Quick story. Years ago, I drove a 1994 Ford Taurus. I got it when I was seventeen and in high school. It was used, but glorious. I had a tape deck and the freedom to go anywhere I wanted. It was one of those fundamental transformations in life that is both unforgettable and beautiful.
Well, maybe not "beautiful." It was, after all, a Taurus.
Now, I say "was" because, well, that car is no more. Not to me, anyway. One day on my way home from work in the winter of 2003, I heard a loud pop from the engine compartment. My engine belt had been thrown off because, as I would learn, the water pump had seized. I even chronicled the ordeal on my LiveJournal back in the day.
The short version is that, for about $45 and an afternoon spent with a good friend, I managed to take a completely unmanageable situation and turn it into success. What was going to be hundreds of dollars of repair and towing became a learning experience and a great accomplishment.
That began a streak in me, what I call (not uniquely, I acknowledge) my "fixer" side. It's become a central facet to my philosophy on life, bolded for effect!
Fix, don't buy.
The benefits are obvious: fixing the things that you already have saves money and emphasizes their functional need in your life. The first benefit is easy for me to appreciate since, well, I'm a huge penny-pincher. The second is more subtle and important to me. If I can see something broken and I can see no value in fixing it, I've discovered that I never needed it in the first place.
The biggest hurdle to fixing? Lack of knowledge or experience. Sure, not everyone knows how to fix cars. My secret? Neither did I? After I acknowledged that fact I decided that I needed to do some research and team up with a friend that knew more on the subject than me. That helped me take my first step into a new school of knowledge. That first step has since allowed me to change my own oil, perform scheduled maintenance on my cars without taking them to costly dealers, keeping older vehicles working instead of taking on the debt and monthly payments of a new car, and giving me something to do that fulfills me.
The harsh truth is, not knowing is not an excuse to not doing. It's one of my mental blocks that is terribly persistent, one I have to fight often to keep moving forward.
Honestly, I really wish I had appreciated working on cars when I was younger. My dad and I worked on the family cars some weekends, but my style of learning and my dad's style of teaching didn't exactly meet in the middle, and I usually ended up getting frustrated and walking away. I suppose there's a lesson there for my impending fatherhood, one I'll have to think on.
To wrap up, I truly believe that the transformative event of getting a car was equally as influential in my life as learning to fix it. I recommend it to anyone. Ask me to help you fix your car and offer me lunch or something and we'll get it done. You'll learn something, I'll learn something, and we'll probably have beer.
And beer is always good.