Learn New Skills Without Spending a Penny

For some, the COVID-19 shutdown provided extra downtime to learn new skills. Now whether that be a skill they’ll be able to utilize in the future (like a new language) or one that’s more fun than anything else (such as throwing a ping-pong ball over your shoulder sinking it into a cup), people have been utilizing their own creativity and online resources this summer.

Just because you didn’t jump onto the pandemic-learning bandwagon doesn’t mean you can’t start now! Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn a new language, but the Rosetta Stone price-tag kept you from committing? Don’t worry! Learning new skills doesn’t mean you have to break open your piggy bank. Teach yourself something new without even spending a penny with our resources below.

Get Harvard University Educated

Take a course on pretty much anything you can think of. Programming, health and medicine, non-profit finance, humanities, U.S. public policy, mid-century opera, rhetoric, neuroscience, and so much more is in their catalog! The courses range anywhere from 1 to 12+ weeks long and are designated with difficulty levels from intro to advanced, which will help you pick a course that’s right for you. While there are paid courses as well, the public currently has access to 88 courses to audit completely free of chargeon Harvard University’s website.

WikiHow Will Tell You How

Another great way to utilize free resources is to hop on wikiHow. While the search bar will bring you to easy-to-follow tutorials on whatever you want to learn, this website also has a really cool “Random” function in its menu. Our first go-around with this button brought us to “How to Run a Raffle” and our second to “How to Prune Spirea Shrubs.” Two things that maybe aren’t on the top of everyone’s new skills list, but why not give them a go? Maybe combine them and raffle off your newly pruned Spirea Shrubs! wikiHow is a great resource for those who know what they want to learn, as well as those who aren’t too picky.

Learn a Language at Your Own Pace

Language tools and subscriptions can be pricey and sometimes learning with peers in a course can feel intimidating, especially when you’re first starting out. A great online (and free!) program to learn a new language (or brush up on an old one) is with Duolingo. There are currently 36 language courses for English-speaking learners. While there are the usual languages you might expect to see on such a platform, like Spanish, French, and German, there are also choices like Romanian, Navajo, and Swahili. They also offer courses in Klingon and High Valyrian for sci-fi fans. Duolingo provides personalized education in bite-sized lessons that you can work on at home or on-the-go with the smart phone app.

Get Financially Fit

Learn new financial skills with a click of your mouse (or a tap on your smartphone) with Community Financial’s Financial Resources. Podcasts, articles, blog posts, interactive modules and more will help you get financially fit whenever you have some extra time. Learn about everything from shopping for insurance to applying for a mortgage or how to calculate interest on debt. Our financial wellness resources are there when you need them.

As you can see, there are so many great ways to learn new skills online without ever spending a penny. Whether you prefer Ted Talks or textbooks, YouTube or smartphone apps, there will always be a new way to learn something cool at your fingertips.