Know Yourself: be realistic about abilities and limits

Photo via digitalart

They say "time is money" - but if you have the time, you don't need to pay someone else to do what you can do.

If you know you can - complete the project.
If you think you can - do a little research.
If you doubt you can - consider the possible outcomes - delay, cost, replacement, injury
If you can't - find the least expensive way to do it correctly

Can you change your oil? Do you have the time to change your oil? $20 could be a week of groceries for one person if you change your oil yourself. Know your limits though - breaking a part on your car or hurting yourself in the process will be much more costly than the $20 it would have cost professionally.

Toilet backed up? Use the plunger. Rent or buy a snake. Google your symptoms. No success - call the toilet doctor. Do not break something with the snake - if you can't do it - DON'T!

Replacing a medicine cabinet? Need a pro or can you do it? Have a friend who could do it? Make them dinner in return! Make sure your friend CAN complete the project though and won't cause destruction and delay themselves.

Want to start a craft business? Start small and see if you are suited to and actually interested before you invest in a lot of supplies. Is there a market for your idea? Is it worth your time and effort? 200 yards of ribbon would be expensive to just leave in a closet because you weren't as interested as you thought you were.

Years ago we bought a house to fix up. Had we been realistic about what we were capable of doing ourselves and the time we had available to do it - we (I) never would have. I didn't know what my huband was truly capable of. 5 years of living in destruction/demolition and finally we hired the work out and it was done.