11–20 of 122 posts
I've seen two people replace dishwashers because the power cord wasn't connected well and failed. They don't include a power cord with the appliance, here; you buy your own and wire it up yourself, or the installers do it for most people I guess. So when this hurried connection made in an awkward place turns out to have been poor and breaks after a few years; "the dishwasher is broken" and a repair shop charges half…
Cell phones are much more repairable than they seem. You can replace screens, batteries, USB ports, antennas, etc. A new battery and factory reset makes it seem completely new.
Laptops can often be repaired or upgraded, especially earlier MacBooks or current Dells. I've upgraded my old (2014?) MacBook pro and used it for daily use for years. You can even get NMVe converters and I've thought about making a usbC charge plug for them.
I've heard that swapping out the capacitors in TVs can bring them back to life. Haven't tried it.
I've brought baby equipment back to life, fixed janky strollers with 3d printed parts.
Try just repainting furniture. It'll feel new and costs maybe 10 bucks. Get some plastic wood to fill in cracks or holes, and you won't believe how much better things look.
I once got a baby high chair for free because they sent two left legs instead of right and left. I drilled out the appropriate screw holes to convert one to the right side and filled in the existing holes. That saved enough money to pay for the drill press I used.
Ifixit.com has become one of my favorite sites.
Same goes for washing machines/drying machines, or pretty much any other large appliance.
I've seen people throw out perfectly good soft furnishings simply because they didn't know how to clean them, and let outdoor furniture go to rot because they didn't bother treating the wood every year or so by oiling it.
Cookware also often goes to waste due to neglect or lack of maintenance - I know a few people who buy pretty expensive kitchen knives and never sharpen them, instead replacing them.
Furniture
Furniture
This especially. Glue ups are poorly done on a lot of Wayfare and similar tier furniture and the fascia falls off. The MDF fails when the legs support the weight at an angle. I just repaired a dresser that had both of these issues with wood glue and finish nails for the fascia and bondo and a drill for the failed MDF foot mounts. Cheap furniture will not stand up to many moves but you can definitely repair a lot of i…
Water heaters; supposedly, if you replace the anode rods every 5 years, most water heaters would last the lifetime of the house, versus many replace the whole unit in 10 years.
Moral of the story: hubris is expensive.
However, if you do have skills and tools to do it, you may be surprised how much crazy money you can save by just maintaining the same product way past its expected lifetime. Especially true for various electronic appliances that often break down because some wire has gone bad somewhere.