After we bought our first home, our fridge started leaking—not a ton, just enough to make a puddle on the floor that needed to be mopped up a few times a week. We poked around, trying to determine the source of the leak. No luck. We talked about calling a repairman, and then it fell to the bottom of the to-do list. In the meantime, we put an old towel at the base of the fridge. Friends who came over for dinner asked, “What’s with the towel?” and we replied, “Oh, our fridge leaks sometimes.” Additionally, an interior shelf of the fridge broke around the same time, crowding containers of jam and jars of minced garlic. (First-world problems, for sure.) We went on like this for months, until one day enough was enough. My husband looked up the make and model of the fridge, went to the website of the company, and ordered a replacement shelf for, like, thirty bucks. I called our home warranty company and put in a request for maintenance, and a repairman came out the next week to replace a coil related to the freezer. Boom: corrected shelf that opened up plenty of space, and no more water on the floor.
These are domestic examples, but it can be anything—a door that doesn’t shut right, a game missing half the pieces, pens empty of ink. Notice whatever isn’t working, particularly items front and center within your day-to-day routine, and tally them up. Then figure out if it’s something you can fix (buy new pens!) or you need to call in an expert (save up for a shoe repair visit!).