YouTube on cutting/trimming your hair with a pair of scissors and a trimmer.
2. Couponing
Couponing can save you hundreds of dollars a month if you learn to do it the right way. Every major retail store or online store offers coupons to those people who want to save some money. It also helps the store as they get to fill up the store and sell the surplus items(on selected days).
Gone are the days when people use to collect cardboard coupons in their wallet. There are plenty of couponing apps for both Android and iOS devices that you can download and install for free.
3. Do your taxes
Most people pay more than $800 annually to their accountant who does all their taxes. Which is great if you just want to delegate your work and use the time to do something valuable. But with online solutions like TurboTax, you are wasting all that money by hiring an accountant.
TurboTax handle all types of taxes; you just have to put in the data(your income details, occupation, etc). They have four plans(one is completely free). “Deluxe” is their most popular plan which costs $59.99.
Your accountant is human and humans are prone to make mistakes. TurboTax is a meticulously designed online software that provides 100 percent accuracy and also saves you more than $700 annually.
4. Take a Plumbing course
Globally, March 11 is celebrated as World Plumbing Day as it’s importance is paramount in the rise of human civilization. So, there should be no shame in learning this skill. It could save more than $500 a year.
Professional Plumbers are usually people with no or very less educational qualifications. And it is considered as physical labor. Hence, most educated folks like you and me try to avoid doing the work that they do.
To get started with plumbing, take a short course online or read the guidelines on professional plumber blogs like LenThePlumber.
5. Learn how to cook
A Big Mack costs around $4 in the restaurant. You can save almost 50 percent on the food that you eat out(in a restaurant) by buying the ingredients from a grocery store and cooking at home. To make the same Big Mack at home, all you have to do is purchase some lean beef($1) and other ingredients like vegetables($1).
The amount you save also depends on the city you stay in. An average meal in a decent restaurant will cost you $25 in New York City. While the same meal is 50 percent cheaper in other cities like Dayton, Missouri, Nebraska, etc.
It is very easy to learn how to cook by watching videos on YouTube or reading food blogs. CreditDonkey has an awesome list of cooking blogs for beginners.
Conclusion
Learning any of the above-mentioned skills is a small investment that will deliver tremendous benefits. You can try DIYing for a year and see how much returns you get. Even if the savings are not substantial, there are loads of benefits of learning something new.
