10 important skills you can (and should) learn for cheap while you're stuck at home

Android Central Smartphone Photography eCourse
Android Central Smartphone Photography eCourse (Image credit: Android Central)

Getting stuck at home isn't such a bad thing. Of course, the coronavirus is nothing to take lightly, but while we're all practicing social distancing and staying inside for the next few weeks, what better way to spend your time than learning a new skill or two? The internet is a hugely important resource that you still have at your fingertips, and there's a few things you might want to learn before we all get back out in the world and everything returns to normal.

As a millennial, I've always enjoyed using the internet for self-learning. Googling can teach you how to play the guitar, how to code, or how to change your car's battery on your own, but it's always helpful to know where to look. That's why we've compiled ten courses below on important skills you can improve on without having to leave your home.

Whether you've wanted to take better photos, learn to play guitar, master a new language, become a better cook, or even tidy up your home, the ten courses below can make improving and enhancing your skills easy and entertaining.

Complete Video Production Bootcamp

Have you been dreaming of starting your own YouTube channel? Maybe you're a small business owner who doesn't know where to start when it comes to filming a video and creating a compelling advertisement with it. Whatever the case may be, The Complete Video Production Bootcamp at Udemy can take your editing skills from practically non-existent to an advanced level. It covers topics such as how to come up with video ideas, aerial videography with DJI drones, lighting professionally on a small budget, making a more engaging edit, and how to best share your video across the internet for the highest engagement.

Bartending Mastery - Cocktail & Bartending Masterclass

With everything going on around the globe this month, all of us could use a strong drink right about now. Luckily, this Cocktail and Bartending Masterclass is built to walk you through every step of becoming a bartender from the comfort of your own home. You don't need any experience at all to get started. Over the course of 80 lessons, you'll learn the safest and correct ways to handle bar equipment, such as how to properly shake cocktails or how to pour the perfect beer from a tap, along with important info like how to boost your tips and of course, the recipes and methods to making some of the most popular cocktails out there.

Tidy Up Your Home: The KonMari Method

If you enjoyed Marie Kondo's popular Netflix show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo from 2019, or her best-selling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, this course takes things a step further with video tutorials and step-by-step guidance to the KonMari Method of cleaning. You'll learn the philosophies of the KonMari Method, along with the basics of folding clothing, how to best store your belongings, and what it means to live a life that sparks joy.

Smartphone Photography: Take the BEST photos with your phone

Becoming a better mobile photographer doesn't require an expensive device with a fancy camera; composing the best shot really comes down to using your phone's camera properly, and with a little bit of guidance, you could be snapping some of the greatest photos you've ever taken within just a few short hours. The course utilizes a variety of supplemental material, from exclusive videos filmed just for the course to downloadable reading material, to mix up the program and keep things interesting. You'll learn about composition, software features, editing, and more tools you'll need to achieve stunning photos.

Rosetta Stone: Free 3-day Trial

This is the perfect time to learn a new language! You know it's something you've always wanted to do, and think how much your kids could benefit now from learning Spanish or French or Arabic. Rosetta Stone allows you to choose one of 24 available languages to learn for the free trial. Some of the features of the service include Phrasebook, which gives you the easy-to-learn and easy-to-understand things like expressions, greetings, phrases, and more, an Audio Companion to listen to and learn with offline, and TruAccent which gives you feedback on your pronounciation to ensure you're speaking the words correctly.

Web Developer Bootcamp

The most comprehensive course on this list takes you through a bevy of web development lessons, from HTML and CSS to JavaScript, Node, and more. There's no prior skills or knowledge needed beforehand either. The course features over 46 hours of on-demand video, along with 81 articles and 85 downloadable resources. That's a massive amount of information, and the best part is that the course is routinely updated with new information and skills. The course even walks you through building over 13 projects, including a complex production application the instructor dubs YelpCamp.

Essential Cooking Skills

Professionally trained chef, Viorel Copolovici takes students through the important steps of how to cook a great meal. You'll learn important preparation techniques, 17 in total, that every cook should keep in their arsenal via the 75 minutes of instructional videos included in the course. Among them include the correct way to chop an onion, classic cuts of root vegetables, tips on chopping herbs, how to blanch green vegetables, boiling dry pasta, making an omelette, and much more.

Complete Guitar System: Beginner to Advanced

Whether you're a complete beginner when it comes to the guitar, or you've been playing for years but just can't get to the next skill level you've been striving for, this Complete Guitar System course is built to improve your guitar playing and get you on track to becoming an excellent guitarist. Including nearly 35 hours of video and over 150 downloadable resources, the course takes you through step-by-step on how to play songs and master chords, scales, and guitar theory. There are a ton of exercises to help sharpen techniques like strumming, fretting, picking, and chord transitioning.

Learn How to Brew Beer at Home in 5 Easy Steps

If you love a good craft beer and like to cook, there's no reason why you shouldn't know how to brew your own beer at home. This course makes things extremely easy by taking you through five important steps you'll need to know. It comprises two hours of video and also includes three downloadable resources to keep handy. In the process, you'll learn the proper (minimal) equipment you'll need and how to use it, how to recognize what turns a good beer into a great beer, and mastering the art of fermentation.

14-day Yoga Detox + Empowerment Course

Two weeks is just the minimum suggested amount of time we should try to stay quarantined and practice social distancing. You can take things day by day with this 14-day Yoga Detox and Empowerment course, built to help you lose weight, get healthier, and become fitter in just two weeks. With the course, you'll have access to six hours of yoga video routines and sequences, as well as 12 detox smoothie recipes that would go great with your workouts and 20 weight loss secrets to help you get in shape.

Alex Smith
Alex is a graduate from the University of North Florida with a background in sales and merchandising. When he’s not hunting down the next great deals to post on Thrifter, he can be found making music and working on his eBay business.