Aga Aquino

I have a faint memory of my early childhood when, while playing with my cousin, we bumped on the 34 inch CRT TV and the whole thing fell on the floor. It was typical on those days for children to be alone in the house, my aunt was running errands and there before us was the reason to receive a spanking from my father. We tried to turn it on, nothing happened, so I went to find my father’s tools and disassembled the TV and played with circuits. I had no idea what I was doing but for some unknown reason, the TV began working again. No fuss, and no mention to my parents. Until now they have no idea that it happened.

But that experience was a sign of my tendencies to tinker with things. I found enormous joy in breaking things apart and putting them together to find out how things worked. Over the years I would have learned the ins and outs of washing machines, cassette players, and even my own game consoles. Electronics, circuits and basic engineering were easy concepts to grasp for me. That and my unexplainable luck that most of the things I tinker with got fixed.

So it just became a hobby of mine to build and break things. This led to Legos of course, but I sought after more complicated challenges. The harder the better. Gunpla was an easy hobby to get into for me, the nearby bazaar had many bootlegs I could purchase for cheap with my small allowance. And over time, I would go into bigger projects like my own computer.

The way I saw life, if it was something I could do myself, why would I pay for it?

Cut to now. And I found a great love for DIY and Housework. I learned how to fix more kinds of machinery, I DIYed my first car, broke the circuit on the electronics twice but that didn’t stop me from tinkering on it. I’m already on my way to YouTube-ing my way to changing my brakes (because who needs professionals right?).

There is simply immense satisfaction on being self reliant. And it has a lot of benefits, and if you made it here (good on you!) I am here to share what I got from being stubborn.

1. I feel Manly when I do things myself

My father is a textbook example of the ultimate DIYer. He literally built our house with his own hands (and the hands of my uncles and grandpa) but still, as an engineer he had the skills to hand make a building. And that really defined him as a home maker.

The way I see it, providing a roof for your family is a prime role that any man must fulfill.

So when I build things, I feel like I am getting closer to that level of masculinity that I could be proud of.

2. I learn new skills

Growing up filipino, I was afraid of failure, because failure meant you are worthless and you bring dishonor to your family (fucking typical). But when I began living on my own, when I started my life by my pace and my rules, I found the value of failing and how any mistake is hardly the end of the world.

The more I tried, the more I failed, but with each set back I became better. So I began trying new things, new recipes, new routes, new styles of doing things. Mistakes don’t matter, because after years of trying so many things, I now know much more than I did before. I learned to cut my hair because it was such a hassle to describe the cut I want to a Finnish Barber what I want because my Finnish was too poor at the time. I eventually got over that problem because I speak passable Finnish now, but since I learned to cut my hair, I didn’t need to. I used Finnish on other things.

3. I save more money

It was 2 years when I last went to a barber. Haven’t regretted it one bit, because I save up to 80€/year. Sure it’s not much if you think about it, but that is equivalent to a subscription to Netflix, or better yet audible (from where I began listening to lectures on philosophy and and other stuff).

But as I learned new skills, I found that a lot of things I pay for, I could do myself and for cheaper.

A steak dinner that me and my partner enjoy for an hour or so would cost me 60€. If I went to the grocery, bought a 15€ steak pair, grilled it my self, we would have left overs until the next day. 20€ is our budget for up to 3 days of meals, and going to McDonald’s will only give us 1 meal each.

And don’t get me started on Starbucks, because I was a patron of that place for 6 years. But then I learned to brew my own coffee and bought a cheap Espresso machine. A large cup of coffee costs around 3-4€, now I make them for cents.

Don’t get me wrong, we still eat out now and again, but now a restaurant feels special when we go.

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With every experience I have gone through so far, I guess I found immense value in being somewhat self-reliant in certain things. I guess the anime/manga The Way of the Househusband says it best, it feels amazing to be surrounded by things you have made yourself, for nothing compares to being accomplished.