Do It Yourself Home Repairs
February 8, 2010 by Gary Antosh
Filed under Loans
Perhaps you are not a do-it-yourself person, as my brother-in-law is. You must nevertheless consider that a family can spend from $1200 to $1800 each year on appliance, service or repairs, and that each dollar of that saved is worth a dollar plus whatever your highest income tax bracket is.
A recent survey across the street and around the corner convinced me that my neighbors suffer the same burden and that all of us are throwing out at least three quarters of the money we give the repairmen. (And this does not take into consideration dishonest servicemen. I’m not referring to the fact that it’s easy to get hooked if you just pay whatever the bill says.) Let me give you an example.
Last year we read in the newspaper that you had better change the filter in your air conditioner at every month. So my brother-in-law called the serviceman and, according to his report, he pulled the front of the machine off in ten seconds, took out the old filter, put in a new one, sprayed some WD-40 on some items and handed him a bill for $67.50, which included the 3 dollar filter and five minutes of his time.
When my wife and I considered the matter we were forced to admit that what cost the money was the fact that the serviceman had to pay his office staff, schedule the appointment, insurance, vehicle costs, find the right filter, and spend at least a half hour of his good time coming and going to our house. This year my brother-in-law got smart and did it differently. Next time he went to Home Depot he picked up a dozen filters, brought them home, called me and stood over me while he fretted, fumed, and I showed him how to put it in. Then he admitted that it was very easy. The saving was over $60 each time the filer was changed – or over $720 saving per year.
Now the point is that most room air conditioners are made so that anyone can do those simple things to them ourselves. At any rate it’s very little trouble to try.
When you begin looking at the true cost of things and the savings possible on things you will already be spending money on, it is easy to begin to change your way of handling money and financial lifestyle.
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