You Tube saved me a visit from the plumber

How did I ever live without You Tube? Sure, I enjoy the funny cat videos, like cat alarm clock, http://youtu.be/4aTagDSnclk and shark cat riding a Roomba, http://youtu.be/Of2HU3LGdbo. But today You Tube saved me a visit from the plumber.

Am I the only one who didn't know that you can see how to do absolutely ANYTHING, on You Tube? Today I watched this, http://youtu.be/I-oVbeFsXhI and I just finished changing the flush valve seal in my toilet!!! It took me 5 minutes. I've changed the flapper in old style toilets, but I have one of those newer models, and when I took the top off it was foreign territory. So I went to You Tube, and lo and behold, there was this video....nice close ups of exactly what to do. Easy peasy....done.

So in addition to learning how to do a column swirl, you can also learn how to sew a French seam, how to cut the bottom (or top) off a wine bottle, how to make artisan bread, learn how to cook Indian dishes, make hypertufa planters, make a slip cover for a chair, do tricky knitting techniques, fold form copper, ........anything! For those of us who love to DIY, it's just heaven. I thought I'd share this in case I'm not the only one who thought You Tube was just cat and soap videos, next time you need to do something, and you're not sure how to do it....take a look at You Tube. You might even fix your toilet!

Someone who's channel on YouTube that I subscribed to called it "YouTube University" because you can learn absolutely anything there if you just go hunting for it.

Just to let you know how much YouTube has helped me(other than the obvious answer of learning how to make soap, grow veggies, and other hobbies/crafts) here is a partial list with JUST the trip fee for the repairmen to come out to where I live:

Change a breaker in the breaker box.-$95
Replace a ceiling fan/light.-$95
Replace the guts in the toilet.-$90
Clean out the drain from the freezer on top of the fridge.-$85
Replace a bad switch in the dryer.-$85
Replace a bad safety switch in the washer.-$85
Replace bad rollers in the dishwasher.-$85
Change the faucet in a sink.-$90
Put a ball valve shut off on an outside faucet to allow water to be shut off to it in freezing weather.-$95

I do, truly, appreciate everyone who posts such to YouTube! They just have no idea what lifesavers(and budget savers) they are!

I tore down and rebuilt my Kitchen Aid stand mixer based on an online video.

I definitely check out youtube for help with anything at all....I watch several videos if I can, to compare techniques and philosophies, to try to establish validity, and then go for it!

I started my rock garden watching you tube, It was my first garden
Youtube is the best. Whatever project I start (I am always learning something new) I check up the videos.
There was life before youtube, difficult and expensive, and there is life with Youtube; simply fantastic.
I love this thread

I love the internet and YouTube and am so thankful for them! I can't tell you how much money we've saved on home and appliance repairs by learning how to do many of them ourselves.

Over the years hubby and son learned to sweat copper pipe to fix a leak in our garage, we've replace toilets, fixed our washing machine, fixed certain things on our cars....you name it. It's a beautiful thing.


IrishLass

I see I'm not alone! I know I can't do everything, but if I can, instead of paying someone else to do it.....I'm there. After I paid an electrician $125 to take ten minutes to replace a ceiling light fixture, I learned to do it myself.

Like you, Susie, I'm grateful to people generous enough to post the videos demonstrating how to do things. You can read, and look at pictures in a book, but to actually see someone do it, like looking inside that toilet, that looks exactly like mine, that's priceless. As Irish Lass said, it is a beautiful thing!

Susie, Cana Dawn and Dahlia, I'm inspired by all the things you've done.....doesn't it make you feel amazing? I'm looking forward to retiring so I'll have time to try even more things....and people keep asking me if I'm going to be bored. Ha!!!

I'm so used to doing things that it's only the "stand out" ones like the Kitchen Aid that really amaze me (and THAT was pretty simple, when I actually saw what to do. My family is full of self-sufficient people, so it's really just our way of looking at problems - basically that what stands between me and solving most situations is a bit of information. That information is SO much easier to find now with the internet. I do like the feeling that even if I can't do the task myself, I can know enough to avoid being taken advantage of, and I can assess my options better.

Navigator9 you are not going to be bored. Some people always learn, they are just this way. I do so much of my own stuff; breads, clothes, soaps , lotions, body butters. Gardening on top now, I have at least 100 square meters of flowers and veggies.
Like IrishLass I would not make it all without the access to internet
My family tells me that i am obsessive about soaps, they have no idea...