My dad taught me to do just about everything for myself (besides massage, but my wife would castrate me, so…). I do remember he taught me to change my car’s oil by saying he was going to teach me on a saturday, making me wake up early, then going to an oil change place. Of course that was when an oil change was 20 bucks. Now that they charge 70+ (they say it’s because synthetic, but I get rotella t6 for >20 for a gallon) I do that myself too.
@Pantheist For me its auto maintenance and repair. I can do a lot of it and when I lived in Nevada did a lot more. Now I live in an HOA “community” in ill-annoy that will harp at people if the hood is up for more than a few minutes. Plus the driveway is too sloped and the garage is full of ‘other’ (our fault). So no place to work in peace and safety.
I miss it. Wrenching on cars is fun, when they’re your own.
@duodec For sure (the fun I mean). Can you at least change your own brake pads/rotors? The prices they charge for those are some of the biggest scams in auto repair imo.
My entire automotive background is self-taught from 5 years of ownership so I don’t quite trust myself with a jack yet, plus there isn’t a lot of room to work in our apartment parking lot.
I always get oil changes done at a dealership and bring my own synthetic oil (Mobil 1 is $15 for a 5qt jug with recurring rebates) and filters. They just charge $15-20 for labour, and also throw in a car wash.
I keep a set of replacement brake pads and a bunch of other spare parts on hand.
@duodec my problem was not the “doing” part, it was the diagnostics. IF I know what the problem is I have on qualms about doing the repairs myself, and since I live in the south, having a car up on jacks (or cinderblocks) is considered yard art…
@Pantheist When I had room in the garage here, yes, I did brakes on my current and previous vehicle. And once a neighbor here let me ‘borrow’ his garage for other work, but nothing really major.
Back in Nevada I did everything except body work/paint and pulling or rebuilding an engine (I did pull the trans but only for modest repairs). But here almost anything in the driveway is sure to draw the ire of the HOA or one of their apparently numerous snitches.
@Pantheist my biggest problem with ramps is bumper clearances. Neither my Pontiac Vibe nor Honda Fit will go up the ramp without dragging the bumper unless I add an extension by putting a short piece of board out front of the ramp.
I’m pretty happy to pay for most of these services, or wish I could afford to pay for these services (although I’d totally be walking my dog if I had one). I do wish I cooked more. It’s not the cooking that I mind, it’s the cleanup afterwards. I probably wouldn’t even mind that so much if I had a proper commercial-sized 3 basin sink that could easily accommodate fully submerging any size pot or pan into soapy water (maybe not a baking sheet, but it could certainly accommodate over half at a time), and then the rinse and the sanitize basins. That would be a lot quicker and easier than my current tiny sink.
@jqubed i’ve been living in an apartment for a year and a half making 3 meals a day and havent used rhe dish washer since the day i moved in and tested it.
@cranky1950 I hate doing dishes. I had a job doing that for a while, and I both got my fill of doing it and got spoiled by the facilities commercial kitchens have to make the process easier. And going through food safety training was both the best and worst thing that could happen to someone who was already trending toward the germophobic; I want to be able to sanitize everything now! And my dishwasher has a sanitize option, although I don’t think it’s to commercial standards (180°F). I don’t put most of my pots and pans in there because I don’t know if they’re dishwasher safe. I’m not really worried they’ll be harmed, but I saw a nasty dishwasher in a rental once and someone posited that people had put the pots and pans in it. I’m thinking now it might’ve been copper that corroded, but I don’t know.
@jqubed I use my dishwasher for everything. I can’t stand washing dishes by hand. You also waste more water that way. There are special cleaners for dishwashers… But honestly, I can’t say that my dishwasher has ever looked dirty except for some staining because of well water. I have one with a stainless interior which is much nicer than the plastic tubs.
Dog grooming. Dogs should be washed with a hose and shake off in warm weather. But, we inherited a collie. Great dog, but their fur gets matted. So, I’ve become one of those people going to a dog groomer. At least she’s too large to be carried in a bag or in a stroller.
@naropa Mini Aussies in our house (they run about 35 pounds). Between them blowing their coats in prep for the warmer weather and finding every bit of dropped pine sap to lie in, we’ve been snipping out mats left & right.
We have a hand held shower head in one of the bathrooms, so bathing those two stinkers in relatively easy, although they both hate the water (the older of the two trembles pathetically while having a bath). One of those plastic hair trappers for the tub drain is a must. Dear god, the amount of hair! Oy!
A quick toweling off and then they rocket out into the back yard to run around like lunatics. We learned the hard way we have to watch & distract the older of the two until she dries out a bit, because she will find a patch of dirt & pine straw and roll to her heart’s content. Want another bath? Because that’s how you’ll earn yourself another bath!
@chienfou I would so use that. Washing the dogs on the ground kills my back. There’s a groomer that lets you rent a bay but it costs almost as much as having them do it.
@moondrake I sit on the edge of the bath tub. It’s easier to keep the victim from escaping and easier on my back.
