Are skills more valuable for making money or saving money?
I’ve been considering this in light of many of the homesteading and homemaking skills I’ve picked up over the years. We’re often told to find a way to market our skills (to earn cash)–but I’ve been wondering if there is actually more value in saving money.
Because it’s Christmas time right now gifts are on my mind. We will be buying a few things (some of them second-hand) but we will be making quite a few gifts as well.
I’ve been making homemade soap this fall. I love using the soap–but it’s also a great gift to give away. (Everyone uses soap.) I’ll be sewing a little for my boys. I’ve got a stained glass project I’m working on for my sister. In the past I’ve made dishtowels, sewn felt play-food and baby soft books, crocheted blankets, and made sugar scrubs. These are all skills I’ve learned that help offset our family’s need for cash to purchase things for ourselves, but also the cost of small birthday gifts, or “thank you’s”, or service provided for friends, that can all use up a lot of cash–if I let them.
The alternative is choosing to use personal resources (my skills) instead of cash. Jeremy makes wonderful homemade breads. Our family loves them; our friends love them. We’re excited this year to be able to gift small jars of our backyard honey with the breads. I’ve got kale growing out in my hoop house so I can take a bowl of zuppa Toscana to my friend whose baby is due in a week. There is an initial investment, for ingredients and supplies, to give home produced gifts, but it’s often much lower than the cost of equivalent items when you consider market value of handmade, artisan, local or organic.
Another factor I can’t ignore is how much I enjoy the experience of using my skills to create and give a unique appropriate gift to a friend. I like my Etsy shop for earning a bit of cash–though mostly I enjoy the creative process of following new ideas that come to me. (I’m not much of a mass-producer.)
But which is more valuable? The ability to do one thing well and earn good money for doing it? Or the ability to do a number of things–maybe none of them well enough to ever “make money” off of–but just well enough to not require paying someone else to do it for you?
Maybe one day my hand-making and self-reliance skill-set will make unnecessary the need for any extra cash. Until then I’ll try and make a little money and use it wisely to buy quality supplies for producing many beautiful and useful things for my family and friends, along with learning new skills every year, and appreciating and supporting the skills of others who can provide the rest.
Urban Pioneer Story 
At this point I value being able to do certain things as a matter of self-reliance first, saving money second. I don’t think I do anything well enough to actually “sell” it but if you do and have a market for it, then go for it and unless I fell onto a great opportunity, I wouldn’t really want to sell things I make as it would take much time away from doing other homemaking things I enjoy or need to do.
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog!
Hi! I’ve been reading your blog for a couple of weeks and wanted to say hi! I dream about having 40 acres in the country but realistically I know I never will. 🙂
I haven’t made soap (yet) but I sew, knit and bake. What I have found is that I tend to spend more on supplies for a handmade gift than I would if I just bought a similar version at Target. I know there are several differences between a handmade and mass produced item but if I’m really looking at saving money sometimes handmade just isn’t the way to go for me.
I think the answer to your question of which is more valuable depends on what your goal is. Is it to make money? Or is it to take a step away from mass produced things and strive for a little bit of independence?
Maria–hi to you too! It’s true that if we were to go for the most ultimately cheapest option possible then we’d end up doing a lot more shopping at Walmart! (Which currently is on our list of avoiding by the most superhuman powers possible!) And certainly looking at things like buying a sewing machine for a project is a huge investment. . . but maybe it will pay itself off more down the line–if I use it for enough projects? And it’s such a great resource to have lying around.
I have noticed a few things that I have made for WAY cheaper though. I’ve sewn all my own slings and baby wraps for way cheaper than any of the brands that sell them online, and even at Target. Maybe it’s about making the *right* choices too. DIY for the things that you can really beat the system on, and not worrying much about the others.
Hi Jeanette. I think a lot of us are wondering the same thing lately. Has our culture been sold a bill of goods over the last fifty years – that things are only of value when convenient, so making things as convenient as possible is the ultimate goal, no matter the cost? At what point are we moms working just for the dubious priviledge of serving our families expensive take-out dinner at night? Last week on the Barn Hop someone put up a recipe for a natural, non-toxic foaming bathroom hand soap. I made it and realized how much money it will save me beyond those eco-friendly pump soaps I buy. How many areas in life are there like this, to the point that I end up saving more money than I would make working outside the home full time? As the mom of a high needs child, I aim to find out.