For several years I had the mentality of spending money to hire contractors and such to do things for me. Cut my grass, change the oil in the cars, electrical work, plumbing repairs, general home improvements. I hired all of this out with the justification that the money spent would afford me more time with my family. And while it did do that some of the time, most of the time it just gave me more time to work.
So this year I am taking a much different approach. Instead of hiring people to do all of these things for me, I am stepping outside of my comfort zone and taking on the challenge of learning how to do things I have never done before and doing them with my family. I save money, learn how to do things I otherwise would not know how to do, become a more confident homeowner, and I get to improve things with my family by my side.
So far this time together has been a net positive for our family. We are building, creating, improving, fixing, and learning together.
Mozzie, our six-year-old, enjoys this new approach. He is a very hands-on kid and learns by doing (he gets this from me and is both a positive and negative in life). My hope is that doing these projects will increase his confidence to try things he does not know how to do now and in the future.
And for me, I am enjoying the challenge of learning things I have secretly always wanted to do but never thought I had the time to learn. I also thought that all of this home-improvement type stuff was for people smarter than me. Turns out it has less to do with smarts and more to do with determination and patience.
The year is still very young, and I have plenty of projects to start, but at this point I do not see any reason to shy away from doing more and hiring less.