@cranky1950 Aussies pretty much are working dogs, albeit mine are lazy working dogs. Good at watching “their flock” and they do a great job of keeping the squirrels from the bird feeder, and herding our cats back inside when it’s time to button up the house and go to bed.
@LaVikinga When they get older they’re cool, young they can be problematic. When mine got old she was arthritic in her front left leg and she didn’t like going out in the cold and would mess. She figured out that we weren’t going to take rolled up newspaper to her when she was hurting so when caught she would often hold up the wrong leg and whimper. Then laugh at us when we let her off with no corrective action.
Damn dogs.
@LaVikinga I don’t have a tub. After 20 years of never using it I took it out and put in a shower stall, which made room for a small dresser (smalls dresser) where I keep bras, undies, socks, stockings and slips. So I only have to take the outfit to the bathroom to shower, everything else is already there. It was really convenient when I was working.
@moondrake We have a rather large shower in the master bedroom. It has a handheld shower head as well. Even though there’s a shower stool in there, it’s a pain to chase a dog around the shower to bathe her. There are still those Calgon-take-me-away days when I really miss having a tub to soak and drink the day away…
Lawn service. Worth every darned penny. Lovely couple shows up every week to mow, edge, trim front hedges, and blow off walks, patio, & driveway. Heck, they’ll even round up the darned pine straw in the winter. What would take me two days to do (especially in our hellish, humid summer) they can completely have done in under 30 minutes or so, AND sometimes they bring fresh vegetables when their home garden goes into overdrive. They’re what we call in the south “good people.”
MEH
My dad taught me to do just about everything for myself (besides massage, but my wife would castrate me, so…). I do remember he taught me to change my car’s oil by saying he was going to teach me on a saturday, making me wake up early, then going to an oil change place. Of course that was when an oil change was 20 bucks. Now that they charge 70+ (they say it’s because synthetic, but I get rotella t6 for >20 for a gallon) I do that myself too.
@Pantheist For me its auto maintenance and repair. I can do a lot of it and when I lived in Nevada did a lot more. Now I live in an HOA “community” in ill-annoy that will harp at people if the hood is up for more than a few minutes. Plus the driveway is too sloped and the garage is full of ‘other’ (our fault). So no place to work in peace and safety.
I miss it. Wrenching on cars is fun, when they’re your own.
@Pantheist I mean <20, not >20…
@duodec For sure (the fun I mean). Can you at least change your own brake pads/rotors? The prices they charge for those are some of the biggest scams in auto repair imo.
My entire automotive background is self-taught from 5 years of ownership so I don’t quite trust myself with a jack yet, plus there isn’t a lot of room to work in our apartment parking lot.
I always get oil changes done at a dealership and bring my own synthetic oil (Mobil 1 is $15 for a 5qt jug with recurring rebates) and filters. They just charge $15-20 for labour, and also throw in a car wash.
I keep a set of replacement brake pads and a bunch of other spare parts on hand.
@duodec my problem was not the “doing” part, it was the diagnostics. IF I know what the problem is I have on qualms about doing the repairs myself, and since I live in the south, having a car up on jacks (or cinderblocks) is considered yard art…
@Pantheist When I had room in the garage here, yes, I did brakes on my current and previous vehicle. And once a neighbor here let me ‘borrow’ his garage for other work, but nothing really major.
Back in Nevada I did everything except body work/paint and pulling or rebuilding an engine (I did pull the trans but only for modest repairs). But here almost anything in the driveway is sure to draw the ire of the HOA or one of their apparently numerous snitches.
@Pantheist I usually try to wait for coupons in the mail, usually can still get them around $20-$25 (conventional, though, obviously)
@duodec I don’t think I could live somewhere with an HOA
@trisk If you’re nervous about jacks you can just get a pair of ramps- they’re better for oil changes anyway.
@Pantheist my biggest problem with ramps is bumper clearances. Neither my Pontiac Vibe nor Honda Fit will go up the ramp without dragging the bumper unless I add an extension by putting a short piece of board out front of the ramp.
Fixing anything around the house.
However, it is cheaper to pay someone to fix shit than to pay someone to clean up the mess after I try myself.
/giphy fixing shit
Burning down Meh HQ after this Fuko I couldn’t load
My Dr. If I could write scripts, it’s save me about $3000 a year.
Then there’s Trixie, well I do sortta do that myself too,but she’s come to depend on me ya no.
Warshing the car.
@connorbush I do that myself, drive up put 5 bucks in the little box and push the button.
@connorbush Is that a real thing… washing a car??? Who does that???
I’m surprised yard service didn’t make it into this poll.
@jqubed What’s a yard?
@jqubed The one benefit of an HOA AFAIK is not having to mow the lawns
@jqubed whos got money for a service?
@duodec In my area that’s only if you’re living in a townhome development.
I’m so happy to pay someone to clean my house. She does a much better job than we would and we don’t have to spend most of our weekends doing it.
