Frugal living and Home Improvement - how to combine the two

Quite a few people are just like myself - want to have a nice looking and functional place to live. So in our quest for a first home we have purchased an oldish (1972) house in Southern California. It needed some work, but that didn't scare us away. After a year of living in a place of our own, I have started fixing minor things here and there around the house. But since I'm really interested in saving money whenever possible - I had to make a decision every time to do it myself or hire someone to do the work. While I enjoy doing almost everything myself the question of time and money always comes into the equation. Is it worth my time and how long would something take me to do. Very few things were done by contractors, but I've felt that I'm just so unqualified to do the job, that it simply be rather foolish to even try it. For example removing asbestos infused popcorn from the ceiling or plastering it later with a texture. In cases like this where the work would be way over my head (pun intended) or if there is a health risk - it is better to pay the money and let someone else do the hard stuff.

However, in other cases I came up with a fairly easy test to tell me if something should be done without contractor involvement. After weighting in all the regular considerations of time spent and money saved, I ask myself - do I have the right tools for the job? And here is the fun part - I've figured that it is cheaper and more fun to buy the right tools, do the job well and then if I need the tools for future - just keep them. That way the next time similar job needs to be done, my expensive will be very low. If it is something I'm unlikely to do for a very long time (like pain an exterior of a house), then it often times still makes a lot of sense to buy the right tool, but sell it once I'm finished with it. There is big market for used tools and equipment and often times one can sell it for close to the price of the new set of tools. In either case, it is cheaper than renting those tools for Home Depot or Lowe's.

So far we have repainted the entire house, put in some shelving in closets, installed storage cabinets in garage, replaced patio shelf, installed new fence gate, put up drapes, wired up house for cable and home network in every room, installed new lights and more. All of this cost us about $500 in materials and another $250 in tools. To hire someone to do all the same work would cost us roughly $4500-5500. Yet, I get to keep the tools so the next project will be even cheaper. And money we save we can spend on doing even more improvements.

And by the way - almost every person is capable of doing almost any project around the house if you spend some time learning about the right tools and ways to do it. So don't be afraid - try it on your own. After all - where is the pride in ownership of a home where everything was done by someone else?

Disclaimer: before you do any electrical work, plumbing or other potentially damaging or dangerous repairs - make sure you know what you are doing and learn the proper safety methods. Do not take unnecessary risks - if in doubt - consult or hire a contractor/handy man.