The year of 2022 is almost over with roughly only three months left. With all the 2022 new year’s resolutions that you must have accomplished for the past months, you might be thinking what should you plan for the coming year. The past year has been a tough time for a lot of people which made everybody’s productivity reach an all time low. With that in mind, let’s all focus on creating a path to welcome a prosperous and blessing-inviting brand-new year. And what’s a better way to welcome a new year by learning new things! It is always fun to learn new stuff especially when they are essential to our daily lives. A great idea is to start learning basic independent living skills. There are tons of advantages in learning home economic skills. If you are looking to start making changes with your daily life by learning brand new skills then you are in the right alley. Read along as we enumerate one by one 13 basic homemaking economic skills that you can learn in 2023.
13 Basic yet important skills to learn to live independently
As the years passes by, people are changing, traditions are being updated to keep up with the times, and barriers are being shattered. Most people are trying to live a life of independence and following their rightful passions. A lot of the world population is looking for their own house and lot or condominium properties that you can be in-charge yourself. But being a homeowner is not an easy task and you can’t always rely on other people and services to do basic stuff that you can perform on your own. Some of these skills might have been taught to you back in high school and that’s if you were paying attention, but learning does not have an end and surely there’s no age requirement. The good thing about learning basic home economics skills is that you can get things done by yourself which is what independent living is all about. Imagine how proud you will be after fixing a leaky pipe in less than an hour rather than calling someone for help, plus it’s a great help when you are trying to save up.
You can start by choosing from these easy homemaking skills to learn for independent living.
1. Financial Management
Now it’s very timely to start with what’s actually the most essential one. Home economics skills does not only about try to learn how to cook or learning how to effectively clean your place, it is generally about learning how to be organized, independent, and learning how to make everything efficient. Learning how to properly manage your finances is very important but often overlooked by many. A homeowner with an organized and smooth financial management would be very successful in achieving other skills as financial management is the undercover foundation of every household. You can start learning how to manage your money by assessing your daily, weekly, and monthly budget and how does that list reflect with your income. From there, you can analyse the things that you should prioritize and the things that you can get some other time when the essentials are checked off the list.
2. Gardening
Gardening is one of the most popular home economic skills that a lot of people are interested in. It is because people are familiar with the benefits that starting a garden brings. Gardening comes in a lot of forms, you can start cultivating an ornamental garden that is filled with seasonal flowers and colourful blossoms, or you can start your own garden of vegetables and medicinal plants. One of the best types of gardening that you can do in your home is starting an herb garden. Herb gardens can be done inside or outside your home and having one is a good idea if you love cooking.
Read Also: Your Ultimate Guide to Watering Plants Indoors
3. Sewing
You probably had your first training on sewing back in high school during your Technology and Livelihood Education class so using a thread and needle shouldn’t be a stranger to you. But sewing is not always about simply managing to put threads into needles. Having an advanced skill in sewing goes a long way. Some people who had been learning how to sew can now create their own clothes or repair holes and tears to their existing clothing. Sewing can also become a business avenue. The good thing about sewing is that it is easy to learn as a lot of people are making tutorials and uploading content online, especially on YouTube.
4. Cooking
Cooking is one of the basic life skills that all people should strive to learn. Being able to cook on your own without having to look at a recipe every single time is an achievement. Learning how to cook is very easy as the steps are easy to understand and execute if you have been doing it a lot of time. And since cooking is one of the things that you do almost every day, you will definitely be doing it a lot of time. The nice think about learning how to cook is that there are lots of ways for you to learn, whether be it by having lessons from your parents, or following your favourite cook books, or even by looking up recipes and tutorials online. Since cooking is an essential life skill that you do almost every day, learning to be better is easy since you have lots of opportunities to practice and practice.
5. Plumbing
One of the most frowned up skill to learn is plumbing. You can’t really say that you are fully one hundred percent living independently when you can’t fix a simple leaky faucet. There are lots of plumbing services available, and it’s not bad to ask for help when things get out of hand or when the problem with your pipes require hiring an actual expert. But having the skill of knowing how to change faucets or fixing a clogged drain can be very helpful and efficient. To start having an idea on how plumbing repair works, you must first familiarize yourself with the plumbing layout and sanitary layout of your house, in that way you know the location of things that could require repair such as downspouts, clean outs, your property’s septic tank, and your water meter. Usually, your property’s plumbing layout can be found alongside your house’s floor plans.
