Changing your oil is a part of proper maintenance for any vehicle. However, if you’re paying others to change your motorcycle oil, than you are missing out on an easy and fun way to save money on your regular motorcycle maintenance.

Before you get started, you’ll need to collect a few simple items.

The first thing you need is a bucket or pan to catch the used oil. While they make special pans to do this, any bucket that will fit under your bike will work.

Next, you’ll need a wrench to remove the oil drain plug.

Finally, you’ll need some fresh oil and an oil filter. If you’re not sure what brand you need, go to your local auto parts store and they should be able to look it up for you.

Got all of your parts in order? Great! Let’s get started :)

A quick warning: Make sure your motorcycle has completely cooled before starting this or you could burn yourself on hot oil.

Step 1

Place your oil catch pan beneath your oil drain plug.

Step 2

Slowly remove the oil drain plug with your wrench until the oil begins to pour into the oil catch pan. Let all of your oil drain out. We’ll leave the plug out for now.

Step 3

Remove your oil filter by grabbing it with your hand and rotating it counter-clockwise. Once removed, place it somewhere safe where it won’t leak as it still contains oil.

Step 4

Replace the oil drain plug and tighten it down so that no oil will leak.

Step 5

Unscrew the oil cap on your bike and begin pouring the oil in your engine. If you’re not sure how much oil your bike needs, there should be an oil window on the lower part of the engine that allows you to see if it’s full.

Step 6

Ride your bike as normal. After a day or two, you should double check your oil level. Often times the oil may appear a bit low due to the oil filling up the oil filter. Just top the oil off and you’re on your way!

And that’s it! Saving money by changing your motorcycle oil really is a no brainer. There may be a small learning curve your first time, but by the second or third time you’ll be a pro!

Mike Long is the owner of MotorcycleInsuranceHelper.com, an online site dedicated to helping riders find cheap motorcycle insurance. When he’s not out riding his Aprilia RSV1000 you can find him posting his latest posts on his own motorcycle blog.

Some people find the task of home decoration to be a gigantic one and usually end up hiring a professional interior decorator to get the work done. Of course, leaving it to the professionals is the best option when decorating a home, but they are usually heavy on the pocket. Here are five ways to save money when decorating your home.

1. Compare Prices Online

One of the best ways to save money on home decoration is to compare prices online. Many home stores list their prices online, so even if you are not ordering your supplies over the Internet, you can find out whether the paint you want is cheaper at Lowe’s or Menards.

Browse the Internet and find the best deals. Check out other customers’ ratings and reviews about the retailer and the products you are considering. Make sure you check out the return policies and shipping charges if you are ordering online.

2. Do the Paint Job Yourself

Be resourceful and get involved in the home decoration process. There are a lot of things you can do yourself to save money when decorating your home.

Consider doing the paint job yourself. Painting your home allows you the possibility of creating innovative and personal designs as well. Another option is to put up wallpaper on the walls instead of painting them. That is an easy job that requires very little effort or creativity.

3. Furniture Repolishing and Rearrangement

Avoid throwing out all the old furniture while decorating the house. Old furniture might seem like a complete waste of space, but some easy fixes can make it as good as new. For example, you can fix loose hardware on old furniture and polish or completely refinish it. To give it a new look, you can choose a different type of paint or finish than it had. You can make an old sofa look like new by putting a new cover over it. These easy fixes can save a lot of money over buying new furniture.

4. Choose Inexpensive Flooring

Flooring is one of the most expensive costs you will run into when decorating your home. Fortunately, there are many inexpensive flooring options available now, which makes it easier to save money. The trick is to do a complete survey of all the flooring options available and then choose the one that fits your budget, is durable, and will look great in the room where you plan to install it.

5. Consult an Interior Designer

Though it might sound like an expensive option, this can actually save you a lot of money if you do it wisely. If you are hopeless at home decoration, then you can consult an interior designer to help you form a plan for decorating your home. Remember, you have the liberty of limiting the designer to reusing the same furniture and choosing cheaper alternatives to expensive ones. You can also do most of the actual work yourself once the interior designer has come up with a plan.

Chris is a french style furniture specialist with over 10 years experience. Chris also offers advice on french provincial lamps and chandeliers.

Everyone can use a little extra cash now and then, and some of us have talents that make it easy to save money or make money. The sad thing is that we might not even realize it. Would you consider yourself to be crafty or a do-it-yourselfer type? There are many different things you can do around your home that are not difficult to do. You can save some real money if you can do simple replacement of parts. If you are a crafty person, some people may be willing to pay money to have you create handmade crafts and if you are talented, you can make a side business of creating things and selling them.

Make Repairs Around the House

You can really save yourself some money if you are able to replace parts in items that break around the house. For example, say you have an Electrolux vacuum that suddenly is not functioning properly. If you can do the repair yourself without calling the repair person, you can save yourself a good bit of money.

All you really need to do is complete a Google search on the type of vacuum and you will likely find lots of sites that sell Electrolux Spares. A lot of times vacuums just need spare parts to be replaced in order to function the way they should. It is much cheaper to replace a faulty vacuum cleaner part with a spare than it is to buy a whole new unit. You might even do a Google search to determine how much time and effort it will take you to tackle the job yourself. If you see that the job looks like something a professional would need to do, you might still save money if you buy the part yourself because a professional would charge you to order the spare.

