[mikeyur]

The biggest part of building a bootstrapped startup is doing a lot of the work yourself. So if you're a web startup this means learning how to code.

Without money all you have is time. If you want to save money in life you need to figure out how to do things on your own. One example is changing your oil, if you know how to change your own oil you can save a few bucks over going to a mechanic.

[vaksel]

The oil example is a bad one. Yes you save a few bucks by doing the oil change yourself, but thats only true if you find the sale for $.99/quart oil. Otherwise the $14.99 oil change at a dealer is cheaper.

Then you have the time commitment, it takes you the time to drive to the store, shop and drive back and the time to do the oil change. Overall you'll probably spend an extra hour overall. Which is better spent working.

And don't forget, if you plan to be proper, you'll need to drive that old oil back to the store instead of dumping it down the storm drain.

So basically changing the oil yourself is not worth it. The only thing it gains you, is the ability to thump your chest and look down at all the "pussies" who can't change their own oil.

[cedsav]

I guess the point is that very early on, having $0, you're better off trading time for knowledge.

[anamax]

What dealer does oil and filter for $15? At least $35-40 is more like it for the least expensive (petroleum).

The franchises charge around $30, with occasional discounts to $25, and the independents are that.

It's easy to find oil under $2, but at $5/filter and $2/qt, a 5qt oil change costs $15. Most foreign cars take less oil and both the oil and filter price are high, so $10 is more like it.

So, we're looking at saving $15-20 after taxes for less than 30 minutes work.

If you want synthetic oil, you can save even more. Dealers charge >$10/qt for high-grade synthetics which are readily available for around $7 (and, if you pay attention, $5),

It's easy to always buy oil and filter on sale because oil changes are not a surprise. (You can take the old oil back when you buy new if your community doesn't have curb-side recycling - San Jose does.)

Is it worth it? That depends. What were you actually going to do with that 30 minutes?

[hs]

you save more bucks on product-creation-or-substitution than service ... let's call it "leverage"

cooking food is a good example, on average you can have leverage up to 10x over dining

generic drug is another, 2-50x leverage over branded one

chemistry ... up to 10000x -- i invested $3 for a kg of washing soda and citric acid (many use weaker base like baking soda and weaker acid like vinegar) which could last me a lifetime. now i rarely go to personal care (shampoo, soap, toothpaste) while at grocery

imagination ... up to infinity (free) -- coding, writing, entertain oneself, etc

changing oil is "service" ... as such, the leverage is low, 5x top

many say it's better to buy than make since you have to spend time making it yourself ... they conveniently forget that they too have to waste time buying (going to seller, making selection, putting order, waiting, paying, reordering)