The modern world requires us to become specialists in the fields which we work our trade. It is not uncommon for people to study their entire lives just to enter a specific career path and stay there until retirement. Specialization creates efficiency as we become better at the task the more time we spend on it. Focus creates results that wouldn’t be possible in our society if our attention was diverted over multiple skill sets. Living a DIY lifestyle is learning those different skill sets.
However just because our world thrives on specialization of labor doesn’t mean this is the best course for the individual. I would argue that being a DIY generalist grants more economic and personal freedom to themselves.
The DIY lifestyle grant more satisfaction and control to our lives. Living a DIY lifestyle means constantly diversifying your knowledge, skill base and income streams. This includes learning how to fix things and make things and our payment is the money we saved not having to hire someone else.
A specialist focuses super hard on a niche and uses their earned income to hire another specialist to do a job for them. For example a dentist hires a plumber to come over to fix a toilet. The dentist doesn’t have time to mess with the toilet because they are too busy fixing teeth.
However if you diverge your focus over multiple skills you can get to the point where you rarely need to hire anyone to do anything. This includes provisioning housing, handling utilities, acquiring food, creating transportation, getting education and more. Expenses come from hiring others for your needs. If there are no expenses there is no need to be a specialist in a career. A specialist hires someone else, a DIYer hires them self.
How do I live a DIY lifestyle?
The start of a DIY lifestyle is the desire to be constantly learning. Most people don’t like learning skills because it is hard work. Constantly diverging from the familiar and embracing the new challenges of what life brings us. Our lifestyles are built on how we are able to create income and resources for ourselves. You must not be afraid of using your hands or getting dirty in a DIY lifestyle. To live a DIY lifestyle you must have skills to address housing, utilities, transportation, education and food.
How do I create housing DIY?
The biggest expense we incur is our housing costs. This means if you can create housing for yourself DIY this would be the biggest boon to your lifestyle. Not having debt on the area where we live creates tremendous lifestyle freedom. Skills associated with creating DIY housing include surveying, carpentry, foundation, plumbing, roofing, electrical, painting and HVAC. These skills are not hard to acquire and they have the highest return on investment. Creating housing is also a way to gain income from rental property.
Developing a property DIY has many advantages. If the property is undeveloped the land can be bought at a discount and potentially acquired for cash. If your area is expensive or you don’t have the cash you can finance the land at much lower lower cost. One of the biggest advantages is lowering the cost of the build by saving on labor.
Tradesman have seen vastly increased incomes in recent years as there is a shortage of labor. You will always have some cost for supplies when building a house. However if you are building DIY you can build slower and use free reclaimed materials. Typically if you have the skills to build or rehab a house you will also know how to do repairs in the future.
How do I create transportation DIY?
The next biggest expense we have is transportation. Transportation will be depend a lot on where you are located. Remember choosing where to live is part of the process for enabling DIY transportation. The most important deciding favor is living in close proximity to necessities like employment, grocery, hardware, libraries, etc. When you live in close proximity to your daily needs you are able to use a bike full time to get around.
DIY Lifestyle Electric Bikes
Bicycles are the ultimate DIY transportation device. Many bikes can be made at no cost by acquiring and assembling bike parts. For destinations that are within 3 miles you can bicycle with ease. If you want to add more range you can consider buying an e-bike kit and battery to add onto your existing bike. E-bike kits and batteries will cost between $600 and $1000 total.
If you live in a city setting an Ebike is the best option as most destinations are under 7 miles away and city streets typically have lower speed limits. DIY E-bikes can go 30 MPH which is just fast enough to keep up with city traffic. The best part about bicycles and e-bikes is they require no registration cost or insurance cost.
If you live somewhere that is less bike friendly or requires commuting you may need to get a car. While it is possible to DIY car transportation it makes things more complicated and more expensive. Registration, insurance, and maintenance costs will be unavoidable. This is why you should strongly consider moving to a bike friendly area close to employment.
DIY Lifestyle Cars
Cars depreciate value over time so its best to buy something that has already depreciated a fair bit. Buying used cars over 100k miles will help with avoiding depreciation. If you desire you can even buy older cars for cheap and fix them up. When it comes to cars and bikes it definitely pays to have mechanical skills. Learning the different parts and structure of cars and bikes has considerable ROI for acquisition and maintenance of transportation.
How do I create food DIY?
Another benefit of investing in land is having the space to grow food and livestock. You dont need alot of land to grow enough food to replace a good portion of your food consumption. What you can grow will depend on the climate that you are in. You can also use greenhouses if you live in a colder area.
Ultimately you may still need to go to the grocery store for things that are specialty items and harder to grow. Farming skills have a solid return on investment when compared to the money you save when not buying it from the store. It is a business that is a lot of upfront time but can be more hands off and automated if set up correctly.
Things like greens, grains, beans, vegetables, fruits, eggs, and nuts can be harvested on a small plot of land for staple crops. Using your land for food production, habitation and rental income is a triple force that moves the needle quickly on being able to live a DIY lifestyle. Creating your own food also makes you less reliant on stores for food in times of hardship.
How do I create DIY utilities?
While utility costs aren’t the biggest line item for expenses, creating DIY utilities can have many other benefits. This includes being independent of local outages and contaminations. Nothing is worse than losing electricity in a natural disaster as many of our houses systems mechanical systems rely on it.
