There’s a reason I haven’t posted more this week. For the last couple of days, I’ve been moving my websites over to a new host. There wasn’t really anything wrong with my old host, but it was more hosting than I need right now.
So as of now, Media Temple is my new webhost. What does that have to do with Do It Yourself Frugality, you ask? Let me tell you.
I don’t have a background in technology. Everything I’ve learned about managing a blog has come from asking a lot of questions and doing a lot of Google searches. So the thought of moving Being Frugal.net and Bump-Drafts.com (my husband’s blog) scared me. I almost decided to pay somebody else to move my site for me.
The more I thought about it, though, the more I didn’t want to pay someone. First of all, I’m frugal. Second, I wanted my sites moved soon, and there was no way anyone could do it for me before the holidays. I didn’t even want to ask. That would have been pretty unreasonable of me. So I decided to give it a try myself, figuring if I screwed up, I could pay someone to fix it.
So, I found some tutorials on the internet and got to work. When I hit a glitch, my friends were wonderful about giving advice and encouragement. (Thanks, Mrs. Micah, Larry, Mike, Patrick & Pete!) And Media Temple’s tech support was really helpful, too.
To make a long story short, I was able to get my sites moved. It probably took me at least twice as long as someone who knows what they’re doing, but I learned a lot in the process. I’m not scared of ssh anymore, and I know more about DNS than I ever wanted to.
The bottom line is, often it’s good to try things yourself, even if you aren’t sure you’re up to the task. It might take you longer than a professional, but you’ll save money and learn a lot along the way.
Have you ever tried to do something yourself, when you weren’t sure you’d be able to? How did it work out for you?
Photo by derekGavey.
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Yes, I also had this experience when I first started blogging. I learned to edit my blog template first, then used that knowledge to build myself some personal webpages that were stored on my hard drive..then I moved my blog to a different host, then to my own domain. Scary? Yes. But, like you, I learned a lot. There’s nothing like hands on experience to teach yourself.
Congrats on doing it yourself. I felt the same way when I last changed hosts. It was a painful process but I eventually got through it and like you, I learned a ton in the process.
Welcome to MT.
I paid someone to move my sites. :)
But your way is the better way in the long run. I was up against a time crunch and ad several other things going on at the time. This is definitely a skill I need to learn though!
My DH and I are in our first home. We decided to see what was under the carpet and found Hardwood. So we have decided to refinish the floors ourselves. Neither of us have ever lived in a house with hardwood before. Then we decided to see if the hardwood continued into the dining room. The dining room had peel and stick tile on particle board. Once we got all of that up we found more hardwood. So then we decided to see if it continued into the kitchen. Well, 85 layers of peel and stick tile and linoleum later, we found…rotted plywood. So that became the number one priority. We installed a new subfloor and then put in a new floating floor. We are now on a first name basis with the tool rental guys at home depot. But you should see our new floor! It rocks and we learned a lot for our next house.
Good for you – you never know what you can do until you try :)
Thru research on the internet and my library, I learned a LOT of things during my home remodeling addition…. like how to set Tile, do drywall, spackle, and edible landscaping. Plus learning to can this summer with the help of a friend. And I painted my entire house, inside and out, all by myself… at over 50 years old….
New skills can be learned even by an older dog like me :)
Now, don’t you have such a sense of accomplishment for having done what you did? And didn’t you set a GREAT example for your kids by letting them see how you tackled a hard problem!!!
Congrats on ‘learning the ropes’! I have also found myself stumbling around when it comes things like this, but, thank God for Google! Happy Holidays!