When something breaks in your house or flat, you probably call in a trained handyman in Goodmayers IG3 or some other part of London to repair it or maybe you try fixing the problem by yourself. But there are some items that are better off replaced than repaired because they are:
- Too old
- Too cheap to bother repairing them
- Too expensive to fix
- Too cost-ineffective to keep
Throwing away your broken things is not always wasteful. It can also be a smarter and more practical option.
Cheap coffee makers
If you have spent hundreds of pounds on your semi-professional coffee machine, you should better have it fixed. Buying a new one will cost you a fortune. If, however, you use a coffee maker which you bought for £20-50, go and get a new one. These low-cost products were not made to last anyways. So, don’t sweat it.
Old domestic appliances
When it comes to household appliances, a fix is almost always possible. By using dependable handyman services in The Hale NW7, for example, you will be able to have your fridge or oven repaired fairly quickly. But if you are talking about a very old appliance, spending money on repairs is not really worth it. Any piece of equipment or an electronic item that is older than 10 years is guaranteed to consume too much electricity when compared to new-generation products. Even if the appliance in question has been purchased less than a decade ago, the cost of repairing it may be too high. To determine what to do with your broken domestic appliances use the 50% rule. According to it, when an appliance is over 50% of its average lifespan and you need to pay more than 50% of the price of a brand-new appliance, you should simply replace it straight away.
Cordless vacuum-cleaning machines
One of the first thing that goes wrong with this type of vacuuming machines is their batteries. Most of these devices rely on Li-ion (lithium-ion) batteries which have a lifespan of about couple of years. Buying a new battery is expensive which means that you should probably invest in a new vacuum-cleaning machine, preferably not a cordless one unless you want to end up replacing it every two years or so.
Televisions and computer monitors
Much like smartphones, televisions and computer monitors become better, bigger, brighter and more multifunctional with each year. Therefore, chances are that in about 5 years, you will be forced to get a new TV or monitor anyways as most tech companies now discontinue the support of their operating systems that were released 4-5 years ago.
Are there any items that can almost always be repaired? Of course, there are! Furniture is the best possible example that can be used in this context. A fully-equipped carpenter in London can fix pretty much any furniture piece of which you can think – a broken chair leg, a vintage cabinet with chipped paint, a squeaky door and many more. So, do not always rely on the replace-it-do-not-repair-it rule.