I tried to make mayo once to save a buck. Let's just say it didn't go that well and that mayo is not supposed to be dark and orange. And don't get me started about Diy clothes. Tell me your stories (even the really bad ones, we may get tips on what not to do!)
I tried to grow my own vegetables! In the long run, it might work out, but the cost to build a box to grow them in, buy the soil, and seed, and fertilizer, and to water them every day just didn't pay off this year. I already have the box built so I'll try again next year, but so far, I think I have a brown thumb
Most of mine involve clothes. I never really learned how to sew; the only thing I can just about do is mend buttons. Trying to customize clothes… ha ha ha, nope. I suppose it may have sort of worked for a shabby aesthetic but it just didn’t look right on me at all. And since the stuff was more or less ruined I couldn’t even donate it. Had to throw it out, sadly.
We tried to grow a vegetable garden as well. It was a noble endeavor, I suppose, as we were trying to grow enough to share with our neighbors. However, we didn't know that we would need so many things to make it work. We ended up spending more than the harvest was worth. Now that we've got our soil to a better quality, we'll hopefully have a better result next year..
Acrylic nails on myself. I KNOW how to do it. Went to school for it. Doing a full set of nails on myself was a HORRIBLE idea, however! There are just some things you need to pay someone else to do for you. Same goes for when I cut my own hair. I can cut YOUR hair and make it look totally fabulous but I will gap mine up every single time.
We had a leftover granite that is good for a lamp table. We bought wood that was good for the 4 feet and the anchor to place the granite. It was done all right but not good to look at. My husband said it would be better if the wood was painted or varnished. But that would be an added expense. So we just put the table in the stock room.
I tried fixing my own laptop once before but I ended up just making more of a mess of it. Luckily it was a very old loop and I was already mentally prepared for it to be broken, but still I was kind of sad that I didn't get it to work because I could have had much more use for it like putting it in the living room to serve as a multimedia PC. It's not worth the money I'd have to pay to get it fixed either so now it's just sitting in my garage and I'm thinking maybe someday I'll pull out the hard drive and retrieve my data, after which I'll probably just sell the parts inside or give it away.
This is hilarious. Where do I begin on my DIY savings fails? Like @LeopardJones mentioned, a lot of mine include clothes. I spent years going to thrift stores, and then second-hand stores started showing up online and I did that too. It's always so inspiring when you find a gem, or you turn something from a mess into something very wearable. Thrifting isn't bad when you have free time, but if you're on a tight schedule, the failures hurt a little bit more! When I was in high school I repurposed so much of my clothing and at the time it was so cool. Now I look back and it's kind of scary! Also pretty much anything I try to cook is a DIY fail.
My biggest DIY fails are mechanical. I am just not mechanical and no matter how many DIY repair videos I watch and how close I get the laptop to the project at hand I am just not a repair person. The last thing I attempted was a YouTube washing machine repair. I probably spent more in parts replacing things it could be and wasn't than I would have in a service call. The videos are great don't get me wrong it's just that I never have quite the right tool or quite the patience that the instructors seem to imagine I have.
I tried making polymer clay jewelry. I thought it would be a good way to make some extra cash but it was really hard and boring. My first attempt burned. My other pieces came out with my finger prints, weird shaped and not anything like the pictures. It takes a really crafty person to make those beautiful pieces.
That's exactly why I never attempt to do much at home, unless it is 100% foolproof LOL I leave everything to the professionals. I once tried to dye my own hair at home. To my horror, my hair turned blonde, when I was actually going for a lighter shade of brown! I followed the instructions to the letter, too. My hair subsequently became very dry and brittle, to the point of snapping and falling. So I had to cut it and start all over again. Never again.
