Frustrated? Find a new option
He ripped the page off his estimate pad and told me “$2,500″ to fix the teensy, tiny pinhole in my hot water pipe. I thought my water heater was broken, but it turned out to be a water leak under the slab. My brain raced back to college days when we would fix radiator leaks by putting nutmeg in the radiator. The nutmeg would gravitate to the leak and plug it up… at least for awhile.
But that wasn’t going to work here. (Trust me, I considered it!) Then he said I’d need to talk to my homeowners insurance anyway to get the water sucked out of the slab. With my deductible I was looking at a $3,500 bill minimum!
In the old days, I would have just sighed and paid it. Not now. I asked around. Found out that $2,500 was outrageous. Another plumber came, said, “Eh, easy. We cut the pipe and reroute it in the wall to the hot water faucet. Done.” One hour and $310 later, it’s fixed. I still had to pay to dry out the slab. But I paid half!
How easily we succumb to despair when presented with a bad situation. How easily we give up and just pay, or worse, do nothing. We could save ourselves a lot of pain if we would use our network and our ingenuity to find other options to bad situations.
No matter what the situation, take time to look for Options.
Do this:
- Take a step back. Ask for time to think
- Ask trusted friends for referrals or recommendations
- Log on! The internet has an answer to everything
- Trust Your Gut. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t
- Ask the professional for options & other possibilities
- Ask questions re: consequences of each decision
- When money, time, & your life are involved, always get a second opinion
- Be willing to be uncomfortable – to say no; to ask again; to not accept the first answer
Everyday there will be challenges, troubles, detours, and opportunities. In solving both the big and the small problems of your life, look at the options before settling for the first solution that comes along. Who knows? You might save time, money, headaches, and pain. At the very least, you’ll learn something. And that’s a good thing.
Now, I think I’ll go put my kitchen back together!
Enjoy your week,
Beth
© 2010 Beth Terry Seminars, Inc. All Rights Reserved
