10 skills you wish you'd learnedYou may not have been paying attention in school when subjects like home economics and keeping a budget came up, but it's never too late to learn.
By Melinda Fulmer
MSN Money
How hard can it be to sew on a button or iron a shirt? Not that hard, actually. But for years, many of us outsourced those and other basic life tasks to others. With cash flowing freely, we didn't feel the need to fend for ourselves.
Now, however, many of us are relearning those skills taught in high school home economics -- things so basic it sounds a little pathetic -- like how to fold clothes, cook dinner and clean. (Demand is also surging at the country's only escape-and-evade class, in case society takes a lawless turn, but that's another story.)
Given our newfound interest in self-reliance, what basic knowledge should every adult have? A cadre of home economics teachers offered a short list of things we should all know how to do when we grow up. And it turns out they now teach kids about more than cooking and ironing.
Here's what they came up with:
1. Make minor sewing repairs or alterationsNo, you don't need to sew your own suits or make decorative throw pillows. But for only $2, you can buy a sewing kit and be your own tailor -- sewing on buttons, mending rips and hemming pants (a sewing machine does this particular job a little better, but it's not a necessity).
Knowing how to add an extra hook to a pair of pants or to correct a gap in a blouse can make them fit better, so you'll wear them more. Learn how by watching video at sites like eHow.
Cost of a sewing kit: $2
Cost to replace buttons on a shirt: $6
Professional hemming: $9-$12
2. Craft a household budget and balance a checkbookMany of us fail to reconcile our bank statements -- even though software like Quicken and free budgeting sites like Mint.com make it a snap. Even fewer of us bother to save our debit card receipts and record those transactions.
But that's something Tanya Wright of Pitman High School in Turlock, Calif., teaches her students in a "Life Management" course, as a way to live within your means and guard against fraud.
Looking for an easy way to budget? Read "How much should you spend?" and "10 ways to simplify your financial life."
Cost savings: Around $27 per overdraft charge.
3. Make soupWhen the going gets tough, the tough go back in the kitchen. Certainly everyone should be able to read a recipe and know a teaspoon from a tablespoon. If you don't, head to your library and pick up a classic like "Joy of Cooking." But every home cook should also have a repertoire of dishes that deliver the biggest economic bang for the buck.
Soups and one-dish meals -- the staples of home-ec cooking -- let you do more with less. One key is using less meat and more vegetables, plus rice or pasta, to stretch the meal.
The basis of most soups is a simple "mirapois," a fancy term for a 2-1-1 combination of onions, carrots and celery. Add stock, garlic, beans, veggies or meat and you've got a meal, says Sandi Coulter, home-ec teacher at San Juan High School in Citrus Heights, Calif. Also see "20 healthy foods that cost less than a buck."
Cost of a big pot of lentil vegetable soup and a loaf of French bread: 75 cents/serving.
Cost of a can of Progresso Lentil: $1.79/serving.
4. Comparison shop at the grocery storeGetting a good buy at the grocery store or warehouse club depends on your ability to discern the true deal, rather than leap at the lowest price. (See "Secrets of superstar grocery shoppers" and "5 best -- and worst -- Costco deals.")
"I am amazed at how many people don't take the time to actually look at the per-unit price between the store brand versus the name brand, which screams 20% more," says MSN Money message board contributor Carefreeap. "It may only be a little bit of money each visit, but over a lifetime it can make a big difference."
Cost savings by comparison shopping: hundreds of dollars a year.
5. Take care of your own wardrobeThis means following the care instructions on your clothes -- yes, read the label -- and doing your own fluff and fold, rather than paying someone else to do it.
Learn how to iron a shirt, shine your shoes and treat spots on shirts and ties. These rudimentary skills will extend the life of your clothes and spare your clothing budget. See these 14 ways to make your clothes last longer.
Cost to iron a shirt: $0.
Cost of getting a shirt pressed at the dry cleaner: $2 to $2.50.
6. Clean your house with vinegar and baking sodaYou don't need a lot of different (and expensive) cleaners to clean and sanitize your house. These two dirt-cheap ingredients will do the trick for most surfaces.
"You can do mirrors with the white vinegar, and the baking soda is great for anything porous," says teacher Coulter. Indeed, baking soda is a great scrub for your tub or your body, our experts said.
If you don't like the smell of vinegar, just add a little lemon juice. That and a little fragrance are probably what you are paying for if you buy those expensive "green" cleaners.
Cost of a 67-ounce refill of Windex cleaner: $7.49.
Cost of a 64-ounce jug of Safeway vinegar: $2.48.
7. Bake in the microwaveTransferring some of your cooking and baking to the microwave (if you still have one) can cut your utility costs and your time in the kitchen. Wright teaches her students how to microwave a whole chicken in a casserole dish and even bake cakes in the microwave. The cakes don't brown as much, but who can tell under all that frosting?
Cost to bake a cake in the microwave, 12 minutes: 3 cents.
Cost to bake it in an electric oven, 30 minutes plus preheating: 12 cents.
Value of a cool kitchen in the summer: priceless.
8. Apply paintWhen your walls get marked up, and your furniture has moved beyond "shabby chic" to skid row junk, you should be able to do something about it yourself. A good sanding and a bright coat of paint can wring a few more years out of that old dresser or chair and help you salvage thrift-store finds. Get ideas at MSN Real Estate.
Cost of used dresser, knobs and paint: $80-$125.
Pottery Barn dresser: $899.
9. Replace filters and screens in your houseReplacing the filters in your air conditioner and furnace is routine maintenance you shouldn't pay someone else to do, Coulter teaches.
Buying filters and window screens at your local Home Depot or Lowe's is cheap. Buying them with a markup from a handyman or service guy, and paying for labor, is for suckers. See "Save money with regular home maintenance."
Cost of an air conditioning filter: $17.
Cost of a service visit to change your filter: $125.
10. Put together a résuméSure, a friend could probably help you -- if you can get them to make the time for it. But with so much free advice and so many samples on the Web, even high school students can come up with a way to make their babysitting jobs, team sports and volunteering sound like selling points.
"We teach our students how to put together a portfolio and résumé and practice job interviews," Wright says. "It gets them thinking about the kinds of things they can do and put on their résumé" in the years ahead.
If you never learned, start with MSN Careers' Résumé Center.
Cost to put together your own résumé: $0.
Cost of a professional résumé service: $200.
What's on your list?
Of course, this list is by no means complete. Readers on MSN Money's message boards also think every adult should know how to mow a yard, grow a vegetable garden, change a tire, wash and wax a car, and do his or her own taxes. (What are you going to learn to do?)
Brenda Burke, a teacher at Mount Whitney High School in Visalia, Calif., sees the long-term value in all of these lost household talents.
"If we all had these basic skills and we lived by them, we would be a healthier society," Burke says. "You never want to have to rely on someone else. You never know what life's going to give you."
Published July 30, 2009
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