King of DIY

Gone are the days where you expect men to be able to fix a leaky pipe, build a coffee table, and bring home wild game for dinner. That's not to say that all of the handy, manly men are extinct. I am blessed to have a husband who has done all of the above except for the dinner thing. I am pretty sure the only animal he has ever killed was a cat, and it was with a car. Of course he felt terrible about it. There are times when the whole "I can do it myself" mentality can be a little stressful, but usually it is just a major blessing for our finances.

For example, last week was not our week for cars. The day after my car was run into by a Hummer, my husband's car failed to start up. A broken down car is the last thing we need. My husband knew he had been having starter trouble and already called the repair shop only to get a quote of $500 (at least) to get it fixed. Then he decided to buy a new starter and do it himself. The part cost $180, so we were saving, but it was still quite a blow to the budget.

Then later once hubby got underneath the car he figured out which part of the starter was broken and decided he could just rebuild the whole thing himself. He took the starter back and traded it in for a piece that only cost $5.00! It was the starter solenoid contact for anyone that might be into that kind of thing. So praise God we went from a $500 problem to a $5 solution.

I'd like to think of it as DIH, because if you can't "do it yourself" you might as well see if you can have your husband "do it himself". That's just one way this messy mom is keepin' it frugal. For more Frugal ideas check Frugal Friday at Life as Mom.