5 Free Things I Learned From YouTube: A Listicle

No blog is complete without a listicle. Everyone must have read some pervasive article about attention grabbing titles... so here's my first attempt at one on this adventure I call My Early Retirement Journey.

Intro. I was pretty late to the YouTube era. I don't really see the point. I generally don't watch cat videos or videos of people falling. Comedy or slap stick is not really my area of interest. When I watch TV, I want to be captured and I want to suspend disbelief. I want something to grab my attention for more than five minutes. That being said, YouTube and I have made contact for a few useful ventures. In an attempt to explore with my blog, I thought I'd start with my first listicle, 5 Free things I Learned from YouTube. It's very ...how you say... on-brand 😀. Here we go...

5 Free Things I Learned From YouTube
1. Dying my hair/ hair care. When I started graduate school, I tried out a new personality - that of a hot girl. I bought make-up and hair extensions. It was starting to get expensive and ombre was all the rave. I watched a few YouTube videos and decided to try to dye my hair extensions. It was actually kind of fun...in the end. I rocked those hair extensions for about 2 years.  As I'm learning, three easy steps are never just that. What the fashion vloggers did in a ten minute video took me about 3 days and I stained a lot of things including the carpet in my rental apartment. Oops.  I also learned other hair care tips. On the high end, I would say this saved me about $100/week.

2. Jump starting my car. One day during graduate school, my roommate and I met up at Olive Garden. Well I guess former roommate because it was fourth year and we were all in different locations. My former roommate and I met up at the Olive Garden in between our respective new towns. After lunch, we were chatting in the car with every intention of leaving soon. I had turned my car on in preparation to leave. We ended up talking for about 2 or 3 hours more in the parking lot and my battery died! I didn't have a smart phone and still don't. She did, so she looked it up on YouTube. We found out we needed jumper cables. We asked a few people in the parking lot without success. Then we asked one of the employees in the restaurant and behold! Our server had some jumper cables. Using YouTube we figured out how to hook up the cables between our two cars. Within 30 minutes, I was on my way! Thanks, YouTube. I would guess-timate this saved me about $100 for roadside assistance which neither one of us had at the time. I've actually had to jumpstart my battery several times in the ten years I've owned my car and in the last year or so finally added roadside assistance.

3. Cooking new foods/ kitchen hacks.  I like to try new recipes. Usually I look them up online and can follow a recipe. But for new or ethnic foods, I like to see a how-to video. From YouTube, I've learned to make stir-fry; salmon teriyaki many ways; how to use a Cuisinart grill...even bought one; how to caramelize onions in a Crockpot; how to shape and fry donuts; make churros; grate ginger with a fork. I've enjoyed watching other people's cooking shows. Thanks, YouTube! Estimated savings: say $50/cooking class...times at least 10 over the years = $500.

4. Using a paintbrush to clean a computer keyboard. I got tired of all the dust in my keyboard and those air cans are pricey around $6 to $10 a can. I saw online somewhere to use a little paintbrush to sweep out the keyboard. Works like a charm on my new laptop and external keyboard at work vs my crusty old personal laptop. Paint brush cost me about $2 or $3 and I've had it for about 3 years now. I would say this little hack saved me about $30.

5. Blogging technical tips. Just about everything I learned about using Wordpress, I learned from either the Rockstar Forums or a YouTube video... to name a few: moving Blogger to Bluehost; setting up drop-down menus; what Merge Top Menu means; using Cloudlfare; figuring out Headers; coding; different plug-ins in Wordpress; even some Blogger tips like changing the blocking color and font on my theme; moving back to Blogger. Thanks, YouTube! Savings: priceless.

So, what are some of the things you've learned from YouTube? Comment below and start the conversation. I urge you!