I shared eight things I wish people would have told me when I was in high school in a recent presentation. I will be sharing number three today.

•  Get as much free knowledge as you can.

Rather than spending a lot of money to learn a new skill, first we go to the library or the internet to learn as much as we can for free. Yes, there is a lot of bad information out there (just try running your chickens in your garden and you will see what I mean!), but there is a lot of good as well. After doing some research, if it still interests us, we start by counting the cost. Then if it makes sense financially, we start experimenting on a small scale (okay maybe that’s what we should do at least). If this new skill requires special equipment or tools, I will start by looking at Facebook Market Place or Craigslist and often find a good deal on what we are searching for. Sometimes it makes more sense to buy these items new. It may take some money to buy a tool or supplies, but if we have counted the savings, we will know if it’s worth it. If we like doing something, then we may want to invest some money into learning more about it, or more importantly how to become more efficient at it, because let’s be honest, you get what you pay for. If we start doing this new skill and don’t enjoy it, we aren’t out much.

Not many people want to talk about this, but let’s be real, you can spend a lot of money learning a new skill.  Too often what happens is we are encouraged to get educated before we even know if we really like doing something. When we get done and put that education to practice, we may find that we don’t enjoy doing what we thought we would love, or even worse, maybe there’s no way to create an income with this education. Then we get done and we often don’t get to do what we want because we have become a slave under a mountain of debt.

Thankfully my husband and I both paid for our education (which was very affordable) as we went along and didn’t have debt when we were done. Many of the skills we have implemented on our farm had to be learned, but didn’t cost anything. We didn’t grow up milking cows, making soap, tapping trees, growing food, raising animals without medications on pasture, creating food from scratch, repairing things, or doing most construction projects. These skills have all been learned slowly over time (sometimes very painfully). It has been very time consuming to sift through all the information on the internet, but it has saved us a lot of money in the long run.

Because we know how time consuming it is to learn a new skill, we are very motivated to pass these on to our children. We use meal times, driving, and every day experiences to share this knowledge or wisdom with our kids. These skills will help them to save money or potentially create a business for one of our children. I know I could always do better, but one of my main goals is to make sure our children know how to create highly nutritious meals for their own families someday. Eating nutrient dense, highly digestible food has improved our health and energy and saved us the most money. To accomplish this, I assign one meal per week to each child. The little ones are my “helpers.” Everyone has to plan and prepare the meal as well as learn to put away their things as they are going. I have had to learn that things aren’t always going to be the way I want them, but it teaches me flexibility (something I can always improve on). My husband is good about grabbing a child to show them how to maintain our vehicles and equipment, fix something that is wrong, or build something. Of course, there are going to be things we need to pay to learn. Most people wouldn’t let me “learn” brain surgery on them, but maybe I start by volunteering at a hospital to see if I even like being around and caring for people. Are there skills that you have gained as a child or learned that you are so thankful to have? We would love to hear from you!