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Are you handy? | pad patter 11.20.17

keepscrappin

keepscrappin

ScrapWithTheWind
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Apr 2, 2010
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Are you handy? I am. I'm the handy ma'am at our house... hehe Just this weekend my 20+ year old electric dryer stopped working, so I pulled it out and took the back off. I found that one of the lines for the cord had broken. I made a quick trip to home depot. $30 later for a new cord and a little elbow grease got us back drying clothes. I've fixed the washer and dryer before over the years and even with all the repairs I've done I've probably only spent $250 total and most of that was for the pump I had to pay a repairman to put in. After watching him put that in, I said I can do this, so now I just check youtube and get to work. New machines would cost much more, so if I can do a repair for a few dollars, I do it. My washer and dryer may not be shiny new and pretty, but they still wash and dry better than any of my friend's fancy new machines. Mine were made to last and get the clothes clean. Not like the new ones they make nowadays, that are basically disposable and designed to break in 3-5 years. My sister hates her new front loader. It doesn't get the whites white even with all the nice detergents and such, and it stinks of mold if you don't keep the door open.

I love that I can fix things and keep them going for a little longer. It's very satisfying to fix things and a lot cheaper than buying a replacement. My hubby just rolls his eyes, mainly because he doesn't have the fix it talent. He'd rather pay someone else to fix it. Me, I try fixing it. If I can't figure it out, I just jump on youtube and watch a couple of videos and then I'm good to go. I know this old washer and dryer will die someday and I won't be able to fix them, but I'm gonna try to get a few more years outta them.

How about you? Are you handy? Or do you call a repairman or just replace it.
 
I’m not very handy, I’m sorry to say. And I feel a bit bad about it because replacing something or hiring a repair person clashes with my otherwise thrifty tendencies. :blush
 
By nature, I am not all that handy. I do know how to check and fill all my fluids in the car and such, simply because I grew up with a mom who was good at stuff like that. We've also done some minor car repairs ourselves, including replacing hoses and a distributor.

We have fixed things around our house, thanks to YouTube and necessity. My husband and I installed a new garbage disposal when ours went out. We've repaired lines to our washing machine. Recently, we tried a dryer repair but our dryer was too far gone to be repaired. Thankfully, we only spent about $15 trying to fix it. AND our neighbor had one in his garage he wasn't using. It works great and he just gave it to us. We did have to pay for an oven repair a few months ago, but after watching the repair man, I am certain I could do the repair if it's needed in the future.

Right now, one of our upstairs showers is leaking. My husband and I are toying with trying to figure out how to fix it ourselves. It will involve cutting a hole in the ceiling downstairs... but we figure the repair guy would have to do that anyhow, so if we can't fix it, we've just already got the hole cut for him.

After writing this, I feel slightly more handy lol.
 
I am the only handy one here! DH is not handy at all...he is so much more the creative brain and I am the mechanical. I have fixed my washer and dryer, installed all the lighting and ceiling fans in the house, built a ramp for the building outside, rebuilt the inside of the kitchen cabinet, fixed plumbing issues, and done all the tech support LOL. I go straight to YouTube every time something acts up. I'm such a cheapskate, and I love learning how things work and how to fix them. It makes me feel accomplished. I've loved to take things apart for as long as I can remember. :)
 
Yup! Spent the weekend repairing a crack in the ceiling (no child will own up to it,but it looks like it was hit with a bouncy ball, maybe a broom handle). Spray on popcorn ceiling plaster is like, the worst.
 
I am handy- to the point that my husband feels bad about it! ;) I'm just a do-er, I don't like to wait for him to do something when I can do it myself! He has forbidden me from being up on ladders when I'm home alone tho- I guess that's reasonable! lol!
 
DH is an engineer so Keep Calm and Handy On is basically his job and he actually enjoys it so far be it for me to take that away from him ;) (and pretty much het gets withdrawals if he doesnt visit the hardware store on a regular basis!) I did shampoo the carpets myself the other week in the hopes of getting a few more years months out of them - the electro-dry type ones i really wonder what that's actually doing and i guess knowing how much shampoo and stuff i put in the machine i hired myself (which is about a third the price of someone else doing it) makes me feel better about it. So i'm not opposed to doing stuff but i guess i do the less handy stuff ;)
 
Nope. I am the painter here in the house ... only because I have the patience for it and no one else can stand it. But fixing things is not more forte. I'm OK with setting up TV, remotes, wireless printers and computers but not much else.
My husband is the handy man fixer and can usually fix/or will try to fix just about anything while watching YouTube.
 
