Why not DIY?

These are hard times for any household out there. The global recession has hit all world economies very hard. Everyone, from the biggest business mogul to the smallest salaried employee, can feel the ill effects of this event. Throughout the past months and for some, the past year, there have been massive wage cuts, lay-offs, and a general-but-permeating slowdown of economic activity.

At times like these, when the household income stays at a pretty stagnant level, most households have no choice but to minimize costs. Each head of the family does this by prioritizing the family’s basics and setting the less prominent needs for a later time. Food, phone bills, electricity, mortgage payments and the like are usually thought of as things that one cannot live without; while buying a new car, out-of-town vacations, new clothes, etc. are commonly regarded as marginal. Evidently, most households are often unwillingly forced to lower their standard of living. A lot must feel a certain degree of discontent, seeing that their lives in years past must have been much better than what it is now.

But then, this observation cannot help but beg the following questions: Is this degree of downsizing absolutely necessary? Is it possible to cut back on costs with minimal effect to one’s quality of life? As far as allotting someone’s earnings, will that person be sure the he will prioritize things right?

The greatest economic resource is not the raw materials, not the production equipment, and not the required energy to put them in motion. The greatest resource is manpower. Most of the costs incurred in any project – may it be at a large scale like industrial corporations or at the lowest level like home improvement – is labor. Thus, eliminating the need to spend for labor in any financial undertaking will greatly free up options for budgetary allocation.

Do it yourself, more commonly called DIY, is the first effective step towards greater financial freedom. If one has to have, say, home improvements, the need to spend hard-earned dollars every hour for a carpenter or technician will be immensely reduced, if not totally eradicated. With DIY, either of these two will happen: what was saved for a particular job can now be spent on something else, or what was initially difficult to implement given the current finances is now very possible.

With DIY, any household will be able to cut back without needing to sacrifice too much. Also, it is a good avenue for members of the family to have time together, doing things which are all in their interest – something that seldom happens had it not been for the great downturn.

What does it all mean? Spending smart is much better than spending less. With DIY and in light of the thinning wallet, the supposedly hard-hit families no longer have to feel hit hard. Making both ends meet will not be as hard as it should have been. In essence, it is not about how much one can spend. Rather, it is on how one spends it.

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