DIY Is No Longer a Choice

Do-it-yourself projects used to be for people who liked to — well, do it themselves. They enjoyed woodworking or painting or had some knowledge of plumbing or electrical work, so they could do some of the work on their houses (and cars, back when cars weren’t big computers.) But they CHOSE to do the work themselves, rather than hire professionals to do it for them. Today, many of us retired people on fixed incomes simply can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars getting our decks repaired or moving fences or ripping up carpet and installing tile. Thank God for YouTube and all its videos on how to do these projects, things many of us have no experience with. But knowledge is only half the battle. “Retired” often is a synonym for “not as young as we used to be,” and some of the projects we have to do but can’t afford to hire people to do are not so easy for us. The spirit is willing, but the body…not so much.

I just read that people between the ages of 60 and 80 are now considered “middle age.” That sounds wonderful and makes me feel pretty young, until I try to do what I could easily do fifteen or even ten years ago. I can clearly remember getting up on a ladder and painting the ceilings in the living room and dining room. I know I painted the front bathroom in my old house at least three times in the twenty-four years I lived there. I had energy, and I was enthusiastic.

Now, as I near 70, I still start projects with enthusiasm, but the energy runs out pretty fast. I look at the deck railing and think, “This won’t take long.” It doesn’t…