Jan 19th, 2009
Doing it Yourself Can Teach You New Skills
One of the stumbling blocks to getting the mortgage refinanced is the steps outside. My father was working on the house very slowly at the time he died unexpectedly, so the stairs were never completed.
While I’ve done a bit of carpentry, masonry, drywall, and electrical work, I’ve never done masonry and just the hard physical labor of chipping away at these solid stone stairs before. I have the tools, left from my dad, to do it, but it’s the first time I’ve done something like this. Of course, I consulted the repair manual for everything while I was getting ready and took precautions such as eye protection before working.
I’m still (with help from my family) working on this project, but progress is being made, and I’m learning more and more about how to do this kind of work as I go along–and that, in and of itself, is worthwhile. Not only can doing things yourself save money, it can teach you something new along the way.
Yes very true. I have been doing this for a long time. Now that I am so busy, I am starting to consider hiring people to help out with some of the work. They can often do it better and faster than you. If you get backlogged, and it starts costing you money, you may want to consider doing that.
But with many people who have oodles of free time. I recommend doing it yourself. I always love learning new things. Just gotta have the right attitude.
There is also the personal satisfaction that comes with doing projects yourself. I’m always proud when I can fix something myself rather than paying someone else, in addition to the valuable knowledge. Of course there are certain projects that I’d never touch, like replacing the electrical panel!
[...] Suenaga presents Doing it Yourself Can Teach You New Skills posted at Uncommon [...]