This is a guest post from my wife.
I am not handy.
Given a garden tool or a kitchen gadget, I can usually find success. But I have neither the talent or inclination for wiring, plumbing, or carpentry. I come from a long line of un-handy people, too, so there’s no phoning home when the car’s making a funny noise or the garbage disposal is on the fritz. And, unfortunately for me, I also married one of the un-handy (although, to be fair, J.D. tries his best).
In our lifetime together, we have spent more than our share of money and time on projects that would seem simple to those with even rudimentary repair skills. However, we are getting better. Part of it is that we now live in a house with lots of “character”. Things break.
One day, the cold water in our upstairs bathroom sink wouldn’t turn off. I don’t mean that it was dripping; I mean it was full on. This was approximately two months after we moved in. It was at this point that I realized that we either need to learn, or have a very large home emergency fund — or both. I also realized that, in most cases, it’s not the end of the world.
So, here’s what I did this week. You might even call it handy.
Too hot to handle
On Saturday night, I baked pancetta-wrapped halibut for dinner. This recipe calls for a higher oven temperature than most: 550 degrees F.
On Sunday morning when I went to make blueberry scones (while listening to the Car Talk guys, perhaps two of the most handy people on the planet!), I noticed that the top oven of our double oven wouldn’t preheat. Luckily, I could use the bottom oven to prepare breakfast, but I was annoyed. Did I burn out the element? Then I realized we have a gas stove — there’s no element. Did I burn out something else? When I tried to preheat and failed, was I pumping natural gas into the kitchen, potentially creating a fireball scenario? The stove is only four years old, and, of course, we did not buy the service contract or extended warranty.
I pulled out the owner’s manual and flipped to the section for troubleshooting. “Oven not heating” was not on the list. Time for Google. I typed in my range’s make and model and “troubleshooting”. Nothing really helpful came up, but I eventually navigated to a site called Just Answer.
Now, this is the first time I’ve heard of Just Answer, so I am not endorsing them. But I was intrigued by the concept and pleased with the result. Here’s the premise:
- I type in my question and how much I’m willing to pay for an answer from one of their site’s experts.
- Once I received the answer, I could decide to pay the amount or not, based on how helpful it was.
I thought this was an interesting business model — I decided to give it a try.
I “bid” $15, the middle choice from a set of options, and wrote my question, giving make/model info, symptoms, the question about my safety concern, and the 550 degree factor. I submitted the question — and waited. Twelve minutes later, “appliance Doc” answered. A real person, who answered me specifically, and told me exactly what I wanted to know, even explaining why gas was not flowing: an ingenious safety feature design that makes perfect sense.
The answer also allowed a chance to ask a follow-up, so I inquired about how easy it would be to replace the faulty part, the gas ignitor, myself. A few more minutes elapsed and a reply came with more details and a link to the part number I needed.
Personal empowerment
Could I have found this information without the online expert, by just continuing with my own online research? Maybe. Eventually. A handier person may have been willing to do that. But what this expert did for me was give me the confidence to go downstairs, dismantle the oven, conduct the test to confirm his (or her) diagnosis, and remove the faulty part. I now knew there were two kinds of ignitors, and I knew which type I needed, and I knew about how much it should cost. And I knew that the replacement should be manageable, even for me.
Armed with this knowledge, I was eager to make the repair myself and could target further Googling now that I had a name for the problem. It sure beat scheduling, and paying for, a repair person to come to the house. Ah, the marvel of the internet — and a burst of personal empowerment.
J.D. picked up a replacement part Tuesday and I put it in Tuesday night. No swearing. No fighting. The oven works, and I spent $67.50 plus about two hours of time to make it happen. I was so excited that I updated my Facebook status, crowing about it!
I also learned a lot more than I knew before about just how a gas oven functions, and that I can easily remove the oven doors when they need a cleaning. The next time this part goes bad (every 5-8 years with normal use), I’ll know exactly what to do.
I’m hardly handy, but I’m learning!
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Now, I am the Handy type of person, Someone that will try anything and make it work. I always get questions on how did I become so handy?
The answer is always, I do some research and give it a try. The first few times were a bit trying but you have to be stubborn and not let the “thing” beat you!
Congratulations! I wish more people would just try!
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Wow, I’ve never even heard of that service. After hearing this story though it makes me extremely interested.
I think the biggest drawback to these sites is getting past the initial worries about them. In other words, once you’ve had success once you could easily use it again, but that first time you never know what you are going to get.
