5 Ways DIY Empowers Women

DIY is very empowering that’s for sure! I would probably have to admit that I am at least part way addicted to the feeling of stepping back and looking at a completed project that I did entirely myself. Pulling up to my home and it looking beautiful and complete entirely because of me is an AMAZING thing. Nowadays we’ve all really moved away from doing things ourselves so much so that its created a whole movement of returning to a more sustainable way of life. And you can’t live a sustainable way of life without doing just about everything yourself!

A truly wonderful perk about fixing something yourself instead of calling a professional is what you take away from that. The knowledge of how to do it will be with you for the rest of your life and that’s hard to put a price on.

At this point, after gutting my Grandma’s house, running all of the electric and plumbing myself and doing the majority of the other work myself as well I have finally reached a level of experience that nothing scares or surprises me anymore. When my mom or a friend calls me in a panic, I can grab my tools and simply fix it for them.

That’s the biggest one for me. The coolest way DIY has empowered me. The one big lesson I learned over the last five years of living and breathing it: EVERYTHING IS FIXABLE.

(This is a contributed post, for more information about my compensation please read my disclosure policy)

There are many women all over the country who have never ever donned the toolbelt. Whose mode of recourse when something goes wrong in the home is to turn to the local directory and call an expert. This is understandable, of course, but it’s also unfortunate.

Women may worry that getting into DIY will involve spending a fortune on tools, or that your efforts to take control of your household maintenance will only somehow make things worse. And, of course, there’s also the ever-present fear of failure. But as with learning any new skill, the risks are far outweighed by the benefits.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways in which DIY is extremely empowering for everyone, but especially women.

It builds creative problem solving skills that you can apply to anything

When you’re new to DIY you’re learning a new set of skills and adopting a mindset you might not have spent much time in since you first started your day job. We human beings don’t much like feeling out of our depth, but DIY can not only be really rewarding and therapeutic it can help us to build skills that can benefit us in every aspect of life.

DIY builds creative problem skills. It involves learning about how things work and finding ways to counteract the effects of wear and damage. And the skills built in DIY can help us in work, relationships… And pretty much everywhere else.

It allows you to do things you never thought you were capable of doing

It’s always empowering when you find yourself able to do something that you thought beyond your capabilities. From lifting weights at the gym to earning academic achievements to giving birth, women around the world are often capable of things they thought beyond them.

When you’re able to install vinyl replacement windows on your own or make repairs to your plumbing this can feel incredibly empowering. And what’s more…

It helps you to take control of your budget

You can usually buy all the tools you need at a fraction of what you’d pay to get a handyman or woman to lend their skills to a single job. And once you’ve got them… They’re yours for life. This can lead to years upon years of savings on labor costs. By getting the raw materials and carrying out the work yourself, you can take control of your carefully managed household budget.

It shatters stereotypes and preconceptions

Even in this supposedly enlightened age, women still encounter those with ridif views about what is and isn’t “for girls”. In empowering yourself with DIY skills you also raise a defiant fist against gender stereotypes, preconceptions and suppositions.

It puts you in the role of teacher

Finally, when we have these skills, we have the wonderful opportunity to share them with our friends, our partners and our children. In an age where younger generations are frequently criticized by their elders for their poor DIY skills, it’s really empowering to be able to help raise a more self-sufficient generation.

(This is a contributed post, for more information about my compensation please read my disclosure policy)