What DIY repair made you feel ridiculously proud of yourself? Win £200

[EllieSmumsnet]

From coaxing a dying washing machine back to life, to replacing a tiny part instead of buying a whole new appliance, some repairs feel like a genuine triumph and you should absolutely feel very smug if you’ve managed it! <back pats.

Have you ever fixed something you were fully expecting to retire to the tip? Maybe you saved a small fortune, avoided a call-out fee, or simply refused to let the toaster/washing machine/fridge win.

We’d love to hear your best repair story. Come on and share how handy you are and don't be shy about celebrating that feeling of bringing something back to life! We want to know: What broke? How did you fix it? Did it save you money? And did you spend the rest of the day casually mentioning your achievement to anyone who would listen?

Share your story below by 17/08/2026 to be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 VEX voucher for a store of your choice and to inspire other MNers to try fixing before replacing. (T&Cs)

Fixed my washing machine, got a new circuit board for a £5 from Ebay, removed the broken switch and used a pencil to turn it on! That machine was good for an extra 3 yrs 🙌

Mine was indeed a washing machine. The lock has broken. I used good old YouTube and watched a video thought yep I can do it. Ordered the part from Amazon (£3.99) and it worked. Unfortunately it then became loose, I re did it but forgot to unplug it this time and got a little shock! Replaced the machine after that.

I fixed our front door once. It wasn't closing right and seemed to rattle when we tried to lock it. We'd had it years and just assumed we needed a new one. I worked in a cafe and mentioned to some one the problem with the door. He said to try a new barrell in the lock. And told me exactly what to buy, once I described the door. So...i bought a new barrel, fitted it myself how he told me, and thd door was as good as new. We still have it 20 years on.

The loo wasn't flushing properly - water continued to dribble slowly out of the cistern. I fiddled around with the workings of the cistern, looked at a youtube video and it's now fine. Not a biggie, but strangely satisfying!

Swapped the shower mixer! It was really easy and only took about ten mins

GHD used to have a lifetime repair?

friend of mine had the OG ones, they broke about 15 years after she bought them. Sent them back, they fixed them and she’s still using them now 🤣

i’ve fixed a fair bit with the help of YouTube. Or at least diagnosed the issue and figured out whether it was a professional job.

I tiled our new conservatory floor. It was actually very easy - I bought a proper tile cutter and other tools. It was physically hard work and I couldn't do it now (20 years later).

One of the knobs on our built-in oven broke, and I was so proud of myself - I sourced a spare, and worked out how to replace it. I reckon I got at least ten years more life out of that oven.

I replaced a cracked laptop screen! Very pleased with that one, although the screws are bastard fiddly and needed special screwdrivers.

I bought a lovely big mirror which had been knocked down in price by 80% or something ridiculous, because someone had broken the corner off the frame. I bought some wood filler putty and a small tin of enamel paint, moulded a new corner, and painted the frame.....it is still in our downstairs loo 15 years on, and you can't tell.

I was told my stiff, faulty window lock needed replacing and was quoted nearly £200 for the job. Rather than give in, I bought the replacement mechanism online for about £12, watched a couple of videos and decided to have a go myself. Twenty minutes later it was fitted, the window locked perfectly, and I'd saved a small fortune. I don't think I've ever been so proud of a screwdriver and a YouTube tutorial!

I’ve remembered another one - our front door Yale lock had become so stiff that it needed a real bang to shut it. One day I decided to google the problem and found a you tube video demonstrating stripping it down and cleaning it. I set about it but unfortunately ours was not quite the same as the one in the video. Two hours in I was really wishing I hadn’t started, but I couldn’t really stop it was getting dark and the door wouldn’t close without it. I was struggling with a spring which I couldn’t quite get right but I got there in the end, and every time I close the door without the house shaking I congratulate myself again!

Neither DH or I are particularly handy. Tumble drier stopped working. Lots of googling and it turned out there was a SECOND filter we had known NOTHING about (first tumble drier either of us had ever owned). So we get it out and clean it. Still not working. Because of course, it turns out, it's been getting more and more blocked, deeper and deeper in the machine, for months/years.....

