Do-It-Yourself (Your Advice)
In the do-it-yourself world, saving money is dependant on if you can actually get the job done without ending up doing more harm than there originally was in the beginning. Unfortunately, that is not always the case and this email from a reader wants to know how to discourage the problem:
I have a big problem with my husband. He thinks of himself as a do-it-yourselfer and for small things around the house, it’s fine. However, he thinks he can do anything including repair jobs that are way out of his league. This almost always results in more damage than there originally was and costs us even more money since we must call in a professional to clean up his mess. No matter how much I beg and plead, he insists on trying to fix it himself first. How can I make him realize that his attempts to save us money are costing us a lot more?
If you were faced with a similar situation, what steps would you take to try and resolve this problem?
This is a difficult one because he probably does the things because he enjoys tinkering whether he is any good at it or not. My advice would be to keep him busy with a lot of small projects and call in a professional before he has a chance to get around to those bigger projects that could be costly.