Homemaking Skills Save Money

Yes, I know many of you read the title of this post as said "Duh!" It's a no-brainer that it's cheaper to cook at home (healthier too if you don't add all the preservatives) and making or repairing things is always going to be cheaper, unless you get something for free but that's something you can't always count on happening!  But another homemaking skill came in handy for me recently.
At the beginning of this month my husband and I carefully planned out our budget (something that has taken YEARS of marriage and YEARS of financial struggles to get us to finally do) and we had rent, car insurance, water, and a ginormous electric bill to all plan for, all due in the same week!  Plus things like gas for the car and toilet paper and the like.  So it came as no surprise that we would need every penny until the next payday (I'm so thankful my husband gets paid every week!) After formulating and executing the budget, a lady from church called to confirm that I was going the baby shower the next day that I had already promised to attend.  Of course I wanted to go and share in her excitement and congratulate her and play silly games, but I had no money for a gift!  So I scanned my fabric scraps and nothing screamed "baby" so out came the yarn!  Most of my yarn is pink or purple, from projects for my daughter or nieces (most of those projects were, of course, never finished) and my friend is having a baby boy.  Hmmm.  I had a little blue, some yellow, and a lot of white.  The baby is due in December, so I wanted to make something nice and warm  I just did a single crochet with white (in case you're wondering, single crochet makes the loopy-thingies close to each other and keeps you warmer), edged that with yellow, and trimmed the outside with blue.  It was very simple (for someone who knows how to crochet already) and the lady seemed really impressed.  At the shower several people said "Did you MAKE that?!"  I really didn't think it was very impressive, but since it was the only homemade gift (another first for me, most baby showers I go to have a lot of homemade stuff!) I guess people thought it was nice that I invested time and effort into a gift (novel concept, I know).  I was thinking afterwords that if I hadn't learned to crochet years ago, I would have been stuck in this little situation and would have either had to sacrifice our budget, not have a gift, or not have something that looked like it was for a baby.  My daughter suggested I give her one of the baby's toys, which isn't a bad idea if it's in good shape, but the baby's toys are a little too "loved" for me give as a gift without feeling like a bum.