Nobody has ever said that owning a home is easy. When a problem pops up, it’s on you to take care of it. Gone are the days when you rented an apartment or townhome and could call your landlord for help whenever there was a maintenance or repair issue. More times than not, it was free to have your landlord take care of the problem. That’s not the case when you own your home. You have to foot the bill for any fees incurred to get your home back in working order.

Any time a problem occurs that you must quickly address, it causes a lot of stress and aggravation for you and your family. Not only do you have to figure out your next steps, but you also worry about what impact the issue will have on your finances. You can only hope that it won’t put too much of a dent into the money you’ve been saving for a new car or a summer vacation.

We’ve put together some tips to help you handle some of the most frustrating home repairs.

Know your own limits

Let’s face it — some of us don’t know the first thing about tackling do-it-yourself projects, and we prefer to keep it that way. If you know yourself to be not the handiest of homeowners, it’s probably best to not handle repair jobs around the house yourself, especially if you know it’s going to be stressful.

While you may not want to pay the hefty price tag of having a professional take care of the job for you, it may be best to do so. If you try and do the repair on your own, you might have to buy tools you don’t have (or know how to use) and find manuals or guides to help you understand the fix needed. Not just that, but you may be spending a lot of time trying to do the job on your own when it’s something that an expert could handle in a matter of minutes. Save yourself the trouble and call on a pro for help.

Don’t expect things to go perfectly

We live in the real world, and things probably aren’t going to go exactly as planned with your repair project. Whether you’re fixing a leaky faucet, unclogging a gutter, or patching a hole in the drywall, expect delays. You may go to the store for a certain tool or to get the materials needed for the job, and you may find out that what you need is out of stock and has to be ordered.

Besides having to wait on the tools and/or materials needed to get the job done, you may have to wait until you have time to do the project. We’re all busy and “wear many hats” in our daily lives. Maybe you’re juggling a full-time job along with taking care of kids and managing your home. You likely can’t drop everything you’re doing to take care of a household problem that needs to be repaired but can wait.

Plan accordingly

Who doesn’t love to have friends or family over to hang out? It may be tempting to entertain guests when a household repair is needed, but the guests and the project can distract from each other. Focus on the project first — you’ll feel much better once the work is finished, and your guests won’t be thinking that their presence will set you back hours, if not days, on what needs to be done. It may be tempting to stop what you’re doing for the day to watch the big game with your buddies, but that clogged sink isn’t going to fix itself, nor is that garbage disposal going to magically start working again on its own. And the longer the project waits, the more aggravation it can cause for you and your loved ones.

Clean as you go

If you’re tackling a project like unclogging a toilet, patching a hole in the drywall, regrouting tile, or any other job that has the potential to be a little messy, make sure you’re cleaning as you go so that you don’t have a huge mess to contend with when the job is done.

Be sure that you have all the necessary cleaning supplies on hand before you start the job, so you won’t need to stop what you’re doing to run to the store. You’ll feel less anxious and stressed about the project if you’re not walking around or working in a dirty environment. Your family will also thank you!

Want more helpful homeowner tips?

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