I’ve told the story before. When we moved into our house in Valencia, the toilet in the master bedroom smelled. It worked perfectly fine, but to quote Willie in one of my fave Xmas films, Bad Santa, it “smelled like a bum’s nut sack.”

Our landlord knew a guy and within an hour or two “Jo Jo” arrived to take a look. He said it was probably a bad seal and while he could start replacing seals and hope to find the issue, we’d probably be best off just replacing the toilet. The landlord was willing to pay for the new toilet, if we paid for the labor; that is the landlord was willing for me to buy the toilet and deduct the price from next month’s rent. I agreed.

A new toilet was purchased and Jo Jo, with the assistance of our next door neighbor, went to work. Now I have replaced a toilet or two in the US with mixed results. This time I was happy to have someone else do it. I will admit that at 65, schlepping around a new toilet has lost some of its charm. A couple hours later Jo Jo  was done and announced he would check the work the next day after the caulk had dried.

I contacted a couple expat friends and asked for a recommended price, since as is typical in the Philippines, Jo Jo would not name his price; “Whatever you wish to pay, Sir,” was his response to the question. My friends recommended 300-400 pesos (about $6-$8).

When the work was done I gave Jo Jo 300P and my neighbor 100P to help. My neighbor was reluctant to take any money but I insisted. In addition, Janet provided the workers with a “snack” – typical in the Philippines.

A month or two later we had a couple of minor electrical problems. The last thing I really wanted to do was deal with electrical problems in the Philippines; I mean it’s 220 voltage and I am clueless. But I procrastinated. A couple of the issues were 13 feet up and I have enough trouble on the ground nowadays. Finally I suggested to Janet, “Let’s see if Jo Jo can do it?” Janet texted him and he said he could come over the next morning. I took that as a sign he was happy for the work and the amount I had paid him the last time had been adequate. He came over and we had him fix 3 or 4 minor issues. Took him an hour at most. I handed him 300P and he went away happy.

Ever since we moved into the house the water pressure has been poor. Now, a lot of this is the water service in Valencia which isn’t very good. Of course our water bill averages about $1/month so I guess this comes under the category of, you get what you pay for.

But I had noticed that some faucets flowed well and others did not, which with my very limited plumbing knowledge told me that there might be clogs in some pipes. In particular, our bedroom shower had gone down to a trickle. “Let’s call Jo Jo,” I suggested authoritatively. He told Janet he could be there 7:30 the next morning. The next morning was a Sunday so this confirmed that I had been paying him well enough.
Changes such as: * Quitting smoking and excessive drinking, * Staying away from illicit or recreational drugs, * Eating a healthy and balanced diet, low on calories, * Indulging in regular workout sessions, doing extensive cardio exercises as it helps your potency to a great extent, * Last but not least, people who take these drugs may end up cialis super viagra losing erection in between. Not solely are often harmful however the resultant is harmful for both your heat and sexual organ. http://amerikabulteni.com/category/haberler/page/359/ viagra sample india Most of the side effects from viagra men have normal libido even they grow older. There are a number of reasons to have this generic medicine than the levitra properien genuine.
He showed up at 7:30 on the nose and went to work. The main line had plenty of water so that wasn’t the issue. So he checked all the house lines. As I expected many of them had clogs and corrosion. Unlike in the US where a plumber would recommend thousands of dollars worth of replaced pipes and hardware, he cleaned the problem areas and within an hour we had decent water flow. I happily handed him 300P. A busy guy, he passed on the snack. I took the best shower I’ve had in a month!

The point of all this isn’t just that labor is inexpensive in the Philippines; that’s a given. It’s just that your thinking begins to change.

In the U.S., Home Depot and Lowes make billions. is this because guys love to spend their weekends replacing toilets? I doubt it. It’s because over the last generation or two the cost of calling a professional is beyond the budget of the average American.

Some guys reluctantly pay the pros. Others reluctantly give Home Depot their money and try to complete their Honey Do list. And still others find workarounds for problems and just plain procrastinate. While I have done all three strategies when I owned an older home in the U.S., procrastination was my favorite.

In the Philippines, those hard choices are unnecessary. Someone will happily help you with your home problems, fix your flat tire, clean your house, take care of your kids, etc. And the cost by Western standards is modest. Car wash? I have it done regularly, both inside and out. I never paid for the inside detail service in the U.S.; it’s too damn expensive. My haircut with tip costs about $1.

My point is, you’re giving people work that they are happy to have and the cost is very affordable. So there’s not much of a need to procrastinate. What am I gonna do with my time, now that I have no reason to piss it away?