By sharing, you help a lot of people overcome that worry that they might get “scammed” or “waste” their money. For example, I probably would have never used this service before, but now I can at least say I know of someone who had success with it.
Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing, Kris!
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Way to go!!!
Repairs and detail work are the bane of my existence. I tend to be more enthusiastic than skilled when I start out, and usually end up getting myself into trouble that I can’t get myself out of. Like when I started lifting the linoleum in the kitchen, only to discover the subfloor needed repairs. I could handle the linoleum task, but pulling out and replacing large sheets of plywood (which had to be cut precisely) was beyond my skill level. I still keep plugging away at it, and have learned how to do some things that I used to think were beyond me.
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Sometimes it’s about confidence, once you solve a few problems (even if you need help!) you start to gain confidence and new problems don’t seem quite as daunting!
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Can’t believe I’ve also never heard of this site before.. considering its been around since ’03 and its one of the top 500 visited site online. It sounds pretty handy. Uh, no pun intended. I like the fact that you can decide if the answer was worth the dinero or not.. although who’s to say a cheapo won’t take the info and run. Still, neato service. Bookmarked for future reference.
Nice job on the DIY Kris. Generally if I know I can handle the task, I try to figure out how to do it myself before resorting to seeking professional help.. most of the time its not because I’ll save money, but more so because it’s just nice to be able to fix/make something yourself.
On another note, as I’m typing the comment I just realized why I may have never heard of this site.. its most likely because I generally spend more time searching for instructions and usually am pretty good about using specific keywords to find what I want.
Slightly off topic, but people usually have a lot of trouble finding information through search engine because of coming up with the “right” keyword to find the right information.
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DIY with expert help is a great option, but another way to go could be home warranty coverage.
Renewable annually, it’s like a little health policy for the systems in your home. Every company has slightly different fine print, so do look at that, and compare service call fees (ranging from $0 on up, and usually less than $100 per call). Home warranties run roughly $400 – $600 per year (more for some larger homes with more to cover).
I’m a Realtor, and not endorsing any particular company, but this option could help the un-handy.
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On another note for others.. instead of typing “troubleshooting”.. consider typing in the actual symptom of the problem if you can. Although in the case of “oven not heating” its probably a bit vague. Basically, you should put yourself in the shoe of someone having a similar problem and how would they post the question to a message board, chat room, Q&A site.. and phrase the search like so. Hopefully the problem is common enough that there’s already a thread on the vast web somewhere and it’s already been addressed.
As you said, $67.50, screwdriver, Kris’ sweat, and JD’s hard work of picking up the new igniter — and your range works again. Plus we all know about it now, too. Definitely the wonders of the internet.
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Home warranties are a scam and always have been. Please – of all the sites to try to shill on, this ain’t one!
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Cheers to you Kris! The best part about this is that you will feel so much more confident the next time anything breaks, not just the oven. Great Post!
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THANK you! I am pretty handy but there are things I definitely avoid. Messing with my gas stove would be one of them–it intimidates me! Ha! Electrical issues and some plumbing stuff are left to the professionals, as well. However, this site sounds great! I mean, my little home repair and improvement book and multiple phone calls to my dad are amazing resources for this girl– but this could possibly snare the problems that fall through the cracks!
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I came from a very un-handy family. Fortunately for me, I married a very, very handy person. As in the washing machine will stop working and he’ll take it apart, figure out what is wrong, buy the part and fix, even though he’s never done it before. He’s the same with cars. It’s amazing. He was always curious at a young age, but no one taught him as his dad died when he was quite young. Regardless of how he learned, it saves a lot on the bills!
Thanks for sharing that site. I will check it out.
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Cool beans, Kris.
Did that $67.50 include the $15.00 for the “appliance Doc”?
I’m a handy kind of guy myself. Friends and neighbors all know they can call me for most small fix-it jobs. I even have a t-shirt that reads “Will Work 4 Food” that I wear when I go to help. Finding friends and neighbors that have skills you don’t and being willing to trade your skills (or food/drink) that they lack is one of the most frugal ways to save money.
One of my neighborhood friends is an accountant. She reviewed my Income Tax Return to make sure I didn’t miss anything (I didn’t) and in return she got her new screen door installed. Win/Win
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Given time and tools my husband manages to fix about anything around the house. He has reworked walls, redone plumbing, changed wiring, and repaired appliances just to name a few. He’s a computer tech, so our computers stay upgraded. He doesn’t do roofing and he isn’t an auto mechanic although he does do minor things to the cars.
