There’s nothing like self-help
Everyone should know how to maintain their own home, fix their own bike, or change their own oil.
EVERYONE knows someone who’s good at everything; a capable pair of hands in every situation.
For me, it’s my dad. He built the house I grew up in, despite not being a builder. He can fix just about anything, butcher and dress out an animal, program a website, cook a decent feed, or change a nappy – you name it.
People like my dad exemplify the Kiwi tradition of resourcefulness and getting on with the job.
Becoming a jack of all trades is something we should all aspire to. Last week we talked about starting a side-hustle; making money from people who don’t have the time or inclination to cut their own grass, paint their own house, or walk their own dog.
There’s another way to convert spare time into cash: Don’t be like those people. Outsource as little as you can to others, and learn as many skills as possible.
I admit to having a very Clint Eastwood-ish perspective on this. Everyone should know how to maintain their own home, or fix their own bike, or change their own oil.
You may have noticed this theme in previous columns on learning to cook, to do laundry, grow vegetables, cut hair, pack your own lunch, do your own taxes, shift house yourself, build furniture, and brew your own beer.
It’s never been easier to become an all-rounder. There’s a YouTube tutorial for everything (and I do mean everything), which means the collective knowledge of the entire world is a mouse-click away.
The main benefit of becoming a jack of all trades is you can ‘‘earn’’ more money by paying yourself to do something.
Let’s say you tackle your taxes (dead easy for most people) rather than handing it off to one of the refund companies. About 15 minutes’ work has saved me an average of $50 in fees each year, which is a handsome wage of $200 an hour. Note that anything you save is the equivalent of tax-free ‘‘income’’, which makes it up to 33 per cent more powerful than if you’d earned it through conventional means.
Developing new skills might also help you start a side-hustle, and earn even more money from other people. Finally, it’s deeply satisfying to be a useful human being – to gaze upon your retaining wall and think, ‘I built that’, or bring a salad with homegrown tomatoes to the pot-luck.
This journey can take a while to pay off. You might spend hours figuring out a simple bike repair, or ruin your first batch of homebrew. At some point I guarantee you’ll get frustrated, have to start again, and wish you’d called in the professionals. But the next time you come to do it, you’ll have learned. You’ll be faster. You’ll pick up better tools. Every year I do a small carpentry project - a coffee table, a desk, a wine rack - and every year, I level up my skills a little. My dad didn’t try to build a house the first time he picked up a hammer.
It’s possible to get carried away with the DIY mentality. Don’t mess around with electrical stuff, or generally try and be too much of a hero. Know your limits. If you have complicated tax affairs, a good accountant will save you far more than their fee costs you, for example.
The other caveat is that not everyone has the time. If you’re at the leading edge of cancer research, or you’re rushed off your feet with work and kids and sports, of course you should pay someone else to make your life easier. This is a judgment-free zone.
For most of us, investing time into developing new skills doesn’t come at the expense of our main job – it probably just means we 123rf spend a few fewer hours vegetating in front of the TV. Jack of all trades used to be a positive term back in the day, even if someone tagged on that sneering ‘‘master of none’’ bit. Let’s officially claim it back.
Got a money question? Email Budget Buster at richard.meadows@thedeepdish.org, or hit him up on Twitter: @MeadowsRichard.