My Top 5 Affordable Ways to Educate Myself

It is no secret that college can be expensive, but luckily there are many other affordable ways to educate yourself. Many decent-paying entry-level positions ask for just a certification or license of some sort in order to get started.

Although secondary school might not be within the budget range now, that doesn’t mean we can’t start filling in some skills to our personal repository: the handy-dandy brain. None of the options below are accredited, but each one is affordable for even tight budgets! Here are my 5 top tricks for affordable ways to educate yourself!

This blog has been updated with an affiliate link. This means that, at no extra cost to you, if you so choose to participate in some of the learning opportunities here, we at Kyrabe Stories may receive a commission as gratitude from the partnering companies. Thank you sincerely for your support and for your desire to learn and grow! I hope you enjoy the blog!

1. Audible

Do you have a stack of books that you’ve been wanting to read but haven’t found the time to commit to a few chapters each day? Here’s an amazing solution that I personally use almost every day: listen to the books! Okay, that does sound a bit weird, but it’s way more convenient than one might think. 

Audible is like a digital library full of recorded books. The app allows us to search specific categories or browse through recommendations of popular releases to download and listen to at our own pace.  

Let’s say it takes at least 30 minutes for you to commute to work, school, community services, anything! For a round trip, that’s an hour of “reading” you have accomplished by letting an audiobook play instead of listening to the radio! On top of that, let’s say you only listen to the book Monday through Friday.  You have now knocked out FIVE HOURS OF A BOOK just from traveling from point A to point B and back! 

Just a Heads Up: Make sure to check the price of an Audible book before using your credit. If the book you are interested in is less than the $14.95 monthly subscription, it’ll be best to purchase it yourself and to save that credit for a price match or a more expensive book. No point using a full credit for a $5 deal!

2. Thrift Book Stores

Anyone up for a treasure hunt? Thrift bookstores are an amazing way to find books on various topics at less than half the price than we could have found it new at a popular chain. Granted, some books at a thrift store might have been shown some…tough love…in the past, but most tend to be in really good shape with minor notes or highlights written inside. For example, I found the CompTIA Network+ book that’s normally priced at $60 for just $10 at Best Used Books in Longwood, Florida! That is WAY more of savings than I was expecting!

Just a Heads Up: It can be a little challenging in any thrift book store if you are looking for a specific book or edition. If this is the case, ask the employees first if they by chance have the book before you go looking for it. Finding something “specific” can sometimes feel like finding a needle in a hay stack, but if you enter this wonderland of knowledge with an open mind, I’m positive you can find something of great personal value. 

3. LinkedIn Learning

Formally known as Lynda, LinkedIn Learning has become the site to learn different skill-sets at your own pace for just $29.99 a month. One thing I love about LinkedIn Learning is the “Learning Path” function where a handful of videos of related topics are collected together into a nice little playlist. This way, I can learn what I want without wasting countless hours searching for a particular topic. Even better, LinkedIn Learning offers Certifications of Completion for each course that can easily be added to one’s LinkedIn profile!  This is a great way to show off self-motivation and self-improvement as well as to add skills to any resume!

If you don’t have an account and would like to try a free trial of LinkedIn Learning, visit https://kyrabestories.com/LinkedInLearning

Just a Heads Up: LinkedIn Learning is not accredited, so it won’t count towards any degrees you might pursue in the future. However, because LinkedIn is known as the social media platform for networking and connecting with professionals in the industry, earning even a Certificate of Completion on the site can still be beneficial towards proof of personal extended learning.

4. Udemy

This one is similar to LinkedIn Learning, but the primary difference is that instead of gaining access to all of the courses through a monthly subscription, we choose to pay only for the individual courses that we are interested in.

Personally (in comparison to LinkedIn Learning), I don’t care much for this method of payment since Udemy isn’t accredited either, but one perk that I still use is the site’s “free” catalog! For courses in fields pertaining to Business, IT and Software, Development, Design, Marketing, Personal Development, Photography, Music, and more, one can explore over 4000 free courses with multiple organized lectures within each one! Plus, we’ll still receive a Certification of Completion for each course completed. So that we’re not overwhelmed with the massive load of options, use the filters to assist in finding the perfect course! 

Just a Heads Up: If there’s a course that isn’t free but that you’re interested in learning at some point, place it in the wish-list of your Udemy account. During many holiday seasons, multiple courses will go on sale! You’ll be notified through email if your course (or a similar one to it) obtains a promo price! Points for saving even more money! 

5. Workshops and Conferences

This one is a little tricky because it requires a lot of research and possible travel expenses, depending on where you are located. If you live either within or near a big city, then this option might be good for you. Believe it or not, there are companies that will host free presentations. That’s right! FREE! Granted, I’ve had to deal with crazy parking fees, but that’s a different issue to tackle (maybe park at the nearest Walmart and UBER/LYFT the rest of the way, just saying).

Workshops and conferences offer a great learning opportunity for up-to-date industry knowledge and an awesome chance to network with potential clients/partners/employers. Even better, some of the longer presentations offer free concessions or lunch, so WIN-WIN, right!?

Just a Heads Up: About that research, make sure to look up the company or individual before attending! Accomplish this through a simple Google Search. Most influential personnel will have some type of social media presence nowadays. If it costs anything to attend, look up any reviews about previous presentations. Remember, if what they’re offering sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Beware of Pyramid Schemes.

That’s it for now!

By no means does the list ends here! There’s an amazing array of affordable ways to educate yourself including libraries and other online services! This is just an extremely summarized list of services that I personally use on a regular basis. I can honestly say they have been extremely beneficial to me. I believe these sources can be extraordinarily helpful for you as well. 

But what do you think? Do you use a service or go somewhere that offers you a great opportunity to learn in an affordable way? Please share your experiences in the comments below! If you have a friend that could benefit from this list, please share the post!

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Last but not least, remember to live life one story at a time!

Take care,  

Kyndall Bennett from Kyrabe Stories

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