DIY in hard economic times

Americans are used to convenience. Convenience is certainly a good quality. The problem is that convenience takes precedence over many other more important qualities for many people. As just one example, many Americans choose convenience over health with their food choices. It's the whole appeal of fast food.
Convenience relies on our monetary system. The reason we can do things conveniently is that money pays for it. We save time, but spend money. And we spend money on lots of things that we could do ourselves cheaper (and more healthfully). It's just that it takes time. It's a trade off between time and money. But the hidden cost of convenience is that it shifts your expectations of how long something should take. We fill our time with a lot more things to do. Doing a lot of things in a short amount of time can certainly have its virtues. But it really depends on what we're doing. If we are spending our extra time being lazy (i.e. watching TV), which convenience encourages, convenience is really robbing us of time. It also robs us of skills. It makes people less able to do things. Everything can be done for you if you have the money for it.
But if you don't have the money for convenience, you can still have things you want. You just need to spend time on them. In the process you become capable of more things. It's empowering to be able to fix your own car, or make your own pie. It can also help your self esteem. That is something this is slipping for a lot of people as they spend more and more time out of work. Time out of work gives you the time to learn new skills, and the time to do-it-yourself.
And what can you do yourself? Anything! Some things are costly, like welding, but plenty of things can be done relatively cheaply, or even free. You can make your own soap, cook your own soups, grow your own food, and sew your own clothes. You can make your own liquor or wine, you can build your own furniture, and you can design your own posters. And if you really want to weld, you might be able to rent or borrow the equipment for little to no cost. Being unemployed or underemployed is the time to learn to do these things, and the skills will last a lifetime.