So now we have to take it apart. And, more importantly, put the whole thing back.

Took about 4 hours. Got it dismantled, cleaned out the fuzz. Put it all back together again.

We had three spare screws at the end. We considered that a WIN!

And it's still going strong now, many years later (we also now regularly clean the second filter.... before it gets to DefCON 4)

I've performed another one today: fixed my laptops usb port using just an earring.

We were convinced our front door lock had reached the end of its life when the locking mechanism jammed. Instead of replacing the whole door, we managed to repair the mechanism and got it working perfectly again. Feeling rather pleased with ourselves, we gave the door a makeover too—painted it blue and fitted a new door knocker. It saved us the cost of a new door, and now it's one of my favourite features of the house. Definitely one of those jobs that makes you feel ridiculously smug every time you walk through it!

My favourite repair was my expensive Barbour coat. The zip had finally given up after years of faithful service and everyone told me it wasn't worth repairing. Instead of replacing the coat, I ordered the correct heavy-duty zip online, carefully unpicked the old one, pinned the new one into place and spent an evening sewing it in by hand. It wasn't the quickest job, but when I zipped it up for the first time it worked perfectly. I saved well over £150 compared with buying a new coat, kept a much-loved favourite out of landfill, and I may have mentioned my handiwork to absolutely everyone for the next week. I still smile every time I put it on!

Me and DH fixed a constantly filling toilet cistern via YouTube video. We made a good team!

Bought a flat that was in a really sorry state that no one else had wanted because of some mouldy corners. Was a bit worried it was damp but it became clear that the previous owners had never ventilated. I bought a bottle of bleach and applied it to the wall with an old paintbrush. It cost 60p and took 20minutes. Probably saved about £50,000 off the asking price so I was very happy/relieved - and I keep the windows open a lot to stop it happening again!

ETA i then went on to do lots of DIY in the flat to make it habitable because builders’ costs are so high these days. But the bleach job was the first and most satisfying job by far!

Fitted a new button for my pneumatic flush toilet. Cost about £7.99, in contrast to the £70 call-out charge that would have been made by the plumber who was too busy to reply to my text in any case.
All thanks due to Steve from my local hardware store who taught me to believe in myself (and in cheapo generic flush buttons). Couldn't have done it without you, Steve

My bar shower was leaking. Assumed it was just a washer so turned the water off and dismantled it. The whole ceramic washer inside just crumbled. So now was in trouble as if I turned the water back on it would just continually pour from the side of my shower!
It was a Saturday morning. Dutifully legged it around plumbers merchants, and although helpful, a non-descript now crumbled washer was nowhere to be found. With time running out I just purchased a completely new shower! Asked the guy at the merchants how to fit it and came home. With a new shower and a lot of bloody hope.

Turns out it was absolutely fine, and I nailed it in 20 mins. If I'd called a plumber it would have been a couple of hundred for them on an emergency call on a Saturday. As was £40, a helpful bit of fitting info at the shop and some good music and I was well sorted.

I bought full length pleated thermal blinds for my patio door/window when I moved into the house. They never pulled up or went down evenly but always lurched at an angle, which was annoying, and caused the cords to tangle and knot. I unknotted the cords from time to time, but one day a few weeks ago, the knots holding the cords in place at the bottom came out, and the blind collapsed, a broken mess, unable to go either up or down and stuck in the down position i.e. over the window.

I took the blind down which was quite a feat in itself because it's really difficult to see how the thing has been put together. Then I took the other blind down that was still working, to see what I needed to do to fix the broken one.

I could see that I needed to untangle all the knots in the cords and then re-thread the cords through the four sets of holes so that I could pull the blind up and down again.

I took my blinds to a local community repair place called the Workbench. The people there were extremely helpful and lent me some tools to help untangle the cords. It took a very long time to do the untangling as they were knotted and really stiff.

Once they were untangled, I could thread them through the four sets of holes and knot them again more securely at the bottom of the blind.

Then I looked at the top end of the blind where the thicker cord has to feed through a particular hole and join with the four threads/cords.

