How to Get on the Repair-It- Yourself Bandwagon

by Mary Hunt - http://www.cheapskatemonthly.com/ - Used by permission

If you have never repaired anything in your life, even you can get on the new trend emerging in this tough economy. It has become trendy to repair things: anything from appliances to shoes and everything in between, instead of replacing them to avoid spending money, or at least to delay a big expense.

Never has there been a more useful tool available to us than the Internet. You don't even need to own a computer or have in-home access to the World Wide Web to make use of all its wonder. Just stop into your local public library and you'll be online in no time at all. Everything you could possibly think of repairing has a companion "how to" somewhere on the Internet. Finding that site may be the biggest challenge.

Start at your favorite search engine (Firefox, Yahoo, Google, etc.) and simply pose your question starting with "how to" and ending with a question mark. Prepare to be amazed. Whether it's fixing your eyeglasses or the dishwasher, you will likely turn up more than one response.

There are also Internet sites that serve as portals, or their own little search engines, for these kinds of do-it-yourself projects. Take FindHow.com for example. Going to this site first and conducting your search there will weed out all the junk and take you right to the most useful solutions for your particular need. Simply type in "how to" and what you need to do, i.e. "How to fix a sewing machine," or "How to change oil in a car." In seconds, you'll have the answer to your question. Many times, that answer will come with step-by-step instructions, photos and even a video.

Another useful website is FixYa.com, a site that offers technical support, instructions and repair service. Is your computer on the fritz? Don't toss it out before you do a thorough investigation at FixYa.com.

Are your appliances behaving badly? Before you call to have them hauled away, take a tour of RepairClinic.com. You'll enjoy the do-it-yourself diagnostic help, live online chat with the Repair Guru team, as well as delivery of just about any appliance part your research determines that you need. 

I can report from personal experience that it is possible to participate in a long-distance diagnosis of a fairly simple repair job. What seemed like a daunting task turned out to be a quick and easy fix. I avoided a big, expensive repair bill (repair people don't come cheaply these days), and got to keep using my venerable dishwasher for another year, while I saved up to buy a replacement.

If you've avoided learning how to do your own repairs in the past, avoid no more. Really, it is so easy to do many repairs yourself, and your payoff will be huge. These days, when everything seems to cost more than ever before, that's saying a lot!