Garbage Disposals and Money in My Pocket
We’re in a recession–no doubt about it. Companies are downsizing left and right, coworkers are getting laid off, the housing market is stagnant, and pay raises and corporate bonuses are smaller than ever. On top of that, things are likely to get worse before they get better.
Drastic times such as these call for drastic measures. In this post, I’m going to present to you one such measure. In doing so, you are going to learn about one of the most important things you can do during these hard financial times.
The action I’m referring to is to become your own handyman.
We’ve all heard the horror stories. Contractors are notorious for over-charging consumers on basic home maintenance tasks. The problem, in most cases, is that we are ignorant to what they are doing. When you are your own handyman, however, all these worries go out the window. You are empowered to do the job yourself, and nobody is going to rip you off.
I’ll give you an example. Earlier this week, I bought and installed a new garbage disposal. I admit that it was a little intimidating at first; I pictured myself working for several days just to figure out how the thing worked.
Fortunately, the Internet is home to countless DIY articles and step-by-step guides that teach you how to do this sort of thing all by yourself. With the help of these guides and my owner’s manual, do you know how long it actually took me to complete the job? About 2 hours… that’s it.
I could have saved myself two hours of work and paid a plumber $300 to install the garbage disposal. Hell, I could probably have even paid a neighbor to do it for $50 or so. Personally, I’d rather just spend the two hours installing it for FREE and knowing that the job was done the right way.
Besides, I’ve now learned a new skill. That will come in handy when I’m short on cash and a friend of a friend needs a garbage disposal installed.
Total cost for a new garbage disposal and a new marketable skill? 2 hours and about $80 shipped.
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Congrats on learning a new skill and saving some cash! I admit I am a bit intimidated with tackling anything other than painting a room or hanging a picture. We are looking to buy a house now and unfortunately, we have seen too many DIY jobs that homeowners do and try do to save money and it looks and feels pretty “homemade” with a few exceptions.
I guess for me the key is learn one skill at a time!
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@Carla
One of the keys to succeeding at DIY jobs is to not jump into something before you are ready. I’ve definitely seen my fair share of DIY-jobs-gone-bad, as well. Thankfully, none of those were my projects.
Don’t jump into things too quickly and you’ll be fine. Start small with things like replacing a light fixture or cabinet knobs. Slowly work your way up to harder and harder jobs and you’ll be more comfortable every time. I promise.
It’s when you jump into something without really knowing what you are doing, that you have a problem. As with all things in life, take some time to learn, and above all, be PATIENT, and good things will happen.
Thanks for reading!
You so right about maintenance. You can get into all sorts of trouble if you don’t do those routine things that help things last longer. And with the economy right now, I think more people are interested in keeping things working a little longer rather than replacing them.
One thing that always frustrated me was knowing not just what to do but how often things needed to be done! How often do you have a septic tank pumped? When do you prune trees? How often should you change your furnace filter or rotate your tires, or drain off sediment from your hot water heater, or defrag your computer?
I decided to do the research on the stuff I owned. I kept track of everything I could find and ended up with a huge database of items. I decided to see if others might be interested, too. Take a look at http://www.YourMonthlyToDoList.com . I’ve got it set up so that people just check off on a list of hundreds of items they might own and we work up a personalized monthly calendar of what needs to be done. People who’ve tried it report that it’s a great help. We even offer an online example of how much time and hassle this saves!
Sweet! I need to get more handy. This article serves as a good reminder and motivation. It definitely is a good to be able to at least have a basic understanding even if a handyman still needs to come — just so you can have a clue and won’t be tricked into something that isn’t necessary. Or at least can ask a lot of smart sounding questions so they are less likely to over charge or “over fix” since I won’t look completely clueless.
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Great post. I’ve recently decided to finish our basement on my own. I made this decision after I had a couple of plumbers come in to give me an estimate on just finishing the bathroom. When I got quotes of between $3000 and $4000 I almost choked – and made the decision to do it all alone (with the exception of sheetrocking). I don’t think I have the patience for that. Total cost of me finishing the bathroom? Less than $1000 and a whole lot of research and learning! So, great article and it couldn’t have come at a better time as more and more people either don’t have the money to “pay the pros” or they are wanting to learn new skills about home maintenance. Cheers!
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