My husband can do most things.

We're in a (small, not posh) Victorian semi, and when I wanted one of the repro. Victorian fires, he laughed at the price of them, and made one, by constructing a wooden frame to cast a concrete mold, which he then tiled to look like the period style canopy. He made a paneled surround & routered edged, scalloped mantelpiece & frame for mirror above, & paneled the alcoves & built cupboards in.

After being quoted over £1K for replacing the electricity mains box & rewiring (can't remember the proper term for it), he did it himself (which is illegal I suspect).

He learned to plaster because we were quoted an outrageous price, and these people who specialise tend to do a shoddy job often although they charge handsomely for their services.

Quoted £750 for laying decorative tiles on the kitchen floor & walls a decade back, he did it himself instead, but added proper edging which would have cost extra if a tradesman had done it. It looks good.

We had new kitchen cabinets installed at the same time. He said the plan they drew up was silly, so got them to supply all the different cabinet dimensions & designed it himself and fit in about 30 cabinets where they'd drawn up about 17 & wasted loads of space - then went ape-shit because if they'd done it as per his design, the wall cupboards edges would have been equidistant from the edges of the window, but they are about 2" out on one side because they cocked it up. (I wouldn't have noticed myself but he's a perfectionist)

He's redone the plumbing & installed central heating.

He also made the lined curtains, pelmet & tie-backs for the front room & made matching cushions (in the time that it would take me to suss out how to thread the sewing machine).

When he's doing a job, he often spends the first day or more designing & making tools that he can use.

Because the ceilings are about 9' high, he manufactured a slot together frame & platform for dealing with the ceiling over the stairs, for eg.

I've made wedding cakes for nieces that are far more intricate than ones I've seen being sold by professionals for £400 + a time on the internet.

So, while I appreciate your mindset, Apprentice, regarding learning skills, and it will save you bags of money doing so, from our experience I see that none of these skills are likely to keep you from needing to enter the rat race to survive in normal circumstances. Sorry.

Saying that, we'll never inherit anything. To the people who are accusatory about anyone 'buying into the system' by having a mortgage - I recognise that the interest rates applied will royally shaft you, but I want my own place. Our mortgage is over £1K per month (again, not some fancy mansion). But even if my own place isn't mine till nearly retirement age, I'll have something valuable to leave behind to my kids. So I don't disagree with any criticism of the system re inflated property prices & mortgage interest rates, but never the less, I want my own place, and it is an investment that will help my kids/childerick.

.

Gilly wrote:
You had yourself an abs all along

psketti wrote:
Yeah...sounds like a catch, don't he?

Maybe I was a bit harsh about getting shot of him straight away, Gilly...

the work in your house sounds lovely Gilly. Did you take before and after photos as you did the work? Victorian houses have heaps of character, although I seem to remember you have a dogdy NWO pyramid kettle. I hope you got rid of that!

LesleyPumpshaft wrote:
It's true, she does

psketti wrote:
I saw it. It was like when the elite tell you what's going to happen before they do it. I know Gilly was going to make tea.

.

Everybody has skills. Even monkeys that can remember a sequence of numbers shown to them for just 210ms

andyh wrote:
Yes, and I am that monkey!

How about you aplogise when I opened up?

Didn't deliberately take before & after pictures but there probably are some around - just before digital became all the range I spent a bit on an analogue (if that's the right term ) camera that takes photo's that are far superior to any digitals I've ever seen, so was resistant to changing.

Got lots of pictures like my girl as a sprog, with yogurt all over her head, and wearing a real wicked grin.

However, he (husband) was attracted to me because he said I was 'like a man' in that I could successfully manage a fairly large work force whilst simultaneously running a house well, i.e cook & clean . His abilities at just about everything were attractive to me. But I wouldn't have fallen for him if he hadn't also been very affectionate & attentive.

The minute we married, his personality changed, and I may have told you before, but he actually had the audacity to say, in all seriousness, "Thank God we got married. Now we don't need to bother with all that 'lovey dovey' crap anymore".

So, while I won't detract from his many fine qualities, he's a cold, distant shadow of a man.

The kettle was expensive and stopped working soon after I bought it, but I have a stainless steel one now that's more like a phallic symbol, and works nicely.

Gilly wrote:
Is that so

And more importantly.... is abs aware of the void he has to fill after that declaration?

Living on the minimum wage is another skill thats worthy of studying As the current wage trend is in a downward spiral.

Griswald wrote:
You're bloody right about that.

Do you mind if I write about that?

LesleyPumpshaft wrote:
Feel free to list all the skills needed.

Griswald wrote:
It would help people to know.

.

The Apprentice wrote:
Do you handcraft your own footwear?

If so please post some pics.

Even in the so called support systems, the government are removing by stealth access to some craft skill courses. As well as only offering other courses to fee paying students, before those on welfare payments, as a money making exercise instead of further education for those that seek re training in a new area. the access to skills based learning is being slowly closed down. Why........Because new skills set us free from a system that seeks to keep us as an ever increasing income stream for the system..
And we are constantly fooled by the cheap tat from the cut price conglomerates , aldi, lidl, ect selling us cheap vegetables. When they flog off cheap veggies at 19 cent a pack..................its the farmer who takes the cut on his prices, not from the profits of the company. So we are sticking it to the local producers.
I know many are pissed off here when they hear the word skills, but I,m passing on mine today to a young chap. he has saved over 2700 not needing to purchase a product from a salesman, because he repaired the malfunctioning piece under my guidance. He is currently employed as a government initiative scheme tutor, but wants to broaden his skills base as he is in the thick of governing bodies, and sees the disappearing opportunities to learn for his own benefit. And I will happily accomodate him, and others like him.

.......... wrote: Are you new?