It's Saturday and I'm loathing the idea of doing the few fix it up projects at home that need to be taken care of sooner than later. Like most families, things that you don't want to do you'll generally outsource. That is until you realize that many of the blue collar workers who come in to fix your toilets, change a lock on a door, or even patch up a wall might be charging more than you make on an hourly basis. So, one of the trends I'm seeing amongst white collar high dollar earners is a movement of back to figuring out how to fix things themselves.
Why not? According to www.searchengineland.com YouTube "How To" Videos are up 70% in views here in 2015 and have reached over 100 million hours of viewing time already. The top how-to home improvement video searches include "how to unclog a toilet," "how to remove wallpaper" and "how to decorate your bedroom." "Being constantly connected has trained us to expect immediacy and relevance in moments of intent - the I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do and I-want-to-buy moments," reports Google, "These micro-moments are the new battlegrounds for people's hearts, minds, and dollars." There's the catch at the end of that quote . . . . dollars!
I fixed a light switch on Saturday and figured out how to solve something complicated with my garage door openers simply from pulling up YouTube videos. In fact, when you lose the manual for a specific product you have in your house, odds are that there is a YouTube video for that product, even down to the actual serial code or product line number of your television, stove, or microwave.
A few of my clients recently shared with me that enough is enough when they got quotes from people who came to their homes. One of my clients fixed his own dryer from head to toe and did it for a fraction of the cost (time not withstanding). Another one of my clients decided that the $1,000 + bill to pressure wash and stain his deck was too much. So he rented his own power washer and stained the deck himself.
We all work very hard for the money we earn and often when pressed for time the quick answer we come up with to fix up things at home is to find a handyman or specialist to get the job done. You may need those people for very complex jobs, but I think you would be surprised how easy some of the fixes are if you just use a little YouTube and a small chunk of your time. Best news is that it will cost you your time and a few bucks to make the fixes. Now that is a smart money move you can take to the bank!
Written by: Ted Jenkin
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