There are very few people who can fix your car, toaster, or your washer and even if they can they often can’t tell you what they did to fix it so when I told my husband that our toaster oven was broken and he knows how much I love toast he was quickly on the case but he was concerned it could not be repaired. Our toaster cost us around $29.99 it was not a convection toaster although if he could not have repaired it I was going to get one of those next but in reality about 15 to 20 minutes of him working on the toaster saved us approximately $30.00 and our time to go get a new toaster and figure out which one we wanted whether we did this online or whether we went to a store in town.
The good news was that all he had to do was clean the contacts on the timer switch and sand them down and re-connect everything although he does say that if you are going to attempt doing your own repairs you need to make sure you have unplugged the appliance and you may even want to take pictures of how everything is connected (that’s my advice I use this with computer repair work sometimes) because he says there is a risk of not connecting everything back together properly. If cleaning this contact had not worked his Plan B was to order a new contact hoping that would be less expensive than buying a new toaster oven although these days that is a crap shoot since everything is made to be disposable.
My husband “The Viking In My Life” came from a family where they either all have a trade or they are all mechanically inclined…my husband became the HVAC guy but his talents just don’t stop there he has amazing innovative ideas to make life easier, his next youngest brother is a car person and also makes art out of metal and his youngest brother is a carpenter and a musician although they all have tons of interests and hobbies I am mentioning only a few. They are all mechanically gifted in one way or another they were also born to parents who also were highly skilled in different trades and I have to say I have enjoyed being the wife of someone who has mechanical talent it has come in very handy.
The only time I have ever gone without air conditioning was our first day we moved into our very first home and he came home with a window ac unit after the first night of miserable sleep and we used that window unit until we saved up enough money for him to install our central HVAC system.
If your toaster stops working do you just go out and buy a new one or do you fix it? Have you tried doing your own appliance repair with any luck? I would love to hear your stories! Pinterest has a lot of links for repair information I know I for one would definitely look there if I was trying to fix something on our own or of course I would go to YouTube as well.
Also as you know I am a member of The Homestead Bloggers Network and today is the link up party for “Thrifty Thursday”!
Have a great day everyone!
Fondly,
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We are lucky enough to have a son-in-law that can fix anything! Aarron’s breast pump broke last fall shortly after she had gone back to work and the company wouldn’t fix it. Brad found the part (which cost $1.40) and had it fixed in no time. She was able to borrow one for a couple of days while the part was being shipped. A new one would have cost them $300.00
Gotta love those handy guys and gals Charlotte! What a huge savings thanks for sharing your story.
I love this post! I’m still using my *grandmother’s* toaster oven (she passed away in 1989!) Thank goodness, it hasn’t needed repair, but I love to think that doing such a thing might be possible. I especially love the tip to take a picture before disassembly – I had never thought of that before : )
Anna I learned to do this as I would panic when I could not figure out how to hook computers back up. It has come in very handy.
I am very blessed to have a husband who is a *jack of all trades* so to speak. Just today I had to go to town to pick up a water pump for the washing machine because the old one died on us. He is going to put the new one on this evening.
Having someone come in and *fix* things that are broken around here is not an option. We just don’t have the money. So over the past 24 years, Hubby has kept us going when things broke down from the car to the AC.
The computer is the only thing he had to *send out* when it needed working on. He did however find a good computer man at a reasonable price 😉
Great reminder!
Amanda
Matthew 6:33
Amanda I love your comment! The only contractors that have ever been in our house is the cable guy, and once a plumber when my husband could not snake the line out and we have been married for 24 years this month. Oh and I fix the computers 🙂 I love that you and your husband are so likeminded and so glad to meet you 🙂
My husband was a carpenter & made all our household repairs. After his death, my daughter & I were really at sea when it came to fixing the things that broke. When our refrigerator broke, we found the necessary repair would cost $200+. We decided to check on YouTube for an instructional video & sure enough, there was one. We bought the part on Amazon.com, installed it ourselves with the help of the video & saved $100.
That is such an inspirational story! Thanks so much for coming over here and sharing this. I have heard from other women that have struggled and conquered repair issues on their own it wasn’t easy but in the long run they learned a new skill and saved money. I have to often learn how to fix stuff at work on computers because the school system is so stretched thin or folks just won’t take the time out to teach me so I go to Google and You Tube too 🙂