Amazing ladies poll - how many of these 12 things can you do?

[Dargawn]

How many of these things can you do without assistance:

Add air to a tyre
Change oil
Change a wheel on your car
Fix a bike pucture
Put up shelving
Change a plug adhering to all safety advice and best practice
Put together a cabinet-size piece of flat pack furniture
Set up a home network
Diganose problem and mend toaster
Change element in an oven
Sort out a fuse box if lights go off
Turn off water at mains in case of leak

I can do none very confidently at the moment, but at a stretch might be able to do three.

I want to be able to do them all.

How about draining a washing machine manually, removing the pump, and finding it full of clips and colour catchers! Saved a fortune, no new machine needed, and no call out to the handyman.

Wouldn't touch toaster or oven.

All the rest.

I'm vey capable.

If I get to Google it, I can do them all. Without Google, I might manage half (but tbh I think most men are the same).

Add air to a tyre Yep
Change oil No, but can check and add oil
Change a wheel on your car Nope the nuts are too tight normally
Fix a bike pucture never had a bike
Put up shelving Yep
Change a plug adhering to all safety advice and best practice No
Put together a cabinet-size piece of flat pack furniture Yep
Set up a home network No
Diganose problem and mend toaster No
Change element in an oven No, really do people do this?
Sort out a fuse box if lights go off yep
Turn off water at mains in case of leak yep

I can though build a shed, felt a roof, put up coving, lay carpet, tile, put in new skirting boards and quite a lot else, including restrain stroppy men in a tizz. I can't though run several areas of my life without prompting and although I'm a great driver I can't reliably cross a road on foot without staring at the trees and day dreaming.

Thanks but the crumbs! I can imagine how a toaster works without taking it apart. A timer, loaded spring controlling a platform, heating wires round a cage

It's a bit naff calling 'women' who can do these tasks 'amazing'. Would a man be called amazing if they could do them?

I love working out how to fix or make things, I'm not sure I'm talented at it but I know I enjoy it. I'll give anything a go.

My kids all got their own tool boxes when they left home.

My husband hates doing anything practical but will happily pay someone to do it for him. He's brilliant at managing our finances though.

8 out of 12

The reality of incredibly flimsy pressed parts and scarily inadequate insulation (literally, thin sheets of mica is the only thing between a nice toasted crumpet and fiery electrical death) surpasses all expectations.

I think its depressing that it is a totally mechanical list. How about could you reline the sleeves of a coat or jacket to extend its life, take in a dress for a better fit......

What a random list (except it's clearly not, as they're all chosen as stereotypically 'man' jobs). I can do the things on there that I need to do, and some of them I theoretically know how to do but have never done/never needed to be able to do. But I don't consider myself any less amazing for not being able to complete the list. I can make a pair of jeans or a fully lined coat from scratch; sing a solo at a concert; run a marathon; present a paper at a conference and cook the best scones ever - all of which are much more useful and fulfilling in my daily life than being able to set up a home network.

About... 25 years ago, my flatmate went on his first date with a girl, the same night that I was cooking a roast for my new BF. I sewed a button on my flatmate's going out shirt.... he roasted a chicken for me (veggie). We have both been married to the people we were entertained that night for 20 + years. Sometimes it pays to be a little bit helpless! ( ).

Add air to a tyre- haven’t done it but I’m sure I could
Change oil -yes
Change a wheel on your car - might struggle
Fix a bike pucture - yes
Put up shelving- yes
Change a plug adhering to all safety advice and best practice - wouldn’t dare.
Put together a cabinet-size piece of flat pack furniture -yes
Set up a home network - what does this mean 🤣
Diganose problem and mend toaster - I would just buy a new one tbf
Change element in an oven - again wouldn’t dare
Sort out a fuse box if lights go off- yes
Turn off water at mains in case of leak -yes

Also - who needs to change a plug now? That's an obsolete skill as plugs are all made in such a way that you can't easily take them apart, and changing oil is something definitely best left to professionals.

Adding air to tyres, flicking a switch if the lights fuse* and turning off water at the mains are the most basic of life skills and definitely shouldn't be anywhere near a list of things that make someone 'amazing'.

(if you have to change an old fashioned fuse on a fuse board when your lights go, then you should probably get your consumer unit changed, as the wiring in your house is extremely out of date)

Agree with this. I know when to ask for help or pay for a different skill set.

Add air to a tyre - yes, every driver should be able to
Change oil - no, can check oil levels and top up but not change (what would I do with the old stuff?)
Change a wheel on your car - I have in the past, no spare on current car though
Fix a bike pucture - I did when the kids had bikes
Put up shelving - yes
Change a plug adhering to all safety advice and best practice - I don’t know what best practice is but I can change a plug if needed
Put together a cabinet-size piece of flat pack furniture - yes
Set up a home network - yes
Diganose problem and mend toaster - wouldn’t occur to me to try to fix a toaster, would just buy a new one
Change element in an oven - no, I have a gas oven, not sure I should be fiddling with it
Sort out a fuse box if lights go off - yes
Turn off water at mains in case of leak - yes

It’s a bit of a weird list but I am pretty self sufficient and more than capable of following a YouTube video. A lot of the time it depends what I’ve needed to do.

I can do them all except the oven element and that's because it's a range cooker that can only be accessed from the back and it's too heavy for me to move by myself. Mind you I'd probably throw the toaster away and get a new one.

I am sure I could do any of this should I be called on to do so. However at the moment I’m happy for DH to do them

If you have little money to constantly get people to do things for you, and wish to have a fully functioning home/car then these things are all very useful skills to have.

I would add: mending/replacing a dripping tap, adjusting boiler pressure, bleeding radiators, thawing frozen pipes and unblocking a plug/drain.

I agree. None of them are difficult. I don't know why men think that these are some kind of a flex of why we need them?

I used to work on my old cars and motorbikes back in the day, too. It was a lot of fun. I'm old and just can't be bothered with it these days.

I can do the furniture, shelves , fuse box and water mains but not the others , however I know how to drain down a central heating system and re fill and pressurize the combi boiler 😁

All of them. Nothing very hard there at all!

I know how to do them all I pay someone to change the oil in the car (and dispose of the old oil safely.) Last time I tried to change a wheel on my car, I couldn't undo the wheel nuts, so kniwledge only gets you so far. I've not had to change an element in an oven, but given I have done things like change a laptop screen, I don't doubt I could with instructions. Having said that, the current oven is 20+ years old, so i might just replace it. I would probably just buy a new toaster, to be fair, though I do frequently fix the slidey up and down bit on one side which gets jammed.

I grew up on a farm, so was used to having a full set of tools available to me.