Do It Yourself University

I have to admit, I’m a bit of a Neanderthal. I’m at that perfect age where I am somewhat tech savvy, and equally ignorant of the potential modern advances have to offer. I still prefer to chop wood with an ax, yet I can maneuver my way through a smart phone with the best of the worst of them. It wasn’t until recently I discovered all the information available through Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Craigslist. Some of what I’ve learned has invaluable, while other stuff has scarred me for life.

To focus on the positive, I have learned to do a number of projects myself that has saved me thousands of dollars. “We the People” have seen so many politicians sell so many of our jobs to overseas entities it has become almost necessary for the average person to learn different skills just to keep their household up and running. Sure, we still call on professionals when the job is far too big, but just as often we brave the risk of trying to manage problems on our own.

Such was the case with my own vehicle when I couldn’t replace all the coolant hoses on my engine because of the rules of the apartment complex. Seems they have an issue with antifreeze leaking all over the pavement. So, there I was, ready to break into tears as I paid the $400 bill to get the job done. Happy that it was taken care of I went about my merry way. You could have imagined the frustration when I broke down the very next day. Turns out the hombres at the garage didn’t do such a great job after all.

My frustration was compounded when I opened the system back up to try and repair it myself only to find that for $400 they didn’t even put antifreeze back in my engine. They filled it with plain water, which could’ve been a contributor to the second breakdown as water doesn’t really behave itself in every coolant system. Regardless if the water caused the pressure buildup which caused more problems or not, it was plainly obvious the manager of the garage didn’t plan on me seeing the fast one he pulled as soon as I did.

This was just another example of the viscous circle we find ourselves in as consumers. Many businesses will want to make the maximum profit with the least expense. Even if that includes drilling for blood on a loyal customer to save $20 in material that they’ve already charged a markup on. In true form, the very business people I speak of could also struggle with the same shady business practice from the vendors they deal with. So, everything goes full circle when the exchange of money is involved. The company pays the employee, the employee spends the money at a company, and the cycle repeats. Just one some occasions a greedy party of the system takes more than their due.

This leads me back to doing things for yourself. If you take some time and learn some confidence, you will find you can keep more of your money. That is the name of the game, keep as much of your money in your wallet as you can at all times. Pick an industry, any one will do. I’m willing to bet if you look at the marketing for that industry you’ll be able to spot a host of points where they are telling you there is no way for you to accomplish something for yourself. If they can make you subscribe to their dialog of you being helpless they can take as much money from you as they like.

It may sound cynical, but how many times have you heard a salesman tell someone they need the services because nobody else could do it? Window salesmen are the greatest at telling this lie. They want you to believe installing new windows is rocket science when it’s so simple a chimpanzee and a kindergartener can do it. Mechanics are a close second for telling lying about how hard a job is. On most older cars the problem isn’t a complicated fix, its having the right tools to perform the fix. That’s little more than a problem that can be solved with a quick trip to Harbor Freight, Central Tractor, or any auto parts store that lends tools.

So, there we’ve talked about tools, which is one of the two elements you need to do a project yourself. The second thing is the know-how to make sure you can do it right. It doesn’t matter what “it” may be. Refinishing a gun, knitting a sweater, painting, cooking, swapping an engine, planning a wedding, sewing, internet design, gaming, writing, changing a diaper, or making a Halloween costume, you need to take the time to educate yourself. The bookstore is a great place to start, the library is awesome too, and the internet is slapped full of tips, trick, ideas, methods, techniques, and procedures.

Thus far I have stated the obvious. I’m fairly sure everyone in the 21^st century knows you can learn to do anything on the internet, and I do mean anything. But what many may not understand is how a person gets to the point where they tackle harder and harder projects themselves. The answer is so simple its almost hard to fathom. Simply stated, a do-it-yourselfer is made through years of practice. Practice is the only way to get good at anything. Part of practicing is being able to screw up and keep trying. Anyone who claims to have total success every time they try something is probably riding on someone’s coat tails and not really doing anything for themselves.

Finally, doing things yourself is so much more rewarding. If you have the ambition to approach a project, such as a sewing project, you can save money on a gift for a loved one that will mean so much more than some made-in-chine-piece-of-crap you bought at Walmart. This is more important than we really take the time to think about. So often we are engrossed in our professional lives, which drive us like slaves, we forget there is hopefully someone who wants to keep a part of you for themselves. A do-it-yourself project then becomes the perfect expression of your love for the people who hopefully support you in your day to day life. 

So, to finish it all off, those of you who want to learn to do things for yourself have unlimited resources to begin. YouTube is such a fantastic resource, as are some of the other social media sites. A simple google search can easily put you on your way to solving many of your daily problems with so much less stress and headache. You were really meant to do more with your life than give your money to other people until the day you die. You’ll be amazed at the amount of satisfaction you get from taking the initiative to do something yourself. You’ll double that felling when you see the benefit you pass on to your loved ones.