Don't Be Lazy

This week has been busy between my day job and my computer repair job. For my computer repair job, the customers I work with about half the time could probably do it on their own but would much rather pay someone to do it. And pay they do ($85/hr).

The financial lesson I give here is don't be lazy, it'll cost you. My dryer recently is an example (which I have to work on again this week, I didn't tighten everything up I guess tight enough and the belt came loose). To have it repaired by a "professional" would probably have cost me upwards of $200. And they would probably have had the same problem I'm having now, where the belt went off 2 days later, causing them to come back out a second time.

The job I worked on today on someone's laptop will in the end cost them around $250. The basic problem is that soda spilled on the keyboard in the middle of the night and soaked in very good. This person is very knowledgeable about desktop machines and was a programmer. In the end though, they decided to first turn down our recommendation of getting a replacement keyboard before I came out. Second, all it is going to take me to replace the keyboard is about a dozen screws and patience. Parts will only be about $30 of the $250.