The internet can help you do anything. You can learn to knit a sweater for your parakeet, grill the perfect burger, make your own signature home brew beer and do anything you set your mind to. Well, almost anything. Except for the things that you shouldn’t ever attempt to do, no matter how easy the internet makes it look, like these things below. Don’t do these things, ever.
Give Yourself a Haircut
The financial ramifications of cutting your own hair are really limited to what you pay for supplies and the cost of a haircut to attempt to remedy what you (will inevitably) make a mess of. Call it $100 maximum. Still, don’t do it. The real drawback to self-cut hair are the social ramifications:
- Making terrible first impressions due to ridiculous head suit.
- Missing out on great business opportunity due to terrible first impression.
- Missing out on great personal (read: dating) opportunity due to same.
- Alienating current romantic interest with awful and distracting hair style.
- Angering current romantic interest, roommate or house guest with fresh cut hair all over your bathroom.
Assume You Have a Secure Identity
Buying a shredder is a good decision. Assuming your identity is safe because you bought a shredder is not a good decision. Sure you can monitor your credit by getting free yearly credit reports from the three major reporting bureaus, but did you save that information on your computer? Did you password protect your computer? How secure is that wireless network you set-up yourself? You can save yourself a lot of trouble by protecting your social security number. The potential financial fallout from identity theft is huge. So just go ahead and sign up for identity protection.
Plumbing
If you want to change out a shower-head or bathroom sink faucet, go right ahead. Look for tutorials on the internet, stop by the hardware store, talk to the sales associate like you know exactly what you’re doing (so, bluff), head home and attack that bad boy.
If the project involves actual pipes or turning off water to a room or the whole house, however, you need to stop what you’re doing and call a professional. Imagine how much it would cost to replace everything in a room, let alone your whole home, if water should flood your home or soak through your wallboard and start a home for some lonely mold spores. Now imagine the crippling shame of eating ramen noodles for the next five years because insurance doesn’t cover remediation for bad DIY plumbing work. Also, think of how cranky people are without running water. No bathroom, no modern functioning kitchen, no happiness. Just call a professional in Hurstville, Australia by visiting www.plumberhurstville.com.au.
Tree Removal
Presumably, you are not a lumberjack. Even if you were one for Halloween that one time. Do you think that you can just put on a red plaid flannel shirt, jeans, beefy suspenders and work boots and safely remove a tree from any premises? Spoiler alert: you can’t. What happens when that tree falls on your house, your car, or (perhaps worse) your neighbor’s house or car? Bad things like insurance claims, going to court and back to eating ramen noodles for the next several years while you pay for what you broke. Leave the tree be, or call a professional. Seriously.
Anything else you should leave to the pros? We love to hear personal stories of triumph or humiliation, so comment away!
