Sometimes, Grandma knows best! That is certainly with these old fashioned skills that are easy to learn and will save you money!
There are many ways to pinch a penny. Some of the most practical are being phased out over the decades. Many of the economically-minded skills of our ancestors are slowly being forgotten and losing their place in our modern world.
Here are a few practical old-fashioned skills that we can all learn to save money.
🍞 Bread Making
One of the most rewarding skills you can learn is the art of bread making. Sure, a store-bought loaf can be had for as little as $1 if you’re purchasing the lowest quality bread available. But if you’re willing to learn how to DIY, you can create a cheaper and far superior product by making it yourself.
The beauty of bread making is that it can be as simple or complex as you’d like, and require as much or as little time as you can spare. If you’re willing to put in some elbow grease, the only equipment required is basic: your hands and an oven. If you have less time, invest in a Bread Maker
to take most of the work out of bread making.
Homemade Bread Recipes: Homemade Breadsticks, Loaf bread, French Bread
👚 Washing Clothes by Hand
Most of us aren’t going to whip out the wash board at the end of the week and wash our clothes by hand. But, depending on your living situation, washing your clothes by hand can be a lot more practical than it initially sounds. For example, if you’re an apartment dweller without a washer/dryer on site, weekly visits to coin-operated laundromats can become expensive.
Consider using a washing board, plunge clothes washing system or a DIY clothes washing contraption of your own to save money on the cost of laundromat visits. We’ve covered the washing, but what about the drying? Dry your clothes on an indoor drying rack. Or if you have outdoor space, hang a clothes line and let Mother Nature do the work for you.
🧵 Sewing
Sewing is a highly practical skill to have in your money-saving arsenal. A basic understanding of sewing can allow you to mend torn and tattered clothing and make them stretch years beyond their original lifespan.
Someone with a slightly more advanced sewing skill can create home décor items such as curtains, throw pillows or chair covers. Someone with a truly honed skill can create their own clothing (or even their own wedding gown) and more. The sky is the limit in terms of what you can make by sewing-your-own.
Sewing tutorials: Sewing Basics, How to Use a Sewing Machine, How to Hem Jeans
🧑🌾 Gardening
I recently read a quote by Ron Finley that read “growing your own food is like printing your own money.” This couldn’t be more true. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to purchase produce on a budget, and we’re not even talking organics yet.
While there is a learning curve, and cost, involved in maintaining a fruitful garden, once you get the hang of it, you can save hundreds each year on the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables. Better yet, growing your own food removes the cost barrier between your wallet and placing organic food on your table.
A comprehensive guide on “A Complete Beginners Guide to Home Gardening” can be found here! This source will walk you through all the how-to questions and how much it costs to start a garden. If you live in a smaller space, he shows how to make the most of that with different kids of gardens!
If you want a resource to really dig deep into soil composition along with a true step by step guide to start your own garden, try out this one! The detailed instructions can’t be beat whether you are a newbie just starting out or have a few years of soil under your nails.
Gardening Resources: Container Gardening 101, Square Foot Gardening, Planning a Garden
🥒 Canning
Gardening and canning go hand in hand, they’re natural extensions of one another; you need vegetables to preserve before you can preserve your food, and you need a method of food preservation in order to safe-guard your harvest from spoiling. Canning allows you to enjoy your harvest well into the snowy winter months and beyond, allowing you to keep your grocery costs low year-round.
Resources on canning: Canning for Beginners, Canning Potatoes, Canning Zucchini
🍽️ Dehydrating
If canning seems intimidating, learning how to dehydrate food can be the perfect way to preserve nature’s bounty. Dehydrating has less of a learning curve involved and it can be quite inexpensive, as basic low-end dehydrators can be purchased inexpensively
. Dehydrating may be more practical for small-space dwellers as it minimizes the size of dehydrated foods considerably.
Resources on dehydrating foods: Dehydrated Cucumbers, Oven-Dried Strawberries, Dehydrated Bananas
🐄 Yogurt Making
If you consume yogurt regularly, making your own yogurt can save you a considerable amount of money. There are several ways to go about making homemade yogurt. You can use the oven method, the cooler method, the crockpot method, etc. Personally, I use the crockpot method since it’s such an easy, set-it-and-forget-it method of making yogurt.
