I relate. I like working on my car for similar reasons. As others have touched on, you feel like you’re cheating the system when you do it yourself and save money. Very satisfying.

Last week, I unhooked the toilet in our summer home and dragged it outside. (If you ever unhook your toilet from sewage, stick a plastic bag into the drain, to block the stink.) - it was dripping near the intake hose, and the button mechanism didn’t work. Oh, and every now and then there was a mysterious puddle on the floor under it… Cleaned out the accumulated rust/mud/junk from its tank with a garden hose, dishwashing sponge and vinegar (not sure if the vinegar actually dissolved anything or not). Removed the tank, and removed all the old and deteriorating plumbing stuff from inside. Replaced the leaky gasket between tank and bowl (ha! found the reason for the occasional puddle around the toilet) and reassembled the tank. Installed a new flush valve (30€) and a new filling valve (15€) (tho on the second look, the intake valve was actually still serviceable). Replaced the gasket between intake hose and filling valve (1€ for a package of 10) and hooked up the whole mess.

Result:

1. The intake hose is not dripping into a bucket anymore.
2. I now have a button to press, when I want to flush, instead of manually lifting the whole flush valve :D
3. I saved the cost of a new toilet (that’s somewhere around 160€ for a cheap one, less 46€ for the replacement kit I bought)
4. The work took an hour or a couple. Shopping for a new toilet and installing it would also have taken an hour or a couple

I was able to replace a light in the bathroom with an energy saving led version and although the result isn’t perfect it gave me a lot of satisfaction knowing I had succeeded doing that for the first time and saved a few hundred to the electrician.

All the time. That and maintenance. I got so much joy from finally having the supplies to change my car oil at home.

Congrats, I hope it stays fixed! I can’t repair anything, but I support the movement in principle. I usually try to take good care of the things I own and buy things which with replaceable parts (think headphones) or things which are more ecological (think traditional wet shaving with a DE razor). Actually, come to think of it, I might try to repair my headphones. Something that can’t be replaced broke – part of the headband near the ear cups but I think I can fix it with tape.