How to Save Money Each Month by Fixing Your Own Appliances
Monday, May 1, 2017, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment
Many families struggle to remain within their budget. It can at times certainly be tough.
According to Fortune, American households held $12.58 trillion in debt at the end of 2016. That’s rather close to the amount held during the 2007 financial crisis.
To not go into debt, families have to make sacrifices. Certain unexpected costs can eat up a family’s monthly budget immediately.
However, there is a way to fix appliances that have issues without having to pay costly repair bills to professionals. It’s doing the work yourself.
Here are some strategies you can use to fix your own appliances so you won’t have to pay for them to be repaired.
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Perform Routine Maintenance
One of the reasons things can break in a home is because routine maintenance is not performed.
Appliances, devices and equipment need to be properly maintained on a schedule. Instead, often, no maintenance tasks are completed at all.
After the appliance finally breaks, a professional has to be called in to repair it.
While this may be an economic boon to repairmen, it’s not a smart strategy for a homeowner.
Perform all the maintenance tasks suggested in the manual for your appliances.
Clean, replace parts and install new filters when needed. Doing so is smart regardless, because it tends to increase the efficiency of those items as well as their lifespan.
According to Energy.gov, replacing an air conditioner’s filter once the filter has become dirty or clogged can lower the cost of running the air conditioner by as much as 15 percent.
Create an actual schedule on a calendar to make sure you don’t forget to perform maintenance tasks when you’re supposed to.
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Buy Replacement Vacuum Parts
In certain cases, people don’t even have a professional repair a broken appliance.
They just buy a new appliance all together. This is often the case with vacuum cleaners. However, vacuum cleaners are actually far easier to repair than what you may first assume.
Most vacuum cleaners have basic parts that can be easily replaced. This includes parts like the bag, air filters, central vacuum hose, motor, belt, brush, roll, and so forth.
Parts such as the belt can be easily replaced by a novice. Simply order a new belt and install it yourself. You’ll save a lot of money versus buying a new vacuum cleaner or paying to have it repaired.
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Use Online Tutorials
The internet is the greatest information resource ever known to man. If there’s something you want to do, you can probably find instructions on the internet for how to do it. This certainly includes repairing appliances.
There are entire blogs based around step by step instructions on how to repair things like your refrigerator, microwave, vacuum cleaner, garbage disposal and more.
If you learn better by watching something being done than simply reading about it, there are also thousands upon thousands of repair tutorials on YouTube.
There is a wealth of information available to you on the internet. As long as you’re willing to learn, you can repair most appliances yourself with the use of a good tutorial.
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Read the Manual
If all else fails, it’s just common sense to read the manual that came with your appliance.
In most cases, there are sections within the manual on how to troubleshoot problems and make your own repairs.
If you need more help, call the customer support phone number listed in the manual. See if they can give you advice on how to repair your appliance without having to pay for it to be repaired.
Most families have to live on a tight budget. If you are the head of household, you are probably trying to find different ways to save money.
Repairing your appliances on your own is one way to do that. While some people don’t think they are technically competent enough to do so, it may not be as difficult as you first assume.
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Rachelle Wilber is a freelance writer living in the San Diego, California area. She graduated from San Diego State University with her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Media Studies. She tries to find an interest in all topics and themes, which prompts her writing. When she isn’t on her porch writing in the sun, you can find her shopping, at the beach, or at the gym. Follow her on twitter and Facebook.