I realised while working out how to do this that the blinds had been wrongly assembled in the first place and that all four of the cords going down the four sets of holes should have been different lengths. They were all the same length and that was why the blind had never worked properly and pulled up at an angle the whole time I had been using it.

Having worked this out, I cut the cords to the right length with my scissors and fitted them through the little plastic thing that keeps them all together. Then I tested the blind. It was brilliant! The blind went up and down without going at an angle and without any of the cords getting tangled or knotted.

Then I turned my attention to the second blind, and fixed that in the same way so that the cords were the proper length.

I put the blinds back up and spent at least a week admiring them and patting myself on the back mentally because they work properly and go up and down as they should and don't get stuck or tangled.

This activity was fiddly and time-consuming and I had to work out all the stages – but it saved me a lot of money, these are very long blinds and it would've cost a fortune to replace them.

I was very grateful to receive the help I got at the workbench session where everyone was very kind and patient and offered me tips and tools. Fixing the blinds gave me a massive confidence boost as well. I felt I could fix anything!

I replaced the element in my electric cooker's grill. I followed a youtube video and took photos of the electric wiring connections before disconnecting them so that I was confident about putting everything back together safely.

I fixed the TV one winter. It wasn't getting any signal until I went out with a broom and knocked a load of snow off the satellite dish.

I failed to fix my washing machine but I did all the troubleshooting that a paid plumber would have done, I'm sure they would have written it off too. I had to get a new one but I believe I saved a call out fee.

i had a favourite pair of earrings (pink butterflys) that snapped on the hook. however the earring itself was fine so i got some spare hooks, a glue gun and hey presto! favourite earrings back in action :)

Fixed my:

Oven - the door had cracked so
bought a replacement and fitted it. Cost me about £40. Still going strong 5 years later.

Oven - replaced and wired in a new built in oven a few years ago.

Dishwasher - replaced the heating element in a very old dishwasher I’d had gifted to me. It cost £18 for the element and took me a few hours and YouTube’s but got there. it lasted another 5 years. Replaced and plumbed in a new one 2 years ago.

Kitchen Tap - small mixer tap - something inside it died after 18 years so took 4 hours to remove sink and fit a new tap (couldn’t leave sink in situ to do it due to awkward pipes and tight spaces). Cost £35

Fridge - plumbed in American fridge freezer. Plumbed it in and got the divider pipework so I could split it off the washing machine cold tap. Cost me £4 for some fittings and saves me a lot to get someone out.

Window - old window was blown. It’s about 8ft by 4.5ft. Cost for new frame and glass under £500. Cost for someone else to fit it - quoted over £1k. My 85 year old Pops, neighbour and brother helped me fit new one. Some tidying up to do and new architrave is side bit I can finally see out and no more misted fogged up window. We’ve also done my bathroom and bedroom window.

I’ve installed a 6ft fence in garden. Laid vinyl and laminate flooring. Tiled inside and out.

Ripped out, replaced and fitted a whole new bathroom (cost £500 as a B&Q ex display bathroom).

Toilet Soil pipe cracked and slightly leaking so I’m currently waiting for the parts and fitting that this week. £15 for parts. Plumber quoted nearly £100 for call out, parts and fitting. No thank you.

Replaced or Fixed electric showers 3 times in the last 25 years.

replaced and fitted new lighting, plug sockets and light switches.

Love it. Very much a ‘if men can do it so can I’. There are some electrical jobs I won’t touch.

Completely renovated my study by learning off YouTube...removed skirting boards, replasted walls, built in IKEA hack cupboard and book case and wired in wall lights. The wall lights I bought off tiktok shop but they were Chinese with no earth wires...I tried YouTube, Google and everything said get an electrician...I took them to my local man's shed and several old chaps told me how to earth into an earth screw in the wall box...my DH was sure I'd blow up the house but no...they work perfectly.
I decorated and upscycled the furniture
I love my study so much cus I did it all myself

Air lock in toilet! Didn’t even know it could happen!! We ended up hosing the water pipe into the bathroom (luckily we’re a bungalow!) and after a while it cleared! Saved a fortune on calling a plumber out