The Curse of “while I’m at it”

Hello all, how we doing today? As another week comes to a close today I’m hitting you guys with a fresh blog post for a bit of light reading on a chilled Sunday. So, let’s get into the wonderful thing of what I like to call, “while I’m at it syndrome”. Anyone who has worked on their own car knows this and today’s post is hopefully gonna make you look at it a little different going forward.

Let’s start exactly how it always starts, let’s say you’re doing a brake pad change on your car. So you get the pads off and “while you’re at it” you spot a couple of bushes that look a little tired so you start having a look at options to replace them, but then you see it’s easier to replace the lower arms instead. You start to justify it in your head and before you know it… Bam, it strikes again. The “while I’m at it” syndrome. I’ve been in this position and I’m pretty sure every car guy and girl falls into it at some point. You sit there thinking “oh it’d be silly not to do it now whilst I’ve got all these other bits off”. And in part, you’re not wrong. The mindset and thoughts just need a little tweak to make this more of a helpful thought process.

So let’s dig in. Just going all in and throwing your wallet at the problems quickly spirals out of control. If you’re plan is to do a full nut and bolt restoration then you signed up for a bank breaking build, but if it’s just a daily that needs a few odd jobs done you end up spending wayyyy more than you planned or wanted to. Not only does the cost go up but the amount of time to sort said job. Whether that means putting things back together or just not having the car at all. With this way of going about things motivation can quickly drop off and eventually the car becomes an expensive driveway ornament.

It’s not all bad though, having these thoughts and spotting additional work saves time in the long run, it essentially becomes preventative maintenance. Alongside that is the satisfaction in knowing that it’s sorted and you won’t be constantly thinking “I should’ve done that” after you finish the initial job you were on with. In a way you can say this mindset ensures you do the job properly, the work that needs doing gets done and you get peace of mind knowing that the car is in really good shape.

So how to do it the right way. The problem isn’t the thought itself, it’s always good to spot things before they become a serious problem or a more expensive one. It’s the planning behind the job that just needs a little tweaking. So before you go diving in ordering the new parts, ask yourself these questions:

Will it save time later?

Will I regret not doing this?

Is it stopping me from driving the car?

Sometimes these jobs can be saved for another time, like if a bushing is just starting to become a little tired, it still has life in it but really I can leave it a couple of months and check on it again down the line and replace it once I’ve got a little more money in the bank. It’s difficult sometimes, but being able to accept that not every job needs doing straightaway will save you a lot of stress and time too. Knowing when to stop is another difficult thing with this, we all know the jobs we’d do to our car if we had an endless money pit. But unless you do have said money pit, we have to take a step back and figure out how we are going to complete the job at hand. So budget is a big part and setting a budget is a good way to stop yourself going over the top. Prioritise a running car over a perfect one that’s sat on jack stands. Obviously jobs that make the car safe are the priority, so don’t put them to the back of the queue.

So there we have it, hopefully this post does change the way you think about the whole “while I’m at it”. It’s something all of us car people go through at some point or another, it just comes with the territory. It’s sometimes a frustrating part of having a project, but overall being more clever with your time and money leads to a more complete project and build. So no matter how many times you say it to yourself on your future jobs, it doesn’t always mean the end of your wages for the next 7 years. Just remember those three questions and you’ll do quite alright.

If you made it this far, firstly, thank you for reading. Secondly, drop a comment below of your most recent “while I’m at it” moment, whether it’s your car or maybe some other project you’ve got going on. Mine has to be the decision to rebuild the entire subframe all because it’s easier than doing just the lower arms. Strangely true, I know.

Either way until the next post, I will love you and leave you all. Until then though…

Enjoy the ride.

E.