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I'm also coming from a DIY-first perspective and agree with your point. But I've also come to see there's actual value in only spending your own time just prepp

I'm also coming from a DIY-first perspective and agree with your point. But I've also come to see there's actual value in only spending your own time just prepping/waiting/managing rather than having to physically and mentally exert yourself during that time. It's probably a result of getting older, plus having too much on my DIY plate that the context switches are becoming a killer. Still yes, the biggest issue I have is most times I hire someone to do something, it often goes sideways and I have to get deeply involved anyway. This effect seems to be even worse for white collar work, where "professionals" tend to push cookie cutter solutions without much interactive analysis.

ddingus 2y ago
As I get older, I agree with both of you! I was raised to fix it rather than spend wherever possible. Picked up a ton of useful skills that have paid me back a ton of money when I measure up with friends of similar age who used shops, contractors, etc. Now it costs me more personally! It sometimes is just more work and energy demand than I feel good contributing because it can then take away from other parts of my day or days. That all said, sometimes the money just is not there when the demand was! And so I do the damn work anyway.
shiroiushi 2y ago
>But I've also come to see there's actual value in only spending your own time just prepping/waiting/managing rather than having to physically and mentally exert yourself during that time. To me, having to deal with people I don't trust one iota is a huge mental exertion too, that more than compensates for any physical or mental exertion needed for just doing the damn thing myself. And that's on top of all the time/effort needed to research places, compare prices, travel time, waiting time, etc. Sure, if I had Alfred, my trustworthy hyper-competent butler, to take care of more mundane things for me, I'd let him do a lot of this stuff instead. But I don't, and the people that work these jobs (at least in the US) are usually anything but competent.

ddingus 2y ago

As I get older, I agree with both of you! I was raised to fix it rather than spend wherever possible. Picked up a ton of useful skills that have paid me back a ton of money when I measure up with friends of similar age who used shops, contractors, etc. Now it costs me more personally! It sometimes is just more work and energy demand than I feel good contributing because it can then take away from other parts of my day or days. That all said, sometimes the money just is not there when the demand was! And so I do the damn work anyway.

shiroiushi 2y ago

>But I've also come to see there's actual value in only spending your own time just prepping/waiting/managing rather than having to physically and mentally exert yourself during that time. To me, having to deal with people I don't trust one iota is a huge mental exertion too, that more than compensates for any physical or mental exertion needed for just doing the damn thing myself. And that's on top of all the time/effort needed to research places, compare prices, travel time, waiting time, etc. Sure, if I had Alfred, my trustworthy hyper-competent butler, to take care of more mundane things for me, I'd let him do a lot of this stuff instead. But I don't, and the people that work these jobs (at least in the US) are usually anything but competent.