Saving Money (Again) With Youtube Instructions

I was in Phoenix a few weeks ago visiting my parents.  I noticed that it was difficult to get the shower in the guest bathroom completely turned off.  My parents were resigned to paying a plumber to fix it.  I thought it might be a DIY job and undertook the needed investigation.  I looked closely at the faucet and saw the brand name “Mixet”.  Never heard of it, but surely there must be something about it on the internet.  Sure enough, I found exactly what I needed.  At the local big box store, it was about $19 for a new cartridge and another $12 for a new handle (the old one was a bit cracked, so it was hard to tell which part was the problem, and it made sense to replace both of them as they were probably original to the house, which was built in the 1970s).

A little additional bonus:  At the big box store, the cashier at the check-out offered my Dad a special deal if he signed up for the store credit card.  Sign up and get $25 off the purchase he was making.  He took a minute and completed their credit card application.  Bingo!  What would have cost more than $30 now cost only about $8.  It was as if the DIY gods were pleased that we were doing the repair ourselves and were sending a special blessing our way.

As shown in the video, all it took was a screwdriver, a crescent wrench, a little grease, and 15 minutes.  The repair was a complete success.  We did it in a little over an hour, including watching the video, going to the store and getting the parts, and actually doing the repair.  All we really lacked, before we saw the video, was a little knowledge.  My father, who isn’t easily impressed (at least, that’s the way it seems) said that he was impressed.  I hope I’ve shown him that practically any DIY project is easier with Youtube.