Name: Samantha Hammar
Age: 32
Location: Boston, MA
Profession: City employee

My mother's side of the family was full of carpenters and contractors, so I knew I had a handyman in me somewhere. When we moved into our three-bedroom condo three years ago, I was determined to do at least some of the work myself.

There were things we didn't attempt; we didn't lay the floors ourselves, for instance. We know our limits. But we didn't want to pay someone to take care of some of the minor details. We started with little things — ripping up carpet, changing the outlet covers and switch plates, painting. We even changed out the chandeliers. There were instructions, but they were written for people who knew what they were doing. In other words, not us. Which piece is the nipple? We voted on which piece we thought it was. Unfortunately, we were wrong. Hey, now we know!

My mantra is if somebody else can do it, then I can do it. Plumbing is my latest challenge. It's scary because if you screw up, you're potentially impacting two other condos in the building. But to have a guy replace the toilet and the sink would have been $400 for labor. I said, "It's just a toilet, can't I do it myself?" He said, "You can try, and then call me when it falls apart." To learn, I watched YouTube videos on how to replace a toilet. We replaced it and after we used it once, we had to readjust everything. But now it works just fine.

The sink has been a different story. It's trial and error. I didn't realize that you should tighten the shutoff valve by hand. When I finally looked in the huge orange "How to do things" book I have, there were exclamation points and bold print that said, "Do not over-tighten!" Now the valve leaks. Since it's old, I can't replace it without shutting off the water to the whole building and using a pipe cutter-beyond my skills! I'll have to call a plumber in to fix what I did (once my ego heals).

Even so, if you include painting, we've saved thousands on repair costs. We'd been renting for so long, and there are so many things you can't change when you're renting. It was liberating to get to our own place where you could screw it up and then fix it if you had to. What's the worst that could happen?

How is your shutoff valve tightening technique? Or, better, what's the most you've ever saved by doing something yourself instead of calling a pro?

Do you have a money quandary? A success story? A cautionary tale? We'd love to hear from you. Send an email to editors@bundle.com and include a photo.


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