In theory, I’m a big fan of “doing it myself.” However more often than not, this remains more of a theory than a fact. So this weekend I was very proud of myself for NOT calling the plumber to come and fix my running toilet. (It had that age old problem of continuing to run after flushing…and no matter how much I “jiggled the handle” it just wouldn’t stop. Until I raised the lid and pulled up the float arm.) It had been going on for at least a month all the while running up my water bill when I’d forget to fix it in a timely fashion, etc. (This also bothered me because I like to fancy myself as an earth-friendly kinda gal, and my blatant disregard for my own water wastage didn’t jibe with that image.)
So after all the ignoring, I got my lazy behind off the couch and decided to do something about it. Several years ago I’d gotten a copy of the book shown to the left. It was one of those things that I kept thinking that it may come in handy one day. This weekend was the first time that I cracked it open… Although it has some seriously simple how-to’s such as “How to change a light bulb in your stove,” (Gimme a break!?!) it also has some helpful things such as “how to change a light switch”, “how to fix your toilet that won’t stop running”, etc. These are the kinds of things that most of us don’t do on a daily basis, and therefore it was nice to have a user friendly…dummy-proof guide. I recently gave one of my friends a similar book as a housewarming present because I feel every single woman homeowner should have a do-it-herself guide. And probably a subscription to Angie’s List as well. (I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve used Angie’s List to find someone to do a project for me…with great success. In fact, I hired someone to do the cement work on my front porch via their site.)
Long story short…it sure feels good to have saved about $45 fixing my toilet myself. It gives me the courage to do the next [bigger] repair myself too.
House Obsession 