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Saving Money with DIY

While doing my monthly cleaning of the cabinet under the sink, I found that we had a water leak. Fortunately, I have a good mat under there to catch water just in case we have a leak. 

Hubby checked and found that the sink strainer basket was leaking. He tightened it up because it seemed loose. Then he dried all of the pipes that were wet. I checked a few hours later to see if  all the piping underneath the sink had stayed dry. Alas, it had not so Hubby said the sink strainer basket had to be replaced.

Rather than hire a plumber who would cost about $90. just to come out to the house and then pay for the parts and labor cost, Hubby said he could repair it himself. It would involve buying the parts and a special tool to be able to do it.

So Hubby ordered everything he thought he needed from Home Depot for curbside pickup. Within a few hours, the order was ready and Hubby went and picked it up. All of the items for the repair was just under $40. including the tool to make it easy to do. 

Alas, he forgot to order the drain tailpiece that goes into the pipe under the sink. So I went to the hardware store and got one which added $ 6.25 to the cost.
 

This afternoon, Hubby and I made the repair. It was relatively easy and it saved us a fortune. It costs about $ 90. just for a plumber to come to the house here and then Hubby estimates the parts and labor would have pushed it to about $ 200. – $225. total.

So by doing the work ourselves, we saved anywhere from $153. – $ 178. Plus the satisfaction we got from being able to do it was priceless!

There are a lot of things that we hire out now because as we get older we can’t do them anymore. But the things we can do, we continue to do. 


Doing it yourself will save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime. I know it has for us.


Being able to watch a you tube video on how to repair or replace almost anything is priceless too.

Fortunately, Hubby has done so much plumbing work over the years that it is second nature to him.

Do you repair your own things around your home? Please feel free to share with us in the comments.  

12 replies on “Saving Money with DIY”

Tommy repairs nothing nor does he pay for it to be done. He just lets things get worse and worse. He yells because I insist it be fixed to mitigate the damage. I used to repair all sorts of things, including installing a 220 outlet.

My husband is an auto mechanic by trade and is very mechanically inclined. Besides our vehicles he also repairs our lawn mower. He has also repaired ceiling fans and installed our dishwasher. He learned a little plumbing from a friend of ours who has his own business and has unclogged our pipes a few times as well as other plumbing work.

My husband is very handy & does many things around the house (lots of car repairs, building a deck, replacing our dishwasher, etc). It has definitely, definitely saved money. We did have to call a plumber when the boys were little, as the toilets wouldn't flush & all of our troubleshooting didn't work. Turns out there were 8 toy cars & a toothbrush in one of the toilets… ahh, little boys šŸ™‚

Hi HP,

I am sitting here laughing over the toys in the toilets. It brought back memories of one of my sons flushing Hubby's hot comb down the toilet.

Hi AD, this is Chris. Yes, hubby is very handy like yours. He has saved us so much money through the years. I am grateful. The latest thing he is working on is re-grouting the tile in our master bath shower.

This is the last week I am watching our granddaughter, next week she is going back to daycare. I will still have her on Thursdays, though. After I get done commenting, I am going to write you an email, so check your spam if you can't find it. LOL!

Hi Chris,

That is a big job doing the tile. Hubby had the room built for a master bathroom when we built our second home. But he installed everything. I remember the tile job. It was tedious.

I will go check my email now.

We have a plastic bin under our sink just in case there is a leak. The kitchen was remodeled several years ago and there should not be a leak, but just in case!

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