Growing up my family always purchased new. Never did we think to try to fix something ourselves. This gets costly and in my adult life has contributed to a great deal of debt!

For the 8 years that we have been in our home, never have we had to replace any of the appliances or other major items in the home. Until this month...


All At Once

First - the water heater!
Next - the dryer!
Also - Our vacuum (now this is not major but still couldn't believe it broke down on us so soon!)

3 months ago my response to these items would have been...let's go and buy a new one. Yet, while finally taking control of our finances and getting a hold of our debt, the response has changed to "can WE fix it?"

Fix-it Felix (or Andre!)

My wife simply asked the question...do you think we could fix it? So we attempted to do things ourselves and save a few bucks:

Vacuum - took it completely apart and finally fixed it! Saved = $200-$300.00

Dryer - took it completely apart and fixed (with the help from YouTube!) Saved = $500-$1,000.00

Water Heater - we had to get help on this one due to being a gas heater, but did some labor ourselves. Saved = $100 off labor!

Total Savings = nearly $1,000.00

It felt good to save money and avoid debt! As much as I hope our items last a bit longer, I look forward to future challenges and savings opportunities!!!

What have you had to fix yourself and what did you save?