Of course you need good property insurance and insurance for the car and you can budget for the boiler maintenance every year. Otherwise just put a wee bit away whenever you can and pretty soon you build up a wee list of good, helpful tradespeople who charge reasonable rates and fix things properly and from there on you're laughing all the way to the bank!
Just having a wee re-read of my recent posts and this (the above) made me ponder on where, over the years, I'd saved most money. It may seem obvious but it's labour which is the real "killer" expense. As soon as you need to have someone come round to effect a repair that's when the cost really takes off.
A good example I can use to illustrate this is my older boy's recent toilet plumbing leak. Their toilet has not been flushing properly for some time now but they've done nothing about it, just vigorously pumping the flush lever half a dozen times or so to get it to eventually flush. Anyway, about a week ago he rang me to say "Dad, there's water on the bathroom floor around the toilet" My boy, unlike his younger brother, is not a DIY man and has almost no tools, he's also on the other side of town. I was worried he might have a leak on the supply side and that serious flooding could be possible so told him to ring a plumber near him I know who responded within the hour. Turns out the main syphon securing nut needed tightening. An easy job as the toilet reservoir tank is not close coupled, although access was complicated by it being a built in unit. He was there for about 20 minutes and it cost my boy £70.
Following this the flush failed completely (not linked to the plumber's repair in any way, it was the usual failed diaphragm problem) so I went over and replaced the complete syphon assembly which also involved partially dismantling the vanity unit it's built into. Total cost? £20! and that was for the good quality syphon unit. I'm sure it would have been well "north" of £100 if we'd got the plumber to do it. Don't think I'm slagging off the plumber, I think his prices are reasonable and I don't begrudge anyone earning a living, it's just that there's humoungous savings to be made if you can be bothered to learn how to do repairs yourself and cut out the labour expense.
For many people it's confidence that's the big problem (mind you I would advise against overconfidence in yourself as well!) Plumbing is a good place to start as, unlike with electricity, you are unlikely to kill yourself! Start off buying yourself one of those big DIY manuals. They are often heavily discounted in those book shops which are full of books no-one really wanted, jumble sales are a good hunting ground too. I've got a couple of these "Bibles" - and they are as thick and heavy as a Bible - Here's one:
Although I do much of my own household repairs and have done so for many years, I still find myself referring to it from time to time.
After reading it up get yourself some tools, lengths of pipe - copper &/or plastic or both - and connectors (learning to solder copper pipes is great fun) Start practicing cutting and making joints. If you're like me you'll find it amazingly satisfying! A couple of years ago we were going up stairs to bed when, about half way up the flight, a drip landed on my head! I looked up and there was a large wet patch on the landing ceiling with a very slow drip of water going on. I realised the main water tank is above there so I nipped up into the loft and, after taking up some of the flooring I'd only recently laid, discovered a tiny weep going on in the gravity supply pipe from the tank to the rest of the house (cold water taps). I wrapped the pipe with self amalgamating tape to stop the leak overnight and went back up next morning, plugged the tank outlet with one of those very useful conical rubber bungs, cut out the leaking bit of pipe and fitted a new piece with a compression joint at each end of the new bit of pipe. Job done. What would that have cost for an emergency plumber at close to midnight? Taking floor boards up gets exciting and taking down ceilings even more so but it's all doable and technically much less demanding than working on cars. Stay well away from gas though - it's illegal anyway! By the way, No, I had not put a nail through the pipe whilst laying the flooring! It was an inclusion formed during extrusion of the pipe when it was manufactured which had just, after about 30 years since the build, decided to start weeping. Never seen the likes of this before or since. Of course now I'm wondering if there's another one lurking somewhere inaccessible which is gently dripping away without my knowledge? Can't loose any sleep over it though.
There's a lot you can do with electricity too. Replacing switches and light fittings, perhaps adding a light. Our bedroom had just one ceiling light at the end of the room - why not in the middle? Ah well - I extended the wiring to a second pendant fitting at the other end of the room to give even illumination. Very exciting making the hole in the ceiling for the wire! I also rewired my garage lighting from one centrally mounted pendant bulb to two twin 5 ft fluorescent battens (although I did check with an electrician that the existing supply wiring was robust enough to take it) I'd like to fit a 16amp power socket in my garage to power my compressor but that will involve circuit breakers etc so I'll get an electrician to do it for me. Just make sure you kill the mains before doing anything.
So if you've never tried it do have a go, start with something simple and read up and google/you tube it before starting. It won't always be simple and sometimes it goes wrong but sorting it out can only make you better at doing it! It's great fun and can save you enormous amounts of money! If you don't feel confident but still want to give it a try wait 'til covid opens up again and go to an evening class, It's socially great fun and you'll learn loads.