6. Electrical repairing
Learning the basics of repairing electrical equipment is becoming more and more important each year. Although it is important to learn how to fix simple electrical issues, one must know that when it comes to learning this skill, the top priority should always be safety. That is why knowing the basics and safety precautions when doing electrical repairs is a must. Knowing how to repair electrical problems or having the skill to do-it-yourself some plugs or wirings is very helpful and essential to an independent homeowner. Having this skill means that you don’t have to call an electrician to do basic repairs because you can do it on your own with no sweat. In learning this skill, it is better to have it taught to you by an actual professional or an experienced person rather than just figuring it out on your own.
Read Also: Why Choose Inverter Appliances
7. Waste management
Yes, that’s right! Waste management is one of the homemaking skills that you should learn for independent living. Learning how to properly manage your wastes is not only helpful to make your house and lot as clean as possible but it also helpful to our environment. Waste management doesn’t only stop from separating your wastes from biodegradable to non-biodegradable. Waste management ranges from conserving water, making your own cistern, recycling or upcycling things that can be salvaged. Nowadays, the accumulated garbage of the entire world is doing almost irreparable damage to our environment and having the skill of managing wastes properly surely helps. Individual efforts might not be as impactful but it raises awareness and encourages other people to do so. When the entire community is informed and knowledgeable about managing wastes, that’s when you’ll see its impact and contribution in saving the environment.
8. Furniture making
For those who are in woodworking and love producing designs, furniture making is a great skill to learn. It is very satisfying to know that a piece of your home is made by you and not bought from a store. This is also a great idea for starting a business since not a lot of people are creating furniture and people nowadays are looking for custom-made stuff to fill their dream homes. Furniture making is a great avenue to release your creativity into the world and it is surely a skill that is cool to learn. Woodworks are becoming more and more sought out for these days.
9. Meal Planning
Meal planning are perfect for those people who are indecisive on what to eat every lunch time. It is perfect for saving time and having an overview of what you should spend with your budget. Having an organized meal plan makes it easier to identify the number of calories that you take each meal. Having a proper meal plan also reduces the risk of you just settling for fast food every day. Planning your meal is most effective to people who are working most of the time and doesn’t have the time to cook every morning. The idea is that you would have a meal plan for the week or whatever timeframe you can do. This meal plan can be prepared ahead and stored in the refrigerator and then you can just pack them into your bag and them heat them at work. Some meal plans are an organized list of what kind of food you would eat for a specific day, for example, on Wednesdays, you’d order a salad from the office canteen. Having a meal plan saves your time and also gives you an organized data on what you’ve eaten and what you should plan for the next days.
10. Doing laundry
Believe it or not, a lot of people still don’t know how to do laundry properly. And if you’re one of those people then maybe it’s time for you to familiarize with yourself with doing laundry on your own because relying it to someone isn’t independent living. Besides, laundry shops won’t be open all the time, and the time will come that you have to do it yourself. Doing laundry isn’t a skill that is hard to learn, you just have to learn the basics of how to wash different type of clothing according to cloth type or colour intensity. One must know how to do laundry on a washing machine and manually too. Learning how to do your laundry right, and with the innovations today with clothes-washing machines, can be a fun part of your weekly routine. What’s better than transforming a chore from something you don’t want to do into something you look forward into doing at the end of the week.
11. Baking
Baking is probably one of the most popular homemaking economics skill that a lot of people are striving to learn. The fact that the end result is very rewarding and can become a profitable business, baking is on the top of the list. Learning how to bake, just like cooking is an easy skill to learn since a lot of people are already doing it, there are now tons of resources that you can acquire whether in a form on in-person lessons or in baking books or even online.
12. Tidying Up
Minimalism had been on trend since around 2014. People are now being aware of the disadvantages and environmental harm of hoarding a lot of things that you wouldn’t even use twice. Learning how to tidy-up and organize your home is a skill that you can learn. A lot of tutorials and seminars are being done that talks about proper organization of your things. One example of this is Marie Kondo’s way of organizing and decluttering which you can watch on YouTube or Netflix.
13. Investing
The last but surely not the least, one of the homemaking skills to learn for independent living that a lot of people are overlooking is investing. We’ve come a full circle, from having a proper financial management into investing. Investing is a skill that everybody should strive to do whether be it investing on a property that you can keep as an investment or investing on top quality appliances to make your life easier and more efficient. Investing on the things that would last long is a great help in maintaining your property in top shape.
Investments on properties such as on house and lot and condominium properties is a great idea. Bria Homes offers affordable house and lot properties nationwide. What’s great about investing with Bria Homes is that you’re sure in good hands. The Bria Homes website offers services wherein you can browse through different properties whether by type of property or by location so you can spot the property that is nearest to you.
Here are only 11 from a hundred more homemaking economics skills that you can learn to help you live independently. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead, reach for that cookbook, blow the dust off of that sewing machine, upgrade your gardening tools, and start living the independent life.
Written by R.M
