Ask HN: What are good life skills for people to learn?

I disagree.

I would guess most of us have thought before, "I sure get paid a lot for what amounts to not that difficult of work."

Most professions are like that.

> I'm not going to start sewing my own clothes

My wife enjoys sewing and makes or alters the majority of her clothing. It's more work than buying, but the fit is better and she has fun doing it.

> doing maintenance on my car beyond maybe changing my own oil.

Lots of people are into car repair. Having delved into it a little in the past few years, you can get surprisingly far with a decent set of wrenches, some jack stands, and a torque wrench.

> What makes home repairs different?

They really aren't. If you own the house you live in, then why wouldn't a naturally curious person like most of the people here try their hand at some of the work?

It's a very easy thing to tip toe your way into and gradually build your skills.

Get a hammer, a saw, a tape measure, and a drill and suddenly the world is your oyster around the house.

If you want to hire a professional for every little thing, then great. That keeps them in business.

But most of the work is hardly beyond the abilities of the average person. Especially given that you can start with the easy things and build from there.

  If you can keep your head when all about you   
      Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   
  If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
      But make allowance for their doubting too;   
  If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
      Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
  Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
      And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

  If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   
      If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   
  If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
      And treat those two impostors just the same;   
  If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
      Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
  Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
      And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

  If you can make one heap of all your winnings
      And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
  And lose, and start again at your beginnings
      And never breathe a word about your loss;
  If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
      To serve your turn long after they are gone,   
  And so hold on when there is nothing in you
      Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

  If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   
      Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
  If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
      If all men count with you, but none too much;
  If you can fill the unforgiving minute
      With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   
  Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   
      And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!