If you are a home owner or even a renter, a well stocked ORGANZIED toolbox, accompanied by an ORGANIZED supply of bolts; nuts; nails and accessories; can save you lots of money as well as lots of pain and suffering throughout your lifetime. Because sooner rather than later, you are destined to need this stuff in order to live safely in your dwelling! And just for the record, I personally would rather go to the dentist and have a tooth filled before I tackle most routine repair and replacement jobs around the house. However, as any home dweller knows, you have to do what you have to do when the chips are down and you have to put your "Joe Mechanic" uniform on to repair or replace something that you just can't pay someone else to do in a timely fashion.
The main reason I loathe home repair jobs stems not from the challenge or my ability to make the repair. It's usually because once I've begun, I always seem to have to make one or multiple trips to the hardware store to buy some minor tool; screw; bolt; or other item that I just can't seem to find. Can you identify with this?
In my opinion, most repair or replacement jobs around the house are not really that difficult to complete. And even the more daring jobs can be a challenge that I might even enjoy. However those wasteful trips to the store creates lots of frustration and removes all the fun for Me.
Thus, inspired by the replacement of an outdoor light fixture I performed today, I thought I would write a lesson based on my own experiences, with the hopes of making my next repair job, as well as those of my visitors more enjoyable. The replacement of the light fixture was not difficult. After turning off the all the electric in the house, I jumped in performing steps one, two, three, etc. The tough part came when the fixture maker didn't supply new electric connectors. The old ones were unusable. Now I could have sworn I bought a bag of these before, but of course could not find any when I needed them. Thus, a trip out to the store in heavy weekend traffic and extreme heat was not fun. Once at the store I had to search for my item; buy a bag of 25 connectors when I only needed 3; stand in line to pay top price for the bag; and finally fight the traffic back. By this time, all the fun was drained out of my project.
Over the years, I have repeated the same frustrating trips to the stores for one item or another that I just couldn't find in my tool box or accessory bins. I have thousands of screws; bolts etc; that I will never use. They accumulated because I always ended up buying 25 or 50 of an item when I only need one or two. The same has happened with tools. Especially Allen Wrenches or drill bits. I've paid more for single tools when I was desperate that I would have paid for a whole set when they are on sale. However, when you need a specific size to complete a job, you'll pay whatever ridiculous price it cost, just to get finished.
The key issue to cover with this lesson is "IT MAKES GOOD SENSE TO ORGANIZE" your toolbox and accessories to avoid 30-50 years of repeated frustration regarding home repairs. The more organized you become - the better. It also makes good sense to buy sets of tools when they are on sale. You don't need the best quality available if you are an occasional do-it-yourselfer. Just all the right sizes and shapes in complete sets to avoid running to the hardware store every time you perform a repair job around the house.
Another idea might be to stock up with bolt, nut and screw assortments on your next trip to a flea market. Or perhaps buy out someone's tool and accessory inventory really cheap at a garage sale, in anticipation of those frustrating repair job days ahead. I'm telling you having what you need most of the time, will reduce your aggravation level exponentially. It will save you precious time; gasoline; and wear and tear on your nervous system. That's a win-win-win reason to stock up and ORGANIZE your tools and accessories well in advance to starting a repair job!
Just as every facet of our lives, being prepared and organized always pays off. I want to make sure that I don't forget what I am professing here regarding home repairs and I plan on increasing and organizing my tool and accessory war chest before my next repair job pops up. It's always satisfying to finally complete a job around the house. You just need to make the journey along the way to completion less stressful and frustrating.
The way I see it "Every Ounce of Frustration you can avoid in Life can be Worth a Pound of Satisfaction and Enjoyment." There's a new way to describe what we do at here eHappyLife.com!