Teach a man to fish

One of the hardest things about being single is not having a man to help when it comes to certain things around the house or the car.  I have been living in the states for three and a half years now after my divorce and up until this past September, I haven't had a man around to do any of these little things.  This is not the post where I tell you I have met someone, this is a little bit different than that.  

I am a very independent woman and have learned how to do a lot of things myself when it comes to stuff around the house.  I can put up shelves, fix broken doors, etc. around the house but one place that I have not been able to do any work is my car.  In reality, I am scared to death of my car!!  If I brake something on my car while trying to fix it, it can cost me hundreds, if not thousands to get it fixed.  That is a mistake I can not afford to make!

There is a place that I have taken my cars for any minor things that need to be done since moving back and these guys are very reasonable.  The only thing that bothers me is the fact that they are about half an hour away and I hate sitting in their waiting room due to not being able to leave while they are doing the work on my car.  Due to that, I have taken my car to Merchant Auto which is about a seven minute walk from my house.  My Step Dad took my car there to get spark plugs replaced and the transmission fluid changed when he was here in 2013 and I take it there for new tires and an oil change.

Well, after having one too many experiences with this place trying to over charge me or them straight up lying to me about services that need to be done (like telling me my transmission fluid needs to be changed three months after they changed it), I have decided I am not going back there.

The front light went out in my car and I reluctantly called Merchant because in all honesty, I had no idea where to go to get a new light bulb.  The guy told me the light bulb would cost me $20 plus installation.  I was okay with that but asked how much installation was going to cost.  He told me that after tax, my total would be $72.  So, in other words, they were charging me $50 to install the light bulb in my car.  I told him no thank you, I would just buy the bulb and call it a day.

The guy then proceeded to tell me that they do not have them in stock but I could buy the bulb through them and pick it up at NAPA.  I realized that I had seen a NAPA just a few miles from the house so I decided to go there myself to buy the bulb.  When I got there, the men working were so nice to me. I told them I wanted to get two light bulbs because my Step Dad told me to change both at the same time and the guys said they agreed and do the same with their vehicles.  The guy ringing me up told me the total after tax was $27.  I said to him that I needed two bulbs and he said, yes ma'am, that is the price for two bulbs.  I told him that Merchant had told me their price was $20 for each bulb and that I could pick it up from them and the guy laughed and told me each bulb was $13.

Funny how you realize that these auto places are crooks (I a referring to Merchant, not NAPA) and will do anything to make a few bucks.  I was so annoyed knowing that if I would have agreed to the price that Merchant quoted, I would have paid almost three times the amount for the light bulbs!!

My brother in law is living just down the street from me and he said he would change the light bulbs for me (what a great thing to have him here and he is always so willing to do things like this for me). There was only one catch to him changing the bulbs for me, I had to do it with him and learn how to do it myself.  You know how that saying goes, feed a man a fish, he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he will eat for his whole life.  Well, BIL taught me to fish that day!!

Here we are starting the process!  I had to take pictures to document the whole thing (so I had proof that I actually did some work on the car!!!).  

TADA!!!!  Who knew changing light bulbs only takes a few minutes and is so easy, even this girly girl could do it!?!?!  See my Icelandic flag :)

More proof that I was responsible for changing the light bulbs.  I did the right side while my BIL did the left side.  He walked me through the first one and I did the second one all by my lonesome!!

Getting your hands dirty sure is a moment of pride! Knowing you saved yourself $50 is another moment of pride.  But, knowing you can save yourself $50 every time the light bulb goes out for the rest of your life, that's priceless!

Do you know how to work on your car?  If so, how did you get started?