The savings derived from yogurt making in itself are notable, but there’s no reason to stop there. With a few additional steps, your homemade yogurt could produce Greek yogurt, yogurt cheese (a cream-cheese-like spread), and it can even be used as a healthy base for DIY ranch dressing. I also like to make homemade smoothie packs for under $0.59 using homemade yogurt.
Of course, yogurt produces whey, which can be used in a multitude of ways. One you may not have known about: whey can be used to make homemade ricotta cheese. How’s that for efficiency? 🙂
Resources on making yogurt: Crockpot Method, Cooler Method, Oven Method
How many of these old-fashioned skills do you have?
Would you like to mention additional frugal skills that I may not have mentioned?
At one time or another I’ve done all of these. Some I still do, others not so much. But I would add to your list spinning and weaving. I’ve made kitchen towels, shawls, and rugs. I knew one lady who made her own material and then made her clothes. Not a bad skill to have.
Self Sufficient skills is so important to learn. I have taught my children some things and now my grandchildren. I make my own bread, butter, cook everything from scratch. I sew, crochet, knit and need to work on my embroidery. I also wash my clothes by hand. I have learned to make my own candles and fuel for my lanterns and that came in handy when the power went out from a storm. I am now learning to make my own grain. Oh I also can, and grown my own vegetables. My goal is to not need to go to a grocery store as much as possible. Thank you for your sight
I’m by no means a skilled seamstress, but I’ve saved a lot of money by doing simple things such as replacing a button, or mending a small tear. Plus I don’t have to make the trips to the seamstress to drop it off and pick it up. Much less hassle to DIY!
I have started doing a few of these and I’m still learning others. This will be out third year doing a garden here and its still in the experimental/learning phase because of the coastal climate. There is a lot that can be grown here but a lot of things like squash, tomatoes, etc. must be grown in greenhouses. I want to learn how to can and dehydrate once we get enough to do so.
I tried the whole yogurt thing and ended up tossing it when it turned to cheese (but I didn’t know it was still edible). I need to try again because we go through a LOT of yogurt here.
I have had washed clothing and we hang dry our cloth diapers (by the way, cloth diapers are a huge money saver and they are much easier now than the old pre-folds).
I do sew and while not the best, I can fix many things and sew bags, dresses for my daughter, etc. I wish material didn’t cost so much because its something I enjoy doing. I have found that taking old clothing that may have a hole and turning it into something else is fun too.
I had one year of home ec way back when, and not much of it took on me. I wish I’d learned more about sewing. I can do very basic things and simple garments but I’d be much better dressed if I could sew properly.
And I agree, I wish fabric wasn’t so expensive. However, please it’s a waste to buy cheap yard goods for something that you want to last. I made a small quilt using leftover scraps from my mother’s stash. So far so good. But then I bought cheap muslin for the border strips and it’s awful. The thread count in that kind is low and it begins separating after several washings. Look for good fabric on sale or use a coupon. Also, flat bedsheets can be a good source.
My husband used to wear business casual and it bothered me to pitch his shirts when the collars began to fray. Then I got the idea of cutting out the back and hemming it to make dinner napkins. And I always, always cut the buttons off of discarded items. T-shirts and socks make good rags.
The collar can be carefully taken off and reversed (turned) so the shirt will look perfectly good again. I agree about the cheap material. Towels when past their prime can be cut down into hand towels or washcloths. Sheets can become pillow cases or quilt backs or curtains. T-shirts can be cut into strips and made into rag rugs. The good part of jeans cut into squared and made into quilts. The list is endless. I just wish that I practiced a lot of what I preach!
Oh the price we pay for convenience! These truly are “lost arts.”
How about learn to walk?
Need entertainment? Walk to the Library and borrow a book.
Another really, really “old school” way to save money? Don’t spend it. (stop listening to television commercials telling you that you need something you really don’t need)
“Wear it out, Use it up, Make it do, Make it last, Do without”
The skill I really wish I had that would save huge amounts of money is hairdressing! Just keeping the three males in our family looking respectable costs a fortune. We girls have long hair, so just get a trim once a year. The boys get done every 8 weeks.
