Do It Yourself!

You know the old saying - "If you want something done right, do it yourself." Not only is this the way to make sure the work you do is quality work - but it can often be a lot cheaper too. Just in the past three weeks, I have done a number of projects around, some for me, some for others, but all which could have been done by someone who would have a)Charged for labor, and/or b)would have charged some sort of markup on materials. I was amazed once I tallied up the numbers how much I would have had to spend to get it fixed by "outside" help. Some of the figures below are somewhat approximate, but I feel that they wouldn't have been too far off - perhaps some of the figures for what I would have paid would have been even more! All of them, however, involved some sort of investment of time. For example, you'll notice that changing the oil on the car saved me about $20. While 20 bucks is 20 bucks, by the time you buy a filter and oil, and have to fight jacking up and getting under the car.... I probably wouldn't protest too much with a person that said it wasn't worth the savings - especially if you don't have a place (or tools) to work on it. However, most of the items on the list represent real savings - the cost it would have taken to have a repair man to look at the air conditioner - at least $55. The cost to have a repair person to put on the new fender (as well as the cost of getting it new) - big bucks. Luckily, there are a lot of places (many free) out there that help even the most idiotic of us work on most of the projects that we'll come across. MSN has "Be Jane" (hey some of those tips aren't bad for guys either). Lowes has their project center. For $20, Haynes manuals have a step by step troubleshooting and teardown (and put back together too!) guide. On the other hand, if you're the type person that tends to break more by trying to fix something.... maybe this isn't such a great idea. But for most of us, having a little gumption can keep a lot of cash right where it should be - in your wallet!