DIY

Doing it yourself.

In my household, just about any service needed is provided by my father. He was a well rounded handy man. Most things could be done around the house without outside help. My dad usually has a large stock of spare parts and materials that make a lot of projects possible. He does everything from car repairs and servicing, any type of home repair and remodels, pool servicing, yard work and landscaping, and any other thing I could be forgetting.

Not only is my father multi-talented, but so was my mother. She always knew what illness we had when the symptoms came on and provided whatever we needed. She created many of my brother and my Halloween costumes. She was one of the craftiest person I knew as a kid and we always had all sorts of craft materials for any artistic or academic need. My mom was also a hair stylist before she moved out of New York. For unfortunate reasons she could no longer pursue that field professionally once she moved to Arizona, but continued on as our family hair-cutter and later gave me the confidence to shave and dye my hair on my own.

Thus collectively, my household was a very resourceful one and full of Do-It-Yourselfers.

With this all in mind, it finally dawned on me why I just cannot grasp the concept of hiring outside help for within the home.

I understand for somethings like cable guys, auto mechanics, plumbers, and depending where you live pool cleaners or repairers and AC unit repairers. Still all this stuff my father can do, granted up to certain degrees.

I really don't mean to point fingers at people who do hire others to do stuff for them. I understand it to some extent but it's not something I feel comfortable doing myself. This section is merely a reflection on the recent realization on why I ever had reacted strongly to such a concept.

Moreover, I am now in the helping end of the spectrum. I am the one providing outside help within other households. I'm a caregiver for one home, a respite provider for another, last year I did laundry for money for a couple friends, and I now do dreadlocks for money on top of other free hair shaving and dying services for friends. That's a lot! It comes down to the fact that I need money. Such services become very convenient when you need money and sometimes they pay well depending on your situation. Yes, they are more than just the money, they can be rewarding, advancing towards a career and such. But the main reality is that when families hire others they need the services because they cannot do it themselves and/or do not have the time to. People provide these services to make a living. it works, it's good for the economy of families.