MoneySaving Poll: Can you DIY it? How skilled are you...

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Former_MSE_Sam_M
Former_MSE_Sam_M Posts: 346 Forumite
in MoneySaving polls
Poll started 8 November 2016

Can you DIY it? How skilled are you...

Life throws up lots of tests, and often things that should be simple aren’t as easy as you think. So which of these 15 old and new life-skills can you do?
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Comments

  • Mandelbrot
    Mandelbrot Posts: 9,139 Forumite
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    "Can you DIY it?" :whistle:

    What does the 'I' in 'DIY' stand for?
  • SailorSam
    SailorSam Posts: 22,754 Forumite
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    Many years ago i did one of those 6th Govt training courses, to become a motor mechanic. If we had to do anything and didn't know how we'd ask the instructor. His answer was always the same,..... 'Don't ask me, read your book until you know, then come back once you've done it"
    If anything was wrong he'd then explain where we'd gome wrong. But he worked on the principle that you learnt more trying to do it yourself, than just listening.
    I've tried to run my life like that. If someone else can do a job, then i can do it myself, often better than paying for some 'expert' But usually a lot slower than the expert.
    Liverpool is one of the wonders of Britain,
    What it may grow to in time, I know not what.

    Daniel Defoe: 1725.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    I'm useless. Dad was no better and you weren't allowed anywhere near him while he were bodging things. As he got older he used stronger tape and string ...

    I got 9 but some are irrelevant. I've never tried to change a nappy - nor would I. I've never been abroad, so no idea if I could drive there. I've never had to build a camp fire, so no idea if I could until I had a go.

    I did get 8 on the test, then, realised that "read an energy meter" didn't mean some new fangled thing, but it meant reading the bog standard outside meters, which I can do :)

    I said "No" to flatpack furniture, although I could put together a flatpack wardrobe, with enough time and tools ... I'd "fail" at it due to being short, with short arms, and weak... but I could work it out (eventually).
  • Wizard_of_Id
    Wizard_of_Id Posts: 5,512 Forumite
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    14 out of 15, I have never been able to master using chopsticks :o
  • Murphybear
    Murphybear Posts: 7,279 Forumite
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    I couldn't put up a shelf to save my life. Fortunately my OH can. When we bought our first house together he refurbed the whole thing including the electrics (he had some qualifications). Jolly useful OH:D
  • jsrees
    jsrees Posts: 17 Forumite
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    Mandelbrot wrote: »
    "Can you DIY it?" :whistle:

    What does the 'I' in 'DIY' stand for?
    Do It Yourself
    see acronymfinder.com, a site I'm always having to use.
  • ToasterScheme
    ToasterScheme Posts: 116 Forumite
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    SailorSam wrote: »
    If someone else can do a job, then i can do it myself, often better than paying for some 'expert' But usually a lot slower than the expert.

    Ain't that the truth. I'm tiling the bathroom, and foolishly allowed the DW to choose 600x300mm large format ones.
    I've reached the 'bit over the window' and my progress has slowed to:
    Sat - one tile (L shaped)
    Sun - one tile (L shaped)
    Mon evening - two half tiles (the windowsill)
    Tues evening - one half tile (the first 'ceiling' tile in the window recess)

    Not feeling too bad though - the wall is badly twisted.

    I ticked all those on the list - but 'plastering' is one I've tried and given up on. That's one I'd gladly pay an expert almost any money to do for me. And watch them in awe.
  • dwp3
    dwp3 Posts: 12 Forumite
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    Ticked them all too, but absolutely agree about plastering - I think it's an art not a skill. I can probably learn a skill, but I found I wasn't born with the art of plastering. Respect to those who were.
  • spadoosh
    spadoosh Posts: 8,732 Forumite
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    Too much emphasis is put on plastering. Start plastering, if it goes wrong, say you rendered it.
  • Fellwalker
    Fellwalker Posts: 92 Forumite
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    I absolutely do NOT believe the proportion of people who say they can parallel park a car. That does NOT mean park in a parking bay in a car park alongside (hence parallel) to other cars. It means reverse into a space at the side of the road, in a row with all of the other cars (parallel to the road).
    Pressing a button on your dashboard to get the car to do it doesn't count either.

    It is so rare for me to see anyone who reverses in to a road side parking space that I almost want to go up and congratulate them. Most drive in, go up on the kerb, leave the car at an angle and go off to their shopping. I even came across one about 3 weeks ago that was half out into the inside lane, at about 60 degrees, so it actually blocked the road.

    On the other hand, perhaps the readers of MSE are actually those few people in the country who not only can but do parallel park properly.
This discussion has been closed.
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