I’m pretty happy to pay for most of these services, or wish I could afford to pay for these services (although I’d totally be walking my dog if I had one). I do wish I cooked more. It’s not the cooking that I mind, it’s the cleanup afterwards. I probably wouldn’t even mind that so much if I had a proper commercial-sized 3 basin sink that could easily accommodate fully submerging any size pot or pan into soapy water (maybe not a baking sheet, but it could certainly accommodate over half at a time), and then the rinse and the sanitize basins. That would be a lot quicker and easier than my current tiny sink.
@jqubed
/image dishwasher open dirty dishes
@RiotDemon “dishwasher safe” is now a key phrase in my kitchen purchases
@jqubed i’ve been living in an apartment for a year and a half making 3 meals a day and havent used rhe dish washer since the day i moved in and tested it.
@cranky1950 I hate doing dishes. I had a job doing that for a while, and I both got my fill of doing it and got spoiled by the facilities commercial kitchens have to make the process easier. And going through food safety training was both the best and worst thing that could happen to someone who was already trending toward the germophobic; I want to be able to sanitize everything now! And my dishwasher has a sanitize option, although I don’t think it’s to commercial standards (180°F). I don’t put most of my pots and pans in there because I don’t know if they’re dishwasher safe. I’m not really worried they’ll be harmed, but I saw a nasty dishwasher in a rental once and someone posited that people had put the pots and pans in it. I’m thinking now it might’ve been copper that corroded, but I don’t know.
@jqubed I use my dishwasher for everything. I can’t stand washing dishes by hand. You also waste more water that way. There are special cleaners for dishwashers… But honestly, I can’t say that my dishwasher has ever looked dirty except for some staining because of well water. I have one with a stainless interior which is much nicer than the plastic tubs.
Dog grooming. Dogs should be washed with a hose and shake off in warm weather. But, we inherited a collie. Great dog, but their fur gets matted. So, I’ve become one of those people going to a dog groomer. At least she’s too large to be carried in a bag or in a stroller.
@naropa They actually have ‘dog washes’ akin to a car wash (and sometimes even at the same place)
@naropa Mini Aussies in our house (they run about 35 pounds). Between them blowing their coats in prep for the warmer weather and finding every bit of dropped pine sap to lie in, we’ve been snipping out mats left & right.
We have a hand held shower head in one of the bathrooms, so bathing those two stinkers in relatively easy, although they both hate the water (the older of the two trembles pathetically while having a bath). One of those plastic hair trappers for the tub drain is a must. Dear god, the amount of hair! Oy!
A quick toweling off and then they rocket out into the back yard to run around like lunatics. We learned the hard way we have to watch & distract the older of the two until she dries out a bit, because she will find a patch of dirt & pine straw and roll to her heart’s content. Want another bath? Because that’s how you’ll earn yourself another bath!
@chienfou I would so use that. Washing the dogs on the ground kills my back. There’s a groomer that lets you rent a bay but it costs almost as much as having them do it.
@LaVikinga Get working dogs they’re good with kids hahahahahahahahaha
@moondrake I sit on the edge of the bath tub. It’s easier to keep the victim from escaping and easier on my back.
@cranky1950 Aussies pretty much are working dogs, albeit mine are lazy working dogs. Good at watching “their flock” and they do a great job of keeping the squirrels from the bird feeder, and herding our cats back inside when it’s time to button up the house and go to bed.
@LaVikinga When they get older they’re cool, young they can be problematic. When mine got old she was arthritic in her front left leg and she didn’t like going out in the cold and would mess. She figured out that we weren’t going to take rolled up newspaper to her when she was hurting so when caught she would often hold up the wrong leg and whimper. Then laugh at us when we let her off with no corrective action.
Damn dogs.
@LaVikinga I don’t have a tub. After 20 years of never using it I took it out and put in a shower stall, which made room for a small dresser (smalls dresser) where I keep bras, undies, socks, stockings and slips. So I only have to take the outfit to the bathroom to shower, everything else is already there. It was really convenient when I was working.
@moondrake We have a rather large shower in the master bedroom. It has a handheld shower head as well. Even though there’s a shower stool in there, it’s a pain to chase a dog around the shower to bathe her. There are still those Calgon-take-me-away days when I really miss having a tub to soak and drink the day away…
what does ‘hits’ refer to? is it to drugs? web page impressions?
/giphy the professional
@elimanningface I assumed it was murder.
@moondrake @trisk that makes sense! Thank you!
Fukos. But it’s cheaper to higher the pros instead of doing it myself. So I’ll keep paying them.
Lawn service. Worth every darned penny. Lovely couple shows up every week to mow, edge, trim front hedges, and blow off walks, patio, & driveway. Heck, they’ll even round up the darned pine straw in the winter. What would take me two days to do (especially in our hellish, humid summer) they can completely have done in under 30 minutes or so, AND sometimes they bring fresh vegetables when their home garden goes into overdrive. They’re what we call in the south “good people.”
DIY pffft. Why else do we work but to pay people?
@borisparsley I don’t know about you, but I always worked to get paid.
@rockblossom even when watching wrastlin’?
choking chickens.
@no1
oh my… you didn’t really go there did you…?
@chienfou i’m surprise it took this long for someone to go there.
@chienfou at least i didn’t post a gif