The house maintance on a 70 year old house is starting to get old though. We are seriously considering selling before we reach the point of having to pay others to do the basic maintance.
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Kris, as a completely unhandy person myself, I congratulate you! You go, girl!
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I too am curious – did you pay the $15 for the advice? It sounds as if it was helpful.
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Yes, I certainly did pay the $15 for the expert’s answer, plus I gave a $3.50 “tip”. The part was $49.00, for a total of $67.50. Thanks for all the kind words, GRS readers!
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You’re handier than you give yourself credit for, and you just got even handier.
I don’t know if those people who say they’re “not handy” realize it, but people don’t have to do anything special to become “handy”. They just do this, the same thing you just did — when something breaks, they try and figure out how to fix it, and once they’ve got a pretty good idea, they go ahead and actually perform the fix. Maybe the first thing they learn is how to fix a stove, then replace a car radiator, then replace a broken window, etc…
Five or ten years later, you’re a lot handier than you even realize.
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As many others have said, being handy does not require any sort of natural talent. All you really need is the patience to learn how to do what it is you need to do. Given the information resources we have today, there’s really nothing you can’t learn to do yourself.
My father is incredibly handy. I often boast about how I’ve never seen a repairman in our house because my father literally fixes everything. Plumbing gone wrong? No problem. Dryer broken? Easy enough. Even as I write this he’s outside fixing the septic system. None of these skills are attributable to any sort of natural handiness. He learned most of these skills out of necessity, as there was a time when we couldn’t afford to call a repairman out to fix things that broke.
I’ve begun to take after my father and have developed a habit of trying to fix things myself before sending them out for repair. For a while my repair skills were limited to electronics and computers as that’s where my interests lie. Recently though I wanted to do some maintenance on my car and didn’t feel like taking it to a mechanic. I simply looked up some instructions online, procured the necessary tools and set about it myself. All you need to be handy is a willingness to learn new things and the patience to apply what you have learned.
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I think that is one of the downsides to living in an apartment, I don’t have to worry about spending my own money to fix the equipment – but then I don’t learn how to take care of the appliances in the house
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WTG girl! I’ve always worked hard to know how the things I own work. I think my husband married me to get access to my tools! I think DIY is an important part of being frugal, as is knowing your limits. As several people mentioned, you CAN do more damage than good. So we have a home warranty for the things I don’t want to attempt! Every year we’ve had it we’ve gotten back more in repairs we didn’t have to pay for than what we’ve paid in fees.
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I am also extremely un-handy, but as a newly separated woman with my own little townhouse I am starting to figure things out. My brand new dryer was so slow, so incredibly slow to dry things, that I googled “slow dryer” and found out that when dryers are slow, it’s almost never the fault of the dryer, but of the vent. I made my teen-age son climb up on a ladder and look in the vent outside and there was an entire bird’s nest in it. With the bird’s nest gone, the dryer worked perfectly. I felt so capable and competent! I found a problem and I solved it!
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I was interested in learning about Just Answers. As it happens, I had a computer question so I thought I would give it a try.
I typed in my question in the box on the site. Then you had to accept the terms of service for the site. I looked them over to see if there were assurances about privacy. You are required to type in your email address and I wanted to be sure that my email address would not be shared or used for spamming. I was surprised to see nothing in the lengthy terms of service addressing privacy at all. That’s unusual. Without the standard assurances that my information won’t be misused, I won’t use the site. So I guess I need to find another way to get my computer question answered. It won’t be Just Answers.
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Too cool! I’m “handy” and I’ll agree with other commenters that you’ve discovered the only real secret. For those who can take motors apart and such there may be some natural mechanical inclination, but my secret is just taking my time and doing the research. I’ve found the same is just as true with computers; I try to explain to folks how I fixed something but they’re usually determined to believe it’s black magic and something they just can’t do.
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Congrats on getting it done. It’s a good feeling to not only save some money but also the satisfaction of taking on a project and overcoming it.
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I fall into the unhandy but willing to give it a try camp myself. Interestingly, the NYT has almost a counter point to your article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/us/17blunders.html?_r=1), and while neither is the “right” approach, it is always worth that gut check of: how confident do I feel about doing this?