What a great site, and so many great responses to the original post. My grandma taught me to embroider when I was five; my sister taught me to crochet. All of my five sisters do some kind of handwork…each has a different skill – mine is quilting. With nine kids, my mom sewed a lot of our clothes, so all of us learned to sew. My sons are all excellent cooks and taught their wives! All of my sons can use a sewing machine and are immensely creative. It took until this year that there was a “female” to follow in my footsteps…great grand-daughter calls herself “mini me”…she is learning to sew and is very excited. At 68, I cut my own wood, have a huge garden that I put up, and think it is a joy to know and teach the skills from my mom and grandma. Thank you for your blog. I am sure it is encouraging to many to try new (or old) skills.
Great article Jazmin. I do all of these except the yogurt making. My daughter’s trade clothes with friends when the kids are little because they grow out of stuff so fast. I have friends that shop at thrift stores for kids clothes. I doubt my grandparents had a thrift store, I am sure they traded clothes back then…LOL! Great tips for everyone! Linda
Thank you for the info on making my own yogurt! This is #7 on my To Do,To Learn, To Buy List ! I try to teach these skills to my home schooled daughter within our home-ec class. Her grandpa is impressed that she has skills many women much older than her do not possess.
Found this site by accident – but I love it! I will be a frequent visitor! Thanks for all the great tips everyone!
Thank you for the great ideas and suggestions. Great post.
I agree that these save money, IF you don’t consider your time to have any financial value. If you do the results will vary. But buying a product cheaper than making it doesn’t automatically make that the best decision for multiple reasons.
There may be joy in doing it yourself.
Doing it yourself make result in a better product.
By doing it you have learned a skill and that can help you feel better about yourself.
By doing it yourself you may find a new appreciation for what goes into making products you buy.
I used to sew buttons on a lot. But I found a tip that virtually ended that. When I get anything with buttons I put put some clear nail polish on the threads on the front and back of the button. I’ve been doing that for decades and honestly can’t recall having to sew one back on since I started.
Hi I’ve found your post through Pinterest. Happy Christmas to you. Thanks for a great post. I can knit, do cross stitch I’m having crochet lessons at the moment and Mum never really taught me to sew so I’ve bought a small sewing machine and am going to give it a try. I like baking and have a bread making machine. I’m in the UK by the way so next year I’m going to try growing our own veg and canning. I love learning new things. Especially if it saves money as things are so expensive now. Thanks again for your post. I’ll keep looking at your post and follow you on Pinterest. Kind Regards Jenny.
A tip as you embark upon your sewing experience: do not get discouraged when you have to rip out seams, take the entire thing apart, and start all over again! My grandmas taught me, and I fully concur, that a sewing project is not complete if you haven’t needed to re-do at least one major seam! Best of luck!
Living on a farm makes all the above skills necessary. As women, we are not limited in any area we set our minds to do. For years I have done most of our home repairs.. Basic home repairs (leaky faucet, replacing guts inside toilet, installing light fixtures, etc) are not hard. Google is our friend, girls! I have repaired my washer and dryer more than 5 times from reading and just jumping in to do–without fear. I have tried to pass skills to my kids, and now to my grand kids. My adult sons can make bread from scratch and cook like a dream. I’m working on my 8 year old grandson now, teaching him how to cook, work in the garden, milk goats, help with the honey bees (he’s been bee keeping for 4 years now) and anything else I can think to teach him.. As far as canning–it may be more expensive at times to can foods, but the quality is better and the satisfaction of being able to reach in the pantry or go to the cellar and in a few minutes have everything ready for a meal…well that’s worth the time, effort and money Learn all the skills you can and don’t forget to pass it on!
I love, love, love the last part of your comment, “Learn all the skills you can and don’t forget to pass it on!” Such great advice, Marianne!
Cooking. I am always astounded by how few people cook from scratch. I know some people turn it into an expensive hobby, but for most of us cooking saves TONS of money over eating out. And that isn’t even mentioning how much healthier it is to use basic ingredients over packaged foods.