Another example of parts that might need to be replaced is if you have a little radio that has a part go out on it. You could just purchase a whole new unit, but if you are handy and are willing to do the simple task of replacing the faulty part, you can do the job yourself. If you have a Robert’s brand radio, a search forRoberts Radio Aerials can lead you to the piece that you need to get your radio working like new. Again, a spare part is much less expensive to replace than buying a whole new radio.

Are You Crafty?

Are you the type of person who likes to work with their hands? Not all of us are like that, you know. If you are able to sew, there are people who would love to have you create unique clothing and they are willing to pay for it! With a little creativity, you can find the type of people who enjoy clothing that is made by a seamstress. Or, you can even make money by offering services such as hemming and repairing. Some people have neither the time nor inclination to take on such tasks on their own, and with this economy they may be willing to pay someone who can help their clothes last longer. For these people, it is less expensive to have clothes repaired than it is to replace their clothes. And of course, you save money on your own clothing when you can repair it or even make it yourself.

So consider yourself fortunate if you possess the skill to do crafty or handy things like repairing and sewing. Your skills can be used to your benefit when you save money or make money by doing things yourself or selling your services to earn a little income. Who couldn’t use a little extra money?

Everyone has dreams of home ownership, but it can also be very frustrating. In today’s economy when you are trying just to make ends meet, how in the world can you hope to save money for a down payment on your dream home? While it is a difficult process, using some discipline and making some changes in your lifestyle can help you make your dream come true.

Eat at Home More

Eating out is where many couples spend a great deal of money, especially those who do not have children. They often develop the mindset that it is cheaper to eat out than to make food for just two people. While that may be true if you are speaking of a meal for just one evening, there is no reason not to make a meal for you and your spouse and either take the leftovers to work the next day or have them on another night. That doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself to an occasional dinner out, but if you want to save money for a down payment on a house, you need to limit those dinners to a maximum of once a week.

Stop Using Credit Cards

This is another area in which couples have a weakness. Develop the mindset of only paying cash unless it is an absolute emergency. What identifies an emergency? Things such as your car broke down, and you don’t have enough money on hand to fix it are justifiable reasons to use a credit card. The new outfit that you just have to have that is only on sale through today is not an EMERGENCY! The more you charge, the higher your payments will be; that means less money you will have to save for the down payment on a house.

Make a Budget and Stick to It

Living on a budget is also a very difficult thing for many young couples to do. Many seem to want to live from day to day and thus develop the unhealthy habit of living from paycheck to paycheck. The sooner you get out of the habit of doing that, the easier it will be to live within your means.

Force Yourself to Put Money in Savings

If you want to buy a house, you have to learn to save money. One of the easiest ways to accomplish the task is by having money deducted from your paycheck and deposited into a savings account. Of course, you have to teach yourself that the money is there for your future home and not for anything else. The idea behind the money coming out of your paycheck is you don’t miss what you don’t see.

About the Author: Brenda is a full-time writer and blogger with a passion for personal finance. She is also a regular contributor at CreditLoan.com.

Unfortunately, today’s society is often described as a disposable society where products are often discarded rather than repaired. This is often due to the convenience of simply purchasing a new item rather than replacing the old and sometimes even the cost. In addition, it can often be difficult to find professionals who are able to repair the product in question. This is not the case with bathroom fixtures and fittings. High quality repairs offer a viable and preferable solution to replacing an entire fixture or fitting, or even an entire bathroom.

The most obvious cost saving delivered by repairing rather than replacing is the purchase price of the new fitting. By repairing the item, the need is eliminated to buy a brand new fitting at great expense to the homeowner. In stark contrast to the cost of new fittings, a shower tray repair is extremely cost effective and provides excellent value for the money. What is more, with the development of new repair techniques, bath repairs are entirely invisible to the eye, restoring the bathroom to like-new condition and ensuring the structural integrity of the fitting.

A considerable cost in the installation of new fittings is the labor. Since most fittings or bathrooms take a minimum of a couple of days to install, the labor costs can be extensive. However, a shower tray repair can be completed within a couple of hours, delivering significant labor cost savings to the homeowner. The period for which the fixture is out of action is significantly reduced when compared to replacing the fitting. The fixture will be ready to use as soon as the repair has set. This will minimize the disruption to the home during the renovation process.

Finally, homeowners will not have to face the considerable charges associated with the disposal of old bathroom fittings. With local councils introducing new measures to encourage people to be more environmentally aware, the cost of disposing of old fittings is continually rising. Bath repairs allow the old fixtures to be reused, thereby eliminating the need to dispose of any old fittings. Therefore, the cost and inconvenience of disposing of an old bathroom is removed and in addition, a more environmentally-friendly solution is reached. Since the repair is totally invisible and structurally sound, no compromise is made in order to save money and benefit the environment.

The choice of a shower tray repair over the replacement of existing fittings can deliver significant cost savings to the homeowner. The requirement to purchase new, replacement fittings is removed entirely, delivering substantial cost savings from the outset. Moreover, the associated labor time and cost is driven down by using bath repairs rather than replacing the fittings. Finally, disposal costs are removed entirely by reusing the same fittings rather than installing new ones. On top of the cost savings are the benefits delivered to the environment, which are provided without compromising the quality of the repair.

This post was written by Crispin Jones on behalf of Hometech. Crispin writes on home improvements, DIY and property development.