Preppers often teach themselves self-sufficiency skills solely based on the premise that if the SHTF they’ll find themselves wishing they’d taken the time to learn those skills.  Yet there are many self-sufficiency skills that, once learned, will actually start to help make preppers’ lives easier immediately. In the case of a doomsday, apocalypse, natural disaster, or national/international economic crisis, these skills will definitely play a vital role in aiding a prepper, but there’s absolutely no reason why these skills can’t begin working for a prepper from Day 1 all the way to the end.

The following are 10 self-sufficiency skills which, if you take the time to learn, will allow you to save a bundle on future financial costs and expenses. Saving money here and there can help you with other preps that may be financially demanding. Besides allowing you to create a safety net of stashed away money, just in case you lose your job for instance, extra money can help you to easily build up a stockpile, especially if you happen to be on a tight budget.

Without further ado, 10 self-sufficiency skills that, if learned, will save you a bundle of cash in the long run:

1. Gardening

We all know why gardening is a wonderful way to save money: it’s a great way to cut down on your food bill. No news here, but the sooner you get started, the sooner it can start working for you.

2. Canning/Preserving

And of course what do you do when you’ve got all those fine fruits and vegetables growing in the garden and there’s just too much to eat? Learn to can and preserve. That way, you’ll be able to enjoy them for months and months to come.

3. Home Repair

You only have to be a homeowner for a little while to realize just how costly home repairs can get. If you can teach yourself even simple things, like how to unclog toilets or switch out broken doorknobs, you can save yourself quite a bit of money here and there. If you can teach yourself how to lay down your own roof, even better! Just be careful not to try anything too dangerous (you might not want to play with the electrical wiring unless you really know what you’re doing); remember, your health is more valuable than money in the bank – and health care fees are expensive!

4. Sewing

Although you may not be throwing money at a seamstress for patching up those holes in your clothes for you, if you learn how to sew, you’ll likely be willing to keep your clothes for longer. Patch ‘em up and throw ‘em back on if they’re still good otherwise.

5. Bicycle Riding

Now this one really helps if you’re willing to use your bike instead of your car: think of all the gas money you could save. Bike riding also increases your fitness level, and so will indirectly help reduce healthcare costs as well.

6. Wood Chopping

If you’ve got a fireplace in the house, being able to chop your own wood will help you to significantly cut down on heating costs in the winter. Of course you’ll need to find some wood to chop, but here’s to hoping there are some trees in your backyard that will be game. Like bike riding, chopping also increases fitness level, which reduces personal healthcare costs in the long run.

7. Cooking

If your cooking skills need a little brushing up (or are practically non-existent like mine are!), learning how to cook properly may end up saving you quite a lot of cash in the long run. Learning this skill will particularly benefit you financially if no one else in the family knows how to cook, or if the family prefers eating out because the meals at restaurants tastes better. Learn how to cook those special dishes at home and you can easily begin to reduce the cost of your restaurant expenditure.

8. Hairdressing

No matter how little you spend on haircuts, there’s always some money to be saved if you learn how to cut hair yourself. If you’ve got a big family, with lots of family members who need their hair cut often, this skill is likely to lead to significant savings. Sure, you might mess up the first time, but hair grows back, and once you’ve mastered the art of hairdressing, you may find you like your cuts better than cheap hairdressers’ cuts anyway.

9. Animal & Pest Control

Getting those pesky raccoons out of your shed or shooing the bats out of your attic may feel like quite an unpleasant job to have to muster, but if you can stomach dealing with your animal and insect issues on your own, you’ll be saving yourself a lot financially. Though you’ll definitely want to call someone if you have bed bugs, you can probably muster up the courage to deal with wasps and mice on your own, with a little help from Raid and some mouse traps that is.

10. Vehicle Maintenance

Although being a regular greasemonkey would certainly lead to huge financial savings, you don’t have to know everything about your vehicle to save yourself a pretty penny. Learning how to replace your car’s tire, or even how to change the oil, is enough to save you some cash for years to come.

What are some other self-sufficiency skills that you’ve found help you to save? Do you use a good number of the ones listed above to help you keep your financial expenses low from month to month? Let me know in the comments.