This is sometimes called going “off grid” meaning you are not reliant on local utility companies to provide you water, electricity, HVAC and gas. In some areas going completely off the grid will be impossible as local utility wont allow it. In these cases you will still be hooked up to the grid and any excess you produce will be sold to others in the grid.
How do I create electricity DIY?
For electrical needs the best choice is setting up solar array with battery storage. This is the best option as solar is the only way to generate electricity renewably. The sun does not cost money. Electricity provided by solar offers a source for powering home devices and also powers the HVAC systems. This means in the event of a natural disaster you will still have heating and cooling from electric heaters and AC units.
The price of electricity varies over the country. For my area a 1700 SqFt home in Austin, TX an electrical bill will run between $75 and $115 per month depending on the season. This offers a savings of $1200 per year in addition will raise the equity value of the house. That means if the solar array will cost $15,000 to install with rebates you will receive an 8% cash on cash return, which is higher than the average rate from the stock market.
How do I source water DIY?
The best way to source water DIY is by drilling a well. This is a private water source that will erase your water bills. Quality water can be sourced for free underground. If the water is “hard” meaning too many minerals you can install a water softener and filter. Access to aquifers will vary depending where you are located and some areas may not allow it so check with your local authority.
For anyone that does drill a well its important to not be wasteful just cause the water comes at no cost. Aquifers must be preserved as they may run dry with overuse. This typically comes with people absurdly watering their lawns.
Rain collection
Another less know way to source water is through rain collection. This is the best choice to collect non-potable water for farming operations. Water will run through the gutters and down the downspout into a large plastic water tank.
Distributing the water from the tank
Later a pump can be attached to the water tank and water can be sprayed on the growing crops. This same process can be done if you live near a creek or stream. Lead a hose from the stream to the crops and use a pump to irrigate. DIY water sourcing supports DIY food production!
Water in my area is very expensive and water bills average around $100 monthly with normal household uses and no farming activity. Drilling a well will average around $5000. Adding other water collection tools like tanks, hoses, pumps will run around $750. At a $1200 per year savings an investment in a well could return 24% per year which is well over the stock market.
How do I dispose of sewage and wastewater DIY?
You may still have sewage costs as some cities charge for how much water goes down your drainpipe into the sewer. You can avoid this by setting up a leaching field. The leaching field will be an open area where wastewater can be expelled underground and filtered through the soil. For solid waste a septic tank can be installed. The tank will need to be emptied every 3-5 years depending on usage. A sewage bill in my area will run around $75 per month.
To install a septic tank and leaching field will cost on average $15,000 to install. At a a $900 annual savings a septic and leaching field would be making a 6% annual return. Little bit less than the stock market but still worth the investment.
How do I acquire education DIY?
If you are wondering what DIY education looks like, you are currently looking at it. The proliferation of the internet has made education free and easy to access. If you have enough motivation and a direction you want to go there are are infinite resources to self educate online. This is especially true in skills that are hands on.
Everything I have learned in my DIY education has started with a video or blog online. Usually people learn skills to be hired by someone else, I learn skills to hire myself. People will choose to study at an accredited university because that is what employers look for when hiring. However when you are hiring yourself you don’t need an expensive college education to put on a resume.
Hire yourself
When you hire yourself you learn from the experience of trial and error, watching how others have done it. I am a person that has a strong desire to learn new things so it was easy for me to pick up the skills by direct experience. The more you learn about building, tinkering, designing and assembling the easier it becomes to learn other skills.
The last way to acquire education is very old school, books. This is a resource that has been available for free to the public in the form of libraries for eons. While a book isn’t as educational as a hands on video, they can certainly help. This will be especially helpful if you are learning a more abstract skill based on theory.
Its hard to illustrate visually abstract principles but they can be described in writing. Some people learn better from reading some people learn better visually or through experience. Know what method is best for you and implement it.
What skills are need to build a DIY lifestyle?
In this article I address the needs for housing, food, transportation, utilities, and education. To meet these needs there is a wide range of skills needed. Most people focus on a niche area and develop master skills but what I am recommending is developing proficiency in many areas.
Skills needed for a DIY lifestyle are surveying, carpentry, foundation, roofing, plumbing, electrical, painting, HVAC, mechanical, botany, farming, real estate and finance. For most people these skills would seem randomly collected but these are the skills I have found have the highest ROI.
Always be learning
The biggest thing is to always be curious and learning. Don’t be afraid to take risks and try new endeavors you haven’t done before. Remember failure is ok. You can either win or learn but you never lose. Listen to others that are more wise in areas you want to learn because their teachings will guide you. There are other skills out there that i may have not put on this list but this is a start.
What does a DIY lifestyle look like?
By combing the skills I have mentioned you can live a life that is more rewarding and hands on. Knowing your hard work directly impacts your circumstances. You can worry less about money as your needs are met in a renewable and easy to manage way. The money you do make will be made with intention. You will be less susceptible to weather events or socioeconomic events as you will be disconnected from the supply chains and utilities that are un reliable. You can work the hours you want in a way that makes sense. I go through periods of working really hard and periods of long vacation.
Conclusion: DIY lifestyle
Living a DIY lifestyle is all about about efficiency. Being always open to learning new skills and tackinling challenges.
More resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SfPf-_OavY