When it comes to home repair, I don’t think of myself as a superstar. At key moments, I lose confidence and that is frustrating.  Sometimes, I rush it and don’t do a good enough job.  I want to be able to tackle repair jobs not only because it would save me money, but because I want to be capable.

The other day, my oven stopped working. Based on what happened, I was confident that my diagnosis of the problem was correct.  The ignitor for the oven had worn out.  This happened about ten years ago and the symptoms were the same.  The last time this happened I had a repair person come in.  I watched them do the job and it seemed easy enough.  When I got the bill, I felt quite upset.  For what was probably 20 minutes work and one part, I had to pay over 160 dollars.  I guess that’s what you have to pay for the knowledge of the repair man.

This time, I felt more confident that I could do the job myself. Rather than rely on my memory, I watched a few videos and noted that my part was basically a plug in kind of thing.  The connections were already made and nothing actually electrical would need to be done.  I ordered the part and it was delivered on Wednesday.

So, this morning, I got out my toolbox, my light, my vacuum (because this was an opportunity to clean up the oven space as well) and set about doing the job. While I wasn’t as fast as the stove repair person from ten years ago, I was quick enough.  The job was relatively easy and required only two tools; a Philips screwdriver and a 5/16ths wrench.  Of course I used my light and my magnet bowl so I wouldn’t lose the screws, but those aren’t really tools, but rather things that help the process.

After the job was done, I celebrated by making myself a pizza.  If only I had had a Cherry Coke to go with it.

Do I feel good about saving myself at least a hundred dollars? Hell yeah!  More importantly, I feel more confident and I am proud of the work I did.  That is Today’s Perfect Moment.