The cheapest skill I have ever learned is asking one question before I throw something away: does this need replacing, or does it just need a ten-dollar part and ten minutes?

Half the time the answer is the second one. Here is where the savings pile up fastest.

The easy wins

These are the items most people replace without even checking if they are fixable, and every one of them is a simple repair.

• Vacuum cleaners: a clogged filter or broken belt costs almost nothing and fixes most “dead” vacuums
• Clothing: a dropped hem or a missing button is a five-minute fix
• Small appliances: a coffee maker that stops brewing usually has a clogged valve you can descale
• Furniture: a wobbly chair is almost always a loose screw or a bit of wood glue

Search before you scrap it

The reason repairs feel intimidating is that nobody taught us how. But the answer is usually a thirty-second video search with the make and model plus the symptom. Someone has had your exact problem and filmed the fix.

Start with the cheapest and most common cause before you assume the worst. A dryer that will not heat is usually a thermal fuse, a ten-dollar part, not a dead machine. A washing machine that will not spin often has a worn belt.

You will not fix everything, and that is fine. But even fixing two or three things a year instead of replacing them adds up to real money.