I'm encouraging you to insource as much as possible this year.
DIY is good. It saves money and time. It gives you a sense of satisfaction. It makes you believe in yourself and your capabilities. When my Nanna and Grandpa needed something fixed, they did it themselves. I'm trying to emulate them and their can-do outlook on life, because finally, of course, it can save you lots and lots of lovely money!
How much money, you might ask? Well, here's an example.
This last week, I insourced the following:
Washing machine repair (the filter was clogged) saving $150 in callout fee + repairs.
Manicure and Pedicure saving $70.
Baking for school lunches and packing a healthy lunch for my daughter every day saving up to $100 in equivalent food from the school canteen.
Homemade Fish burgers saving at least $15.
Homemade spicy chicken fillets saving at least $20.
Purchase of portion controlled meal containers at half price from Woolworths saving $550 on a months worth of LitenEasy to remind me of what a 'portion size' looks like!
Walked twice a day for 30 minutes each time saving $65 a month on a gym membership.
Used a Fat Blaster chocolate shake (which I don't like doing but which I finally acknowledge is a great way to lose a bit of weight quickly to keep my motivation up), for a week. It was on special at $14.99, I've made it up with half whole milk, half water instead of skim milk, eaten lots of salad and veg (which I prefer to fruit), drank water, taken my vitamins and am happy to report that in conjunction with the walking, I've lost 2.2 kgs. 17.8 to go before we head off on our cruise in Mid June. That's under a kilo a week, so I think I'll be fine.
Trimmed, conditioned and did a toning treatment on my hair saving $100.
A grand total of.....$1085!!! Just by making 'DIY' my first port of call, rather than outsourcing things that I know others would not think twice about! Granted, the LitenEasy total would have been for three weeks, but only for myself, so I figured it was fair to include the total, considering I would have still been shopping for The Diva, The Musician Husband and The Dog :)
I'm VERY happy with that week!
Meanwhile, please share your insourcing for the week. I'd love to hear from you.
Oh Mimi! This is totally off topic, but I just discovered something special about your page! When I move my cursor around I get a swathe of little stars following it! Why have I not noticed this before? It's so much fun, I can't leave.... xx Fiona
ReplyDeleteI know....aren't they gorgeous? xxx
DeleteLove the trail of stars, how clever Mimi xo
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandra....they are just something a little special, don't you think? X
DeleteMimi, so true about DIY!!! I have a box FULL of nail lacquers....I have banned myself from pedicures/manicure...outsourcing unless I really want a foot treatment! You would have been very impressed....our sheets sets are white...pillowcases get a bit dull...I said I was going to throw them all out..instead on Saturday I boiled up a large pot of water added suds and boiled them up!!! They have come up a treat! I ironed them and threw them back in the cupboard. :D
ReplyDeleteI AM impressed Flora! I challenge myself to insource all the time. It's amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it. Mind you, only an expert for some things. Common sense and all that! As for Mani-Pedis...well I'd rather have that money to spend in Venice...hehehe! Mimi xxx
DeleteLove your blog Mimi ...you are so ingenious :) and always find a way of doing things nicely
ReplyDeleteAlexa-asimplelife
Mimi I also love the falling stars! Do you think anyone makes little birdies?
ReplyDeleteOk you know I love insourcing and the name comes from you but I do this and often count the value.
My pedicure and manicures save me $160 a month I know this as that is what I once paid.. My doing my own hair, cut and colour saves me $300 a month ish. I make my husbands work lunches, breakfast and coffees etc and I guess that saves us about $300 a month easily. No needing takeaway as I usually make two of everything and freeze some etc means we save on that. For us we used to get gourmet pizzas one a week and so it saves about $50 a week! I made my own Christmas and birthday presents. I think it saves me over a $1000 a year or so... hard to guess that one. But I make cards and gift tags and at two a week I think that saves about $1000 a year! Once you start thinking about it in detail I am like you. Mostly I feel I can save more at home than I could earn elsewhere. Much of it takes a little time and planning. Like you if I added up the savings over the years on birthday cakes I made instead of bought that alone would be some whopping figure!
Oh and hand washing instead of dry cleaning... that also would amount to some ridiculous amount of money.
Lovely post that I wholeheartedly agree with. We must value what we do as it counts for so much! xxx
Hi MiMi, I am reading you on an iPad and am not seeing the stars but I will visit you on the laptop soon to see these fun stars :)
ReplyDeleteWe are a do it everything ourselves family. I once joked that the only thing I couldn't do myself was dental work.
Oh what a shame Rhonda. I wonder why? They are so much fun. I'm with you. DIY rules!
DeleteHi Mimi;
ReplyDeleteLovely post today! I have been a DIY for years, it is so much fun. Over the years you can learn how to do a lot of things yourself and become really proficient at it too. Also, I love the stars. Hugs, Nana
Thankyou Nana. It's true that you can learn to do so much if you just try. I would never do anything silly like electrical work and so on, but apart from that, anything that isn't a threat to life or limb is up for consideration! I'm glad you like my stars. They're my gift to my guests :)
DeleteDear Mimi, the stars are mesmerizing! So much fun! I came to read and I confess I've been playing with them for a few minutes LOL! Ok so I'm going to have to start really tracking this, as I can see how encouraging it is. So I did my mani and pedi which saved me $85.00, I ironed my husband's shirts $25.00, did two manicures on the girls with cute Valentine Decals as well...maybe that would be $60.00 for both, Did breakfast for dinner one night which saved me $35.00 on take-out charges, made 4 cards, about $16.00. I always think about the fact that I'm saving by insourcing as you say, but I don't take the time to tally it. You've encouraged me to change that. I'm going to try to keep track as I'm sure there is more that I've done this week that I'm not thinking about. Of course I gain satisfaction from doing these things but it is so neat to look at it from this perspective. If I outsourced this stuff I'd be broke. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Collette. It's a real eye opener once you start tracking what you'd actually spend if you outsourced all you do in a day. I have come to the conclusion long ago, that if I treat my role in the home like a 'real job', I can save my family far more than I could ever earn outside the home. I love what you achieved this week and your last comment on being broke if you outsourced it all, is so very true! Thankyou for your lovely comment...x
DeleteLOVE THE STARS MIMI !!! They are so cute.
ReplyDeleteI've been cutting my girls hair since they were toddlers. I couldn't justify paying $10 to have a fringe cut on a toddler. Now the girls are 17 and 15. Both girls have only been to the hairdresser once. The last couple of times I've needed a haircut, the girls cut mine.
Thanks Wendy! I'm glad you like them too, and I'm so pleased you've stopped by. I'm not brave enough to allow my daughter, just turned 15, to cut my hair just yet. But I do have a CreaClip and recently managed to cut my own hair into very presentable layers, using that. You have such gorgeous thick, straight hair. So lucky! Mine is a long curly wild birds nest, so requires lots of TLC. I hope you'll stop in to share your Insourcing list on Monday. Mimi xxx
DeleteI nearly always bring my lunch to work.
ReplyDeleteWe have started to eat out less.
I don't get my hair done very often...
ummmm...
I outsource less-liked domestic tasks, such as heavy cleaning. I figure it helps the economy. I figure it is cheaper than my hourly work rate, so in essence I am saving money. Also I am just not very good at cleaning.
Thankyou for visiting my blog x