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Two very nice posts, Kris’s and JD’s from the past. Thanks!
I also was married to an unhandy dude, living in a 1929 house. He would pick up a hammer or a screwdriver only if driven to it, and though he was a smart fellow there are some things you don’t want to drive a man to…. I learned carpentry and painting and lath-and-plaster repair, tilework and light plumbing and all sorts of fun things.
But there’s one thing I’ll guarantee you: I won’t mess with natural gas and you couldn’t pay me to fiddle with the electric. These are two skills that should be left to the pro’s.
And, after having had to bring every third thing up to code in my present house, I will never, ever, EVER buy a house that’s been inhabited by a Happy Handyman. The sight of a journeyman electrician who also happened to be a friend gazing up at the tangle in the garage and then uttering the words, “That is unsafe” was unnerving enough. The eight man-hours he and his sidekick put in to undo the mess have put me in permanently in the mood to RUN when a lawyer, a doctor, or a government bureaucrat picks up a drill, a hammer or a screwdriver!
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I am not particularly handy, however, my job requires it of me on occasion. Gas lines used to scare me, but now I know how to replace them. The best advice I have towards becoming handy is to stop being afraid you are going to break it. If it’s already broken, what’s the worst that could happen?
Electrical work still gets a call to the professionals, though. I’ve electrocuted myself one too many times.
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Karen @21
That’s what Yahoo mail is for.
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JD,
What a wonderful article. I also have a wife that is not very practical (and that is a complete understatement, but is do love her a lot). On the other hand I am a handyman that grew up in a hose where we almost never called out a handyman.
I just visited Just Answer and am confident that the site will give me the confidence to resolve problems around the house that I did not have to tackle. Often one just needs a small bit of advice to resolve a problem that could cost hundreds of $$$ to get fixed.
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“I will never, ever, EVER buy a house that’s been inhabited by a Happy Handyman.”
ITA! Our last house had some nice handyman touches that were not safe – like ceiling fans not grounded, a shed wired with eletrical that consisted of a very long orange extension cord buried in PVC pipe across backyard that plugged into an outside outlet. A very handy BIL (licensed, too!) was able to help out.
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WTG Kris! I immediately back away from problems like that because I am not mechanically inclined and am afraid of messing something up. I’ve always “had a man around” so-to-speak (Dad, apartment maintenance person and then husband) so I’ve never needed to suck it up and figure out the solution myself. I am very inspired by you and now I know a website that may actually make figuring out the answer easy enough for me.
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Bravo, Kris! I think you very handy. Being handy means being willing to tackle problems and learn. Our heating element went out recently. I googled how to replace it to see if we could do it ourselves. Then I called an 800 # associated with a local appliance dealer and ordered the part which was delivered to our house. My husband and I installed the element in 15 minutes. I read the directions while he did the work. We spent a total of $40. It would have cost a lot more if we’d hired someone to do the same thing. It felt great, too.
Shirley
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Good for you! Score one for the little guys! I’ll bet the personal satisfaction you felt over a job well done was amazing!
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Hi Kris,
You know you’re probably more “handy” than you think. Women often don’t give themselves enough credit. If you are a scientist as JD mentions often, than you possess a lot of logical and deductive abilities. These are essential essential traits of the “handy”. My guess is that as you gain experience fixing things, you will probably be better at home maintenance and repairs than JD, who has a more creative/artistic bend. You can still use him for demolition projects. Most guys like to bust things up:-)
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Just a note….you’d know if you were pumping natural gas into the house if something were really wrong during the preheat
Definitely a recognizable smell that you can’t miss.
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I’m working on becoming a handyperson myself since I realized how much I could save by doing things that might otherwise cost a couple hundred bucks.
On another note, you should try: http://www.vark.com. It’s a service like Just Answer called Aardvark. You can ask questions via IM for free, and every once in a while they’ll instant message you with a question (none of which you even have to answer). I’m not sure if anyone would have the depth of knowledge that someone getting paid by a site like Just Answer would, but it’s free, so it’s worth a try, right?
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You can also try http://www.repairclinic.com for free advice. You can also order parts. They’re excellent.
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You have a wife who makes blueberry scones! I’m jealous!
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I’m getting into this post somewhat late but I did find a great website that also offers video tutorials on, http://www.appliancerepairlesson.com. Some are free and others you have to pay for but it beats paying a $90 dollar trip charge. And it helped me fix a microwave!
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