The lack of shop classes in junior high school(wood working,metal shop,home economics) and later in high school (auto shop,and electrical shop),has lead to a shortage of people who can do things with their hands,not everyone will become an IT wizard.If a father never learned how to do something, then neither will his son. Although today's newer cars are making more difficult for maintenance,the scene of dad working on one of the family's cars with the kids watching are becoming fewer and fewer.

I built my house and do car repairs up to engine replacement, also I'm an avid woodsman and ex BSA leader so I have food,supplies and skills to last a few weeks if a major crisis hits. In nursing school currently. I just feel safer but realistically I've accumulated a lot of crap I don't need and waste time repairing things it would be cheaper to replace or I would be better off without.

It comes down to how you were raised I was taught all those skills and more how to cook sew and other skills that women should know by my mom and grandmother and how to work or cars build a house and and home repair amongst other skills by my dad my summer vacation ended at age 10 every summer after that I became cheap labor If your parents only had a certain skill set you as their child learned those same skills my ex wife was raised by a kept women and never learned those skills my mother in law was mad because I taught our kids certain things what it boils down to is other people's kids I agree those and other skills are useful to have for example my brother in law had his house built paid 300 think for it I built almost the exact same house for 60 think good for you and your parents and other family members for teaching you some life skills

You are my kind of human. When I was younger and had no money I prided myself on learning every tangible skill I could. It saved me money and also built a base knowledge that factored into future success. I am older now and have more money but still fix a lot of things. (Most recently I hand sewed a pair of $20 sweat pants and did a small patch of brick pointing on my house and saved $500). I hate being helpless and dependent on others, especially strangers who want to charge you the highest amount they think they can get away with.

I think basically alot of these skills are necessary yes, i know how to change oil yes, but not on my current car, where i live i have nowhere to put used oil and don't wanna deal with putting it in some platic bottle then take it to a shop, its better off with a newer car if you don't know how to do it, let the people at a shop take care of it. Ive never known how to sew or machine sew either, basically was not on the top of my list of necessary things to know

Rather do it myself but have neverbeen able to sow no matter how much i try . Its all to do with the throw away cultur so the rich can keep bleeding you of your cash

I will never pay anyone to do a job I can do myself, and I've taught myself pretty much everything that I need doing. Generally I make a better fist of it than the people who take your money to do it for you because I actually care about the end result. I think mine is the last generation which has taken self-reliance for granted. I look at younger people now and most of them don't even know how to build a fire.

So much emphasis has been put on having college degrees and such that basic life skills have been undermined. It truly is a shame, and , should it ever happen that modern life as we know it came to an end, those are the people who would not stand a chance, yet they choose to ridicule and demean people who survive by such skills.

Cooking is a basic life skill. In my profile, I wrote:

"Although I'm a good cook, I want a man who also cooks. Everyone loves to hear those magic words: 'Dinner is served.'"

At 64, I have met a number of men who never learned to cook. They want a "mommy" to do all of the grocery shopping, meal planning, cooking, laundry, and cleaning... and great sex.

I'm not willing to be a kitchen slave.

I had AAA when I was in the US, and an inexpensive handyman on call, but I can sew things for myself and fix most simple things, as long as I don't have to get oily.

Because people feel entitled. Its a whole game of alternative truth marketing and that destroys civilizations. I have the same problem, people are still teaching me, no matter how much I push them back. I have been a victim of sales people, marketers in the worst way. They want people to act rich and became slave of there product, so they can be rich and you work for them. I agree with you people need to do there own chores. Even if I grow my own food, I will still go out to eat, and splurge. We where raised on power of hard work, not spending day and night praying and then scaming others. I do it myself and tell others to learn then waste time harassing me.

I think it's great you can do those things! I am just too lazy to be honest. I never liked sewing but can put a button back on. Keep doing what you are doing and kudos to you for saving all that cost for doing it yourself!

Spark plugs?

How old is your car?

I'm just a DIY type of guy, I love getting my hands dirty.

Excellent Gypsy. Learning these skills will save you probably $hundreds of thousands over your lifetime, money that if saved and invested will help you in retirement and actually improve your standard of living throughout the years. My washer, dryer, and lawn mower are 1981 vintage. With maintenance and ability to make small repairs they still perform very well. My cars are 1979 Capri (same as Mustang) and '94 Explorer, also much earlier collector cars. I can keep them running forever. New cars are a very poor investment, as soon as you drive it away from the dealer you've lost $3-5000. Yearly depreciation is very high. Your insurance costs are much higher. Did you finance for 72 months ? You're wasting many $$ on interest and the car will depreciate faster than you pay it off. The schools are not teaching money management and financial sense. I can do my own taxes yearly for free using TurboTax and can actually do a tax return without their help. Though I use credit cards I have not paid any interest in about 15 years. I get paid twice a month and pay credit card balances online, in full, twice a month. Trying living within your means !

I think you somewhat answered your own question. Many prefer to pay or just buy new. Some just have a skill that can trade or swap skills for. I have a brother-in-law that swaps services with people.
Many have to prioritize where they spend their time. I don’t know how to sew but the time it takes to do that could be used for things that would make me more than doing that myself so I don’t mind paying someone to do a better job than I could do myself.

I can sew and always fix things around the house. But cars are a mystery to me. I just bought my first car and I don't know what is happening when it makes a noise! I wish I knew. I'm considering doing a car maintenance course, but the cost and most of all the time are barriers to this. Why don't I know about this stuff in the first place? Because my parents don't, either!

I'm with you. I will spend a couple of hours learning a skill that I retain for life rather than pay someone. Not everyone is good with their hands, so this is not for all. I have a pretty diverse skill set from this. Also for the mechanically inclined, don't forget about YouTube! Lots of stuff out there that can save a handy person a ton of time and money.

I guess I'm an antique as I grew up having to do all those things. My daughter who turns 21 next month knows how to change tires and simple maintenance but cars are much harder to work on than they were 30 years ago. I could change transmissions and brakes and engines but now it's just not worth it. My body won't allow me to do a lot on cars but there's still a lot of general maintenance around the house l do.

It used to be normal to learn these skills. We picked them up in Home Ec, 4H, etc. I found out the next generation couldn't even change their own tires. Somewhere along the line the basic skills stopped being passed down to future generations. Value the old people that know how to do stuff while you can - when we're dead everyone will be helpless it seems.

I have AAA in case of flat tires or breakdowns; my son/dad advise on all else. Outside of that I can fend for myself. Sewing is a skill everyone needs! Also the basics of cooking, housekeeping, and paying bills.

I pay the seamstress $10 to hem my pants and it's worth more than that to me Like you, I also work on my car, except for engine stuff like timing belt. I tried teaching my 18yo daughter about basic car maintenance but she acted disinterested. Sad.

I spent twenty years turning wrenches. I taught myself how to sew at ten. If I didn’t do it, it didn’t get done. Most of my high school students couldn’t change a tire, much less mend a sock.

You recharged your aircon in your car? oh kudos to you. I wish you would teach me.