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Serious question, remember when a paperclip and duct tape were legit repair tools?
I once fixed a broken derailleur with a coat hanger and it held up for a whole season before the customer noticed... good times.
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michaeld481mo ago
Honestly, I used to roll my eyes at makeshift fixes and would just order replacements online. But last winter my car window stuck open, and I propped it up with a wooden spoon until spring. Driving around like that for months taught me that a quick fix can be just as solid. It really changed how I see things breaking now. I used to see a broken thing as a chore, but now it's like a little challenge. That hassle with the spoon saved me hundreds and made me feel capable.
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the_zara1mo ago
I read an article that called it the "right to repair" fight, about companies making stuff impossible to open. It totally backs up what @ray_martinez82 said. My grandma's old toaster had one screw to open it, but my new one is just a sealed plastic box. They design things to be thrown away now, so we never learn those wire-and-glue skills our parents had. It's frustrating because the fix is often simple, but you need a special tool just to get inside the thing.
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ray_martinez821mo ago
And that's the thing, it feels like we've LOST that smart way of fixing things. You see it everywhere now, people just toss stuff out at the first sign of trouble. My dad could fix anything with some wire and a bit of glue, and it would last for years. Now everything is made so you CAN'T repair it, or it's cheaper to replace. That mindset of making do built real skills and saved a ton of cash. We need to get back to seeing problems as puzzles to solve, not excuses to shop.
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