One of the best ways to increase your income now is to learn to do things for yourself rather than paying others. I recently repaired the power window mechanism on the driver side door of my pickup truck and replaced pins and bushings in the hinges on that door. My total parts cost was less than fifty dollars. Had I taken it to a body shop it would have cost hundreds and that would have been paid with after tax income so the real cost is considerably higher. I do my own plumbing, electrical, carpentry, landscaping etc. I own a lot of expensive tools but they are cheap compared to the cost of paying someone with after tax dollars knowing that the people who receive your hard earned money must charge you more because they have to pay taxes on what you pay them. Anyone who has to hire someone for every repair or building a simple deck etc. needs to have a very large income.
“One of the best ways to increase your income now is to learn to do things for yourself rather than paying others.”
I wished that I had taken a basic electrical course and auto mechanics course after I retired.
I stay away from complicated repairs in those two areas.
In other areas, I have developed some good Rube Goldberg techniques that work and save money.
The first year of retirement, I didn’t work, and did a lot of household projects. My youngest son and I painted our 2700 square foot house for the cost of the paint and an pro electric paint machine. That saved thousands of $’s, and my son learned some excellent skills and kept me off the ladders. I paid him double minimum wages.
When, we first moved into our current house, we needed several hundred feet of French Drains. Both sons and I dug up about 2K’ of ground, laid the sand, gravel and drainage pipes and saved thousands. I paid them adult minimum wage, saved thousands of $’s, and decades later the system still works great.
I do all the maintenance and add on with our kayaks and fishing boats and trailers.
One of my BIL’s is great with auto repair, and he trades his skills with friends/neighbors/relatives for skills he doesn’t have or jobs, he doesn’t want to do.