Not everything involving better health is connected to medicine. The 3-word descriptor of Augusta’s Most Salubrious Newspaper (TM) – health, wellness, medicine – covers a lot of territory. Today, by way of the PSA of the Week, they’re going to cover DIY. You know what that means: Do It Yourself. Yesterday I had those three letters at the top of my to-do list, followed by an all-day project I was really looking forward to. The DIY project was to repair a toilet that was always running even after I replaced the valve. DIY Phase 2: I went back to the half-acre home improvement store. The extremely helpful and knowledgable employee from earlier was nowhere in sight. Another employee answered my question about exactly how to fix the pesky issue. Part No. 2 cost all of $8. No biggie. In attempting to remove the old part, I broke it. Again, no biggie. I’m replacing it anyway, right? But try as I might, I could not get the old part out. It was then that I belatedly turned to YouTube. Typing in the brand I was trying to repair led me to a video that was barely a minute long. Turns out, my repair should have cost about 79 cents and taken less than 5 minutes. But because I didn’t know that (and accidentally broke the part I thought needed to be replaced), I was now looking at a new instructional video that described a very complicated job, including completely removing the tank. The 5-minute job became one that required many bad words to complete – and at my skill level, more than 4 hours. (I could redo it in an hour, though, now that I know the inside tricks.)
The Moral of the Story: do not go to an auto parts or a home improvement store until and unless you have first researched your job online or on YouTube. Otherwise you’re likely to fall prey to whatever the sales person thinks you need. A plumber might be answering your electrical question, or vice versa. Ask for help. Ask first. And ask the right person, before you get to the store. It will save you lots of grief.