I will try small things- I have far more patience than my husband... Anything major, he does it because he is a perfectionist - I have my Dad's farmer's gene of using twine and duct tape to get things done :giggle
However, I am the painter, and I am the one who does ready to assemble stuff. So between us, we have most things covered. YouTube is such a wonderful resource!
 
I used to be quite handy- like I once replaced the faucet in the kitchen sink 3 days past my baby's due date handy... I still am pretty handy. I used to be in the driveway with the Chilton manual if my car broke down and now I generally know what's wrong with the car if it breaks, and I can hang or build just about anything. My hubby and I have a garage full of tools and we use them to build things like changing tables, dining room tables, and bed frames. But, I am also a bit more spoiled these days in the case that I would not attempt to rip out a faucet now. I would pay someone for sure. And, my hubby is all kinds of handy- he has installed at least 3 ceiling fans and 2 or 3 other hard wired fixtures in the house, as well as fixed quite a few appliances with just the internet and a rare parts website!

But, we both have a solid sense of what we can do and what we need to hire someone for! I am very proud of us that we put in more than half the laminate floor and new baseboards in this house! I am just as proud of us that we hired professionals to do the staircase and rest of the flooring because we didn't know if the subfloor was strong enough and didn't want to find out it wasn't the hard way! It's good to know your limits, I think!!

Huggles!!
~Sarah~
 
I am not real handy but mainly because my hubby is "Mr Fix It". he built our home with his own 2 hands so he is my go to person. Through him though I know how to do alot more things so if something does need it I can fix it or at least know where to start. He is also my go to person when I have an idea on something but missing that final step. I wanted to do use styrofoam balls to make a snowman craft with my grandkids and was going to use dowel rods but was struggling with size of the rods. My hubby looked at me and said use bamboo skewers instead - -I never thought of that but it works so much better.
 
AliSarah said:
I used to be quite handy- like I once replaced the faucet in the kitchen sink 3 days past my baby's due date handy... I still am pretty handy. I used to be in the driveway with the Chilton manual if my car broke down and now I generally know what's wrong with the car if it breaks, and I can hang or build just about anything. My hubby and I have a garage full of tools and we use them to build things like changing tables, dining room tables, and bed frames. But, I am also a bit more spoiled these days in the case that I would not attempt to rip out a faucet now. I would pay someone for sure. And, my hubby is all kinds of handy- he has installed at least 3 ceiling fans and 2 or 3 other hard wired fixtures in the house, as well as fixed quite a few appliances with just the internet and a rare parts website!

But, we both have a solid sense of what we can do and what we need to hire someone for! I am very proud of us that we put in more than half the laminate floor and new baseboards in this house! I am just as proud of us that we hired professionals to do the staircase and rest of the flooring because we didn't know if the subfloor was strong enough and didn't want to find out it wasn't the hard way! It's good to know your limits, I think!!

Huggles!!
~Sarah~
Click to expand...

Wow you guys are super handy! I agree that you have to know your limits. Better safe than sorry.
 
rdjrneace said:
I am not real handy but mainly because my hubby is "Mr Fix It". he built our home with his own 2 hands so he is my go to person. Through him though I know how to do alot more things so if something does need it I can fix it or at least know where to start. He is also my go to person when I have an idea on something but missing that final step. I wanted to do use styrofoam balls to make a snowman craft with my grandkids and was going to use dowel rods but was struggling with size of the rods. My hubby looked at me and said use bamboo skewers instead - -I never thought of that but it works so much better.
Click to expand...

That’s awesome your hubby built your home. I wish I could do that. How did the snowmen turn out? We love doing crafts and use bamboo skewers a lot.... mainly because they’re cheap and I always have some around.
 
KarenW said:
I will try small things- I have far more patience than my husband... Anything major, he does it because he is a perfectionist - I have my Dad's farmer's gene of using twine and duct tape to get things done :giggle
However, I am the painter, and I am the one who does ready to assemble stuff. So between us, we have most things covered. YouTube is such a wonderful resource!
Click to expand...

I’m usually the one to assemble furniture, but hubby did do the desks for his office/kids study room since I wasn’t feeling well when they came.
 
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