Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a relatively handy individual. Most stuff that doesn’t require expensive special tools, I can handle. Just give me a how-to guide and access to Google, and I’ll probably get it done.
I’ve run across a few things that I just couldn’t manage, but not because I couldn’t figure them out. One was a very simple sensor on my engine that needed replacing; I could see the damned thing, but couldn’t reach it to save my life. Another was wiring a light fixture into my mom’s ceiling fan; no matter how I wired it up, the switches on the wall wouldn’t turn on what they were supposed to. The first I let my cousin the mechanic take care of, along with the bad sensor in my gas tank (there was no way I could take off my gas tank by myself). The second I finally gave up, because there was something wrong with the fan, the fixture, or the house’s wiring, and there was nothing I could do about it other than replace the pieces one at a time to troubleshoot and then call an electrician if it turned out to be the wiring, which were all up to my mom and her checkbook. She bought a floor lamp instead.
Tonight, I find myself considering the regular maintenance on my car. As a rule, I don’t do my own oil changes; it’s not really cost effective to me to spend $40 on oil and a filter to do it myself when I can take it to Wal-Mart for $50 and not have to take the time or effort. Because, let’s face it, while I can do most things, it takes me about 3-5X as long as it would someone who knew what they were doing. But I don’t like to take my car to the shop if I can help it, because it’s always over-priced and I don’t trust them to get it right.
I needed an oil change, so I had to take my car in somewhere. Then, the question arose, “how much of what needs to be done do I want taken care of for me?” Because, in addition to the oil change, I needed a brake inspection and service (another thing I don’t do myself because it would take forever – god, I wish I had an air gun), spark plugs and wires, and a supercharger oil change. It turned out that because of how expensive my brakes ended up being, the plugs and wires and supercharger oil were now mine by necessity. My checkbook simply couldn’t take another payment for labor at $70+ an hour. It wasn’t even a matter of being cost-effective or not; car repairs are expensive, and I had outrun my budget.
I still haven’t gotten to the plugs and wires out of sheer laziness, but I tackled the supercharger oil yesterday after ordering the oil from the GM dealership in town the day before. They quoted me $100 for the labor to change the oil, which by itself is $24 for 8 ounces. I had looked up the service and decided that it was easy enough that I could do it without risking damage to anything, so I declined and took the job upon myself.
I’ve decided, after this experience, that I want to be a mechanic at a car dealership. They wanted to charge me $100 for something that a ten-year-old with a spray bottle could handle, and that took ME less than an hour to complete, including the time I spent sending my husband out to find me a small enough funnel to fit in the supercharger. What a rip-off. Unscrew oil plug, insert spray nozzle, squirt old oil out of supercharger into old soda bottle, pour in new oil, screw plug back in. That’ll be $100 please. Get real.
Which brings me, in a wordy, roundabout way, to my point. A lot of the choices we make in life are boil down to convenience versus cost-effectiveness; is the trouble this would take me to do it myself enough to justify paying someone else to do it? The less money you have on hand, the more often you’re going to say no. Even so, I think we shortchange ourselves and our abilities by passing things off to “professionals” more often than we should. Have a little faith in yourself, and try to take on some of those projects. Start small, with things you can’t ruin, and work your way up. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, but don’t feel that just because you’re not a professional means that you aren’t capable of doing it right. Perhaps most importantly, Google is your friend, and can tell you how to do just about anything if you search carefully enough. The satisfaction you’ll get from seeing the finished product knowing YOU did it is worth almost as much as the extra money you’ll have.
Related posts:
My philosophy on this? Call one of your kids. It drives them crazy but what goes around comes around. Usually I don't ask for car repairs – notice I said usually. I do ask for their advice however. Other things that I USED to do, I can no longer do. These things I ask for help to do.
At one time I could put together furniture, scrub floors, paint walls, vacuum, prepare a big meal…no more. What people don't realize is how frustrating it is to have to ask for help for something that seems so easy for other people. These are the times I feel really useless. Sometimes people act as if I'm lazy or stupid. A little understanding would go a long way.
You are an extremely wise person!
Your blog is therefore informative … maintain the actual great work!!!!