Whether you enjoy fixing projects around your home or not, as a single woman, my guest today shares practical ideas and frugal tips to help us tackle those DIY home maintenance projects with confidence.
Related: 7 Basic Tools Every Single Mom Should Own
My guest today is a single woman who’s taken on many home projects that at first seemed overwhelming, but she believes that everyone can create a home they love even on a tiny budget, whether we’re total beginners or seasoned DIY lovers.
Overview of DIY Your Home Maintenance with Confidence
(1:53) Jenny talks about how she got started in DIY and what gave her the confidence to DIY home maintenance herself
- I bought my first house and of course, the only thing I could afford was a complete fixer-upper.
- I had no money and a lot of projects around the house that I had to tackle. And just by taking them on one by one, over time I was able to build up skills and confidence
(3:37) We discuss shifting our mindset from “I can’t do this” to “I don’t need someone else to do it for me.”
- Not being ashamed of not knowing how to do something is a starting point because maybe you never had the opportunity to learn how to do something.
- Having the mindset of, okay, what is my first step to figure this out?
- A lot of times it’s doing some research online. There is so much online these days on how to do things.
(4:36) Jenny gives tips for going to the hardware store and not feel intimidated.
- Going to the hardware store and just asking for help is an excellent place to start.
- I’ve built a relationship with someone at my home improvement store because I was in there all the time when I first bought my house. And just asking what seemed like stupid questions to me.
- Start with patching a hole in the wall. Learn the basic steps. Learn how to use the basic tools and that builds your confidence. And that’s a great way to become more comfortable doing DIY.
(5:32) Jenny tells a story about how she saved a substantial amount of money by doing her homework before she called experts into her home to have her hot water heater replaced.
- I was online researching what the normal costs for replacing a hot water heater in my area should be. So when the first guy showed up and gave me a price that was twice what my research said it should be, I said thank you and sent him away.
- So with that confidence in yourself, I know that this is not a fair price and so I’m going to keep looking. I’m not going to let this person intimidate me.
- We talk about a fall home checklist I completed from Jenny’s website. Not only did my home seriously need these things completed (and I had no idea!) but the process built up my confidence in completing DIY projects around my home.
“Men are not born with any more DIY skills than anyone else. They may have been given more opportunities to learn some of these skills, but they still have to learn them.”
(8:49) Jenny talks about the origin of this quote from her life.
- It’s a simple mindset shift of, Oh wait, what’s special about a man that he can do something that I can’t, I mean, sometimes they’re frustratingly stronger than we are and they can physically do more than we can as women, but they’re not smarter. They’re not more talented. They’re not inherently more skilled at DIY projects and maybe sometimes an unconscious bias that we have against ourselves as women.
Curious what kind of tools you need as a single woman?
Jenny breaks down 7 tools she thinks all women need here.
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