Call someone or just do it yourself?

The other day, my wife asked why there was water around the washing machine.
Well, probably because there is something leaking was my answer.
Wrong Answer.

There are a couple of appliance repair places in town, usually you can tell them by the amount of half disassembled machines and parts strewn in the doorway and sidewalk.

So, do I load the machine in the pickup and take it down town and wait a week or so while they get the parts?

Do we call the Sears repair people who will come out to the house and then return in a week or so?

We use the machine at least twice a week and visions of stacks of laundry come into the picture.

Or do I tackle the problem head on and diagnose and repair the damn thing? Besides, by the time I load the thing up, go to town, find an appliance guy who looks like they do decent work, talk to him, settle on a price of sorts, come home, I could have the thing almost fixed.......?

Not wanting the machine to have the best of me, I opted to fix it myself. Yes, I know I can just pay someone to do it, but what would the fun in that be?

I enjoy doing things with my hands especially when I am able to figure out how to repair them. Why pay someone when I can do it myself. I understand that not everyone wants to do things like that, and there are somethings that I will definitely hire out, even though I could do them. For example, painting is one of the things I hate to do.

So, removing the washer skirt, taking apart the unit, I remembered that I had bought a new mixer valve several years ago that I had failed to replace.....after all, you can just reverse the hoses and wash with cold water all the time. So, replacing the solenoid valve was also on the list.

An hour or so later, the machine was back to normal operation. Now all I had to do is close it all up, replace all the screws, test it, move it back inside and enjoy my results.
I first thought that the leak was from the main basket bearing which is a big job, but luckily it was just the water inlet hose and assembly that was at fault.

There are lots of small projects that I have on my list, perhaps it would be easier to just call someone, but then again, I would have to supervise or at least find someone who could do the job without having to worry about having it done right......which is a big problem.

So, no I have one less project to do, fixed the washer, replaced the old valve , what's next?

Having stuff fixed in Mexico is always a lot cheaper than NOB, the only hesitation is how long it may take? Will they be able to get the correct parts? Or will it be patched together only to fail a short time after? Those are always the questions one must consider before tackling the do it yourself job......