back to school month

We’re just past the halfway mark of Back-to-School Month, and it’s been eye-opening to see not only the classes available around the country for people looking to improve and maintain the places they call home, but also the sense of community and safety that has emerged around having a place to call your own.

I began Handy Darling because I was so grateful for the occasions when I encountered repair professionals in my home who were patient and, in their own way, true educators.

For whatever reason, they seemed genuinely in tune with my confusion and anxiety around simply wanting my heat or plumbing to work. Rather than taking advantage of the situation, they stopped. Instead of just telling me what was wrong and how much it would cost to fix, they talked to me about tools I could purchase at the store that would make future repairs easier — potentially saving me from needing a full diagnostic service.

One professional even walked me through my electrical box, explaining what the direction of each switch meant.

These experiences have stayed with me because I knew they simply wanted me to feel better.

And that matters so much to homeowners.

Home is where we go to relax. Home is where we should feel safe and at ease. So when something isn’t working, we suddenly feel anything but relaxed and at ease. We don’t feel like ourselves.

I completely appreciate the patience and guidance of those extra-caring professionals who took the time to show me how to feel less intimidated by the workings of my own home. But it means even more when you become the person who can quell your own anxiety because you’ve learned how and when to run your own diagnostic test or tackle a simple task — like weather-stripping your home to reduce the strain on your HVAC system — potentially prolonging its life or even avoiding an expensive repair altogether.

It’s also easy to assume that DIY workshops would be cookie-cutter experiences. But as I’ve discovered, each one has a different take on a common goal. There are classes exclusively for women, workshops held in camp-like settings where nature becomes the classroom, and programs designed around helping people become more confident in caring for their homes.

I didn’t really know what to expect when I began searching for DIY workshops around the country. Admittedly, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. After all, the entire reason I started Handy Darling was to share my own lack of experience and knowledge with other homeowners who felt the same way — people who were looking for resources, guidance, and a little empathy.

The experience I had with kind and patient contractors is not everyone’s experience. Letting a stranger into your home to fix a problem you don’t understand, and then trusting that person with a considerable amount of money to solve it, can be intimidating.

When I began looking for educational services available to homeowners who wanted to learn basic home repairs, the landscape seemed a bit lacking.

That’s why it’s so exciting to read about organizations that are featuring female-exclusive home maintenance workshop. These program come at a time when the number of independent female homebuyers is growing significantly.

Traditionally, many women simply weren’t raised with a “Here’s how you fix it” approach to broken household items.

It’s time we change that.