Outsourcing can become a costly habit. Need to get in shape? Hire a personal trainer. Grass needs cutting? Call the landscaper. Toilet clogged? Shell out $250 for a plumber.

There are some household tasks you shouldn’t be doing yourself, like trimming 75-foot tree limbs. Then there are the majority of household tasks, which you should be doing yourself for the sake of your finances—not to mention character-building.

With a well-sourced tip here and there, you’d be surprised by the number of household chores you can do yourself with minimal risk or effort, and zero cost.

1. Get a Set of Wrenches and Become a Part-Time Plumber

I recently flushed my toilet, only to hear (and eventually feel) a small stream of water flowing from the base of the toilet bowl. My first thought was to call the plumber.

Then, recognizing that plumbers charge a pretty penny just to come out to the house, I opened YouTube. A ten-minute video, a few socket wrench twists on the bolts that hold the rubber seal in place, and the leak was fixed. While there are jobs you will need a plumber for, invest in a $40 set of wrench bits and potentially save yourself thousands on plumbing expenses.

2. Let YouTube Be Your Instructor

YouTube is the epitome of a double-edged sword. On one hand, the video streaming app compels influencers to gorge themselves with fast food for clicks and enslaves the masses with mindless entertainment. On the other hand, handymen and women post tutorials at absolutely no cost, empowering viewers to take home maintenance into their own hands.

Whether you’re staring at a sagging gutter, ant infestation, or a pile of IKEA parts to be alchemized into a couch, YouTube is your pathway to a solution.

3. Invest in Lawncare Equipment

The average cost for a third party to mow a one-quarter-acre lawn is $125 per month. That’s $1,500 per year, and a lawn can become pretty gnarly after a month without a fresh cut. 

Cutting a quarter acre should not take you more than an hour or so. Even if you make $125 per hour—which most don’t—then you truly cannot justify paying for a lawn service. A quality lawn mower costs a few hundred bucks, and it will pay for itself by month three of cutting your lawn yourself. Add a weed eater to the Amazon cart, while you’re at it.

4. Lean on Friends and Family for Manual Labor

I recently had a large antennae pole that had to be removed before a hurricane. I knew that I could cut through the metal with a saw, but there was a chance the pole would fall on my house once the metal was cut.

With one call to a friend, I was able to avert potential disaster and save myself the cost of hiring a service. By applying pressure to the pole in the direction I needed it to fall, the friend ensured the removal went smoothly—and all it cost was a few beers. Don’t hesitate to lean on friends and family, and offer your services in return.

5. Leverage Your Network

Most of us know somebody who knows somebody who knows a roofer. Or a plumber. 

People like helping others out, and they are often willing to lend free advice (or even heavily discounted services) to those in their network. Before you call a professional who is going to charge you full price, and perhaps even just a fee to come to your residence, consider leveraging your personal network—you might just save a pretty penny, even if you eventually end up hiring someone.

6.  Just Try It

You might consider this a cheap imitation of Nike’s “Just Do It.” tagline. I can live with that, so long as you save some money by following either of these two phrases of wisdom.

For many, the instinctive reaction whenever a deck board comes loose or a room gets unacceptably dirty is to call for help. This is one reason why the average American homeowner spends more than $5,700 dollars on home maintenance each year. By simply giving tasks a shot before calling the professional, you might shave a couple grand off that figure each year. 

7. Reframe Your View on Physical Labor

How many people pay someone to mow their lawn, then pay a gym so they can walk on the gym’s treadmill? We tend to compartmentalize chores as merely chores, which makes it easier to hand our hard earned money to someone else to complete those chores.

What if you didn’t view mowing the lawn as a chore, but instead as an opportunity to exercise and soak up some life-giving Vitamin D? 35% of American adults have a Vitamin D deficiency, and we’re paying for it in more ways than one (including in landscaping costs).

8. Purchase Car-Friendly Towels and Soaps

In a world gone mad by inflation, the car wash remains one of the strongest values running. $10 for a quick wash is a steal, but a full detail can cost significantly more.

Washing your own vehicle can be a money saver, especially if you need frequent washes. Rather than spending 4pm – 5pm on Sunday watching your twelfth football game (speaking to myself here), give your car a quick wash. Not only will this spice up your day a bit, but the habit could save you significant money in the long-term.

9. Clean Your Own Gutters

The important distinction, here, is that you should be able bodied and not balance-challenged. If you can climb a ladder, you can clean your gutters. There are some exceptions, including dangerously high roofs, but even then an able-bodied person can generally pull it off.

Considering that the average American homeowner pays $200 to have their gutters cleaned (and some homes are constantly inundated by falling foliage and debris), consider getting your thrills by climbing the ladder.

10. Buy and Apply Your Own Household Insecticides

Services like Terminix and Orkin promise to rid your life of pests so long as you pay the monthly fee (which can exceed $100). Anyone who has hired such a service knows that nobody can guarantee total protection from determined insects and rodents.

To be clear, an infestation is generally an urgent matter, and calling in the professionals is understandable. Even so, it will cost you, and there are countless products you can purchase directly and apply quite easily by yourself. In fact, some of them are the same products Terminix will charge you to apply themselves. 

11. Purchase Vinegar, a Spray Tank, and Kill Your Own Weeds

As herbicides like Roundup have gained attention for all the wrong reasons (cancer, killing bees), DIY landscapers have turned to 20% and 30% vinegar as a surprisingly effective alternative. 

As USAmericans continue to be mystified by their rapidly disappearing paychecks, let us reveal a secret. You’re paying someone to pull weeds for you! Are you willing to take a chunk of your downtime and spend it pulling the weeds you’ve killed with the vinegar solution? Because someone who values their financial security would be. 

12. Ask Yourself: Why Can’t I?

This is a general philosophical outlook tip, coming from someone who is decidedly not a philosopher. However, as someone who has learned to use various saws, put down flooring, and even hook up light fixtures, you have to ask yourself: Why can’t I?

Why can’t you paint the living room yourself, or cut down the dying tree out back? You may eventually find that you truly can’t do this chore or that chore. However, you should always begin with the assumption that you can do it, until proven otherwise.

13. Do Preventative Cleaning

Who can blame you for hiring a maid? You’re consistently staring at a floor coated in dog hair, a carpet littered with debris tracked in on dirty shoes, and clutter piled on every surface. But what if you didn’t have so much dog hair on the floor, dirt on the carpet, or clutter on the tables?

Implementing habits like removing shoes before entry, placing miscellaneous items in designated homes, and regularly brushing the dog can reduce your total crud factor, and may even allow you to fire the maid (they will understand).

14. Assigning Specific Roles and Setting Chore Intervals

Many of us wait for a problem to get out of control, then rationalize hiring a professional because the issue is beyond our DIY remedies. Whether you live alone or with others, setting expectations for upkeep, cleaning, and maintenance should help prevent any given problem from getting away from you.

Dad vacuums on Saturday morning. Timmy cuts the grass after school on Tuesdays. Tammy does the laundry (and cleans the filter regularly) on Sunday mornings. Mom cleans out the pool filter, and does a general inspection. Not only will this keep your place looking nice, but it will reduce the risk of costly emergencies and ensure no single person gets overwhelmed.