Everyone out there has ideas on how to make your money work better for you. And I have to admit some of them are good ideas, a few of which I've taken to heart. One thing is rarely mentioned, and for me, I think thats a real shame. That is learning to do things for yourself.

If you are a home owner, you live in dread of having someone come in and give you an estimate on installing windows, doors, carpeting, roof (and the list goes on). Paying handymen to do basic work is the way to the poorhouse (provided you have the time to do the work yourself). You know, doing this type of work doesn't take a genius to do. Come'on think about it, do you recall the guys that you have had come in to do the work? Were they smarter than you?

Since I've owned my house I have replaced my whole roof for $700 (Corning brand shingles, it was hard work and it is a medium sized roof), replaced my 1960 era windows with double pane / low E / argon filled windows (about $2,000 for 11 large sized windows), and replaced the front door and storm door (less than $200 for the pair on sale at Lowes - but I then went and spent $100 on a top of the line door handle!). Oh, and when I bought the house I had a handyman resquare the walls in my kitchen (after I removed the original junk cabinets), and I went and installed top of the line kitchen cabnetry myself (from Home Depot - solid hickory - about $4,000, and that included the counter top).

I didn't grow up Mr. Handyman, I was just determined to be able to do things myself. I read books on the subjects, went to demonstrations at the hardware stores, started on smaller projects to get the hang of the various tools, and just did it. The work has not always been perfect, but usuaully people can't see the mistakes unless I point them out to them.
In each case the cost of paying someone to do the work would have been multiples of what it cost me to do it.

One last piece of advice on this. If you don't have much money, start small. When I replaced the windows I did them one or two at a time. I would custom order them, pay for them at pick up two weeks later, and install them on a weekend or a holiday. Then a month or two later, another two windows would be ordered, and so it went. I finished my house in 6 months using that technique. Same for the roof. I did that over a summer, doing it in small sections as I had the energy, and the sun wasn't beating down too bad. I wasn't into killing myself, so I did what I could (usually early in the morning), then quit for the day. There's no sin to have a roof half new and half old. As long as you are going to finish it soon, it will live.