Man Spends Half His Salary Paying For All The Manly Tasks He Can't Do

[patrick66]

In US schools, there are very few vocational programs out there (Aviation, Ag, Auto, Carpentry/Woodshop, Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC) that it's no wonder why there is no general "how-to" knowledge on how to do the simplest repair. This is beginning to change, albeit very slowly. When college started to be the entire emphasis in the late '70s-early '80s, success was gauged on "am I going to college?" rather than "can I feed a family and acquire a lifelong skill?"...coincidentally aligned with the creation of the wholly unconstitutional Dept of "Education" in 1979.

 

[JR_Charger]

It is a balance.
If the white collar guy earns enough, he can pay others to fix his stuff and still have a high standard of living.

Based on what I saw with the fancy house guy, it has to be well over 100k, in a rural area with a low cost of living. The fancy house guy must have lost over a year's worth of pre-tax income. Figure in tax and he may have lost nearly a 1/10th of his life's earnings. Assuming he started his career at the pay rate he ended at, which isn't true at all.

That guy was career military and, AFAIK, didn't have the education expenses most white collar workers do. There can't be many white collar jobs that pay well enough to bother with, especially in the early years. Software coding used to, but through the magic of H1B the pay appears to have been cut to half what it was in the late 90's/early 2000's.

 

[68BabyBlue]

Based on what I saw with the fancy house guy, it has to be well over 100k, in a rural area with a low cost of living. The fancy house guy must have lost over a year's worth of pre-tax income. Figure in tax and he may have lost nearly a 1/10th of his life's earnings. Assuming he started his career at the pay rate he ended at, which isn't true at all.

That guy was career military and, AFAIK, didn't have the education expenses most white collar workers do. There can't be many white collar jobs that pay well enough to bother with, especially in the early years. Software coding used to, but through the magic of H1B the pay appears to have been cut to half what it was in the late 90's/early 2000's.

I see this all around me. I live in a fancy neighborhood surrounded by mostly PSU academic types. I assembled a basketball hoop and backboard for my next door neighbor, an English professor. He didn't know how to use a ratchet wrench or a power saw. A couple up the street are the exception. Both are doctors, and have a more practical streak than the academic folks. They do their own home maintenance, and shoot guns on the weekend. My blue collar buddies have hooked me up with better contractors, so I've never been ripped off. When I was working white collar, I did most of my own stuff, especially vehicle maintenance. I used contractors during my truck driving years, because of time constraints.

 

[eldubb440]

Yeah, I hate taking one of our newer/daily driver cars to a shop, but I do on occasion because of all the damn electronics and disassembly necessary for what should be simple tasks. Even my old cars, if I need new tires or a flat needs fixing I take the wheels off and haul them to the shop instead of taking the car to them.

my newer daily driver is a 2001 Durango, so far I've been able to deal with anything it has thrown me..... as far as the tire thing goes, I handle it the same way; hands off mt lug nuts!

 

[eldubb440]

in my mind, money saved by not paying a "professional" is money earned....... and if I take a week or two to complete a home improvement project (for example), I see it as a nice break from the norm

I rehabbed the laundry room and powder room a couple years ago, it was almost like a vacation....... I would do it 1000 times before even entertaining the thought of wasting time on a cruise ship

 

[patrick66]

Cleaning out a septic tank, chopping down large trees, or anything involving climbing onto a roof is something I will happily get a contractor to do. I don't climb ladders or scale roofs because my balance is ****. And I've fallen off a roof before, so I don't need a redux there. Auto work is just becoming more physically painful every day.

Minor wiring, plumbing, painting, and that type of thing I'll tackle to the point where I go "WTF am I doing?". Then, I'll call my boys up and say "finish this up for me, if you'd be so kind!"

I know my limitations these days.

 

[eldubb440]

Cleaning out a septic tank, chopping down large trees, or anything involving climbing onto a roof is something I will happily get a contractor to do. I don't climb ladders or scale roofs because my balance is ****. And I've fallen off a roof before, so I don't need a redux there.



I know my limitations these days.

I can deal with the electric and plumbing, but the above is spot on! there are certain things that are just out of reach

 

[eldubb440]

I have lived in the same area my entire life, and I know an old timer in pretty much every field; so the things I cannot do, I manage to get good deals on.......

3 years ago, my well went bad, I have a friend who's father drilled all the wells around here back in the day; he took over the business, and now his kids work for him........ his 50 year old rig performed flawlessly and I was all in at 3500 cash, probably 1/2 of what the guys with the brand new rig would charge.......win!

I also consider money saved through "connections" as money earned

 

[Ghostrider 67]

I have lived in the same area my entire life, and I know an old timer in pretty much every field; so the things I cannot do, I manage to get good deals on.......

3 years ago, my well went bad, I have a friend who's father drilled all the wells around here back in the day; he took over the business, and now his kids work for him........ his 50 year old rig performed flawlessly and I was all in at 3500 cash, probably 1/2 of what the guys with the brand new rig would charge.......win!

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There's a family here in VT that does all of the well digging too. The grandfather drilled the well for our house and all the other houses around us back in the 60's and 70's. His grandson dug the well for our barn two years ago. Gave me an education on ground water.

 

[Black_Sheep]

I had to learn how to do all kinds of mundane tasks out of financial necessity. It sounds like this guy isn’t even trying…

 

[Ghostrider 67]

Maybe he's like me.....a brain injury that causes him to have to relearn everything he tries to do, every time. I've relearned how to paint a car 13 times so far. I'm getting tired of it. I learned how to assemble the 440 8 times. I think.... lol. Sigh. The 727 was 9 times so far....

 

[Don Frelier]

Manly men drive 1968-1970 Mopars.

Close they drive 66's.

 

[Big Bad Dad]

Close they drive 66's.

Or 67's..

 

[Lefty71]

Or 67's..

I see where this is going.

 

[Dako]

I've often wondered how much you "win" with a white collar job. If you can do carpentry and wrench on cars, you've got life's two greatest expenses (not counting wife and kids) covered. Meanwhile the white collar guy is paying full price or getting taken advantage of by unscrupulous blue collar workers. I knew a guy who spent $70k on repairs to his fancy house, only to have to pay to do have it done again because the first contractor screwed him over. Then he hired another contractor, and the last I heard that went south too.

Told my son, if you don't want to do the work/ repairs yourself, at least know how it's supposed to be done. That way you'll know (and can intervene) before getting screwed.