9 Tips For Doing Home Repairs Yourself

When you are a newly single mother recently divorced, and you're still sorting through all that needs to be handled, and when you don't have the money to pay someone else, this is a great time to learn to do home repairs yourself. You, too, can become Josephine the Plumber - for those of you who remember those commercials for Comet Cleanser.

1. A great way to learn home maintenance first hand is to work with the Habitat for Humanity people. You'll be taught how to swing a hammer, use a saw or use power tools. And you'll be with others who are also learning how, so any discomfort you might feel spreads around among the bunch of you.

2. There is a great site for teaching women how to do home projects (they have over 200 projects currently posted) at www.BeJane.com.

3. Make friends with your local Do-It Center or Home Depot employees. Tell them what you want to do and see if the store might be holding a how-to class. If not, ask the department personnel to explain what you need to do, and what you need to purchase to get that job done.

4. The next part happens when you arrive on your home front with everything you purchased and a feeling of overwhelm about how to begin. One grand idea to help me complete overwhelming projects is to ask one question at the beginning: "Can you see ONE step to take? Can you take that one?" The next one always shows up. It takes willingness, perseverance and bit of courage to begin, persevere through all the steps and then enjoy your handicraft.

5. Go to used book stores and purchase How-To books. Now that the internet is the be-all, end-all, do all, the old Encyclopedias showing "How To" are available cheap at yard sales and used book stores. Then, when you've got a project to do, you'll have information at your hand to get in there and get started on it.

6. Be creative. I have an old story about a lady who needed a new garbage disposal and no husband to install it. It's kind of tough to hold it up underneath the sink and tighten it down from above, so this very creative lady got the jack from her car (you do know how to use a jack, right?) and jacked the disposal in place while she worked on it from above. Clever girl!

7. Keep all your tools together in an easy to carry container. Empty cat liter buckets are wonderful, and if you sew, you can create an apron for yourself with pockets that will hold your tools.

8. Home Improvement television shows are a great source for educating your newly growing expertise. You can learn a lot from watching designers re-do homes with the help of their talented handymen on HGTV. Those fellows have great tips for making the jobs easier.

9. There are toolkits designed for women. I cannot see any difference beyond the color of the tool, and what difference does color make on a hammer or screwdriver. A tool only needs to be functional to work. Color does not improve functionality.

Because of divorce, you are often challenged to unfold some more talent from within yourself, and for single moms, home repair is one of those places. Do research on the internet. The internet is today's library and contains up the minute advice on how to accomplish any project. You can if you think you can!