My father was a fixer. Despite having four kids and a career in the military, when he had the time he’d fix things around the house. He saved a lot of money re-roofing a rental property, doing his own lawn mowing, reupholstering furniture, changing the fuel filter in his yellow Honda Civic etc.
I think the only drawback with this approach was that sometimes he’d start a project and not have time to fix it. And as he got older, he had the money so he started letting go of the fixing and hire people. The benefit of this was not having to store all the tools and left over materials when he finished a job.
My father-in-law is the same way. He built his house in Connecticut. He built a cabin in Vermont. He built a two-car garage in Montana. He’d fix things around the house like soldering a new switch into a hair dryer or putting a new electric cord on a circular saw. He kept things out of the landfill by fixing them and saved money.
I have a buddy who putting in new windows and installed his own mid-splits in his house. Repairs pinball machines, builds bookshelves etc. I do a lot of DIY projects, basically for two reasons. One I don’t like spend money on something I could do myself and it’s too hard to find people to do the work. I’ll hire people to do big jobs like painting the house or installing a woodstove, but most of the time I’d prefer to do it myself. It’s a mental challenge and a satisfying experience to be able to solve a problem.
You walk around Home Depot and there are plenty of people (and paid contractors) looking for things to solve their problems and they are doing it themselves. In the paint department, the gardening department or even in the plumbing area.
But sadly it seems people these days have lost the interest in doing their own repair work or have lost the skills of using a screwdriver or hammer. They’d rather go on Facebook and ask for recommendations. They can’t seem to install a toliet seat or change an electric outlet themselves.
They want their firewood seasoned and stacked, preferable delivered on a pallet next to the front door. They want people to clean their car. Someone to pick up fallen branches in the yard. They can’t even comprehend how to clean out a dryer vent.
But at no time in history has parts and knowledge for fixing things for oneself have been at our fingers tips. There are so many DIY guides online. You can even get manuals for any appliance online these days. Just search for your appliance.
- Internet Archive Manual Library
- Manuals Online
- ManualsLib
- SafeManuals
And you can order parts via online appliance parts vendors. Many of them even have install videos for just about every part. YouTube is a fantastic resource for DYI repair.
Appliances like dryers are such simple devices. And only takes a few screws remove the front. The control panels can be replaced rather easily. I had an issue where the lid switch was worn out. A ten dollar part and about 15 minutes of swooping out the part was all that was needed. Compared to a service call from a technician with a minimum charge, I probably saved $200 by fixing it myself.
I fixed my robot vacuum by watching a video that explained how to open the thing and remove the dust from the sensors. I fixed a stove by replacing the control panel. I fixed a hot but by also replacing the control panel.
You just have to take the time to research the issue and BE BRAVE! You can do it with the right attitude and always call in the professionals if you screw up. Take pictures, carefully save the screws and unplug appliances before working on them.