Canadian Personal Finance Blog

So over the Christmas holiday there was a tragic example of why it might be better to let someone else do work on your car . This person figured working on his car would save him some money, so he decided to do it himself, with a tragic end.

I have done a fair amount of work in different areas for differing reasons:

• Computers: I know I can do this, it was my job and I think I am sophisticated enough to know when I have gotten in over my head, and need to call for help.
• Cars: I have put tires on my car, and when I have someone with me who knows cars, I don’t feel too bad working on them (but I have a very good mechanic, who I now let do all the work on my cars, since I have kids who drive around in my cars, not just me).
• House repairs: My father-in-law is the wiz about that stuff, I mostly hand him tools and he fixes things. I did replace the wax ring on a toilet, but I am still paranoid whenever I use this toilet.
• Electrical: What are you nuts? Anything that can cause your heart to stop if you don’t know what you are doing (like me), I stay away from.
• Gardening: I am cheap, and have very low standards as to what I stand for in my garden, so I do that.

You need to ask yourself, when you should and should NOT use your hard earned money in these areas and others. If you are confident you know what you are doing, then go ahead, but I am not that confident.

The other part of this is, if you do it yourself and it isn’t up to your standards, who do you get to complain to about that job? If I paid someone, at least I can whine at them. Spend your money wisely, but don’t cheap out either, and end up with someone you don’t want, or worse still in a situation like that poor man in the link above -C8j