Also, don't buy the expensive tools b/c "I want to buy quality that I can use for a long time!" because you will just end up spending $300 on a nail gun + compressor set that you use twice in a year and not again for 3 years. When the battery powered Ryobi nail gun is not only like 5x cheaper but also lighter and doesn't have an annoying compressor to lug around.

I kept buying what construction workers bought b/c it was quality. I found myself spending way too much money for the projects I was doing to the point where I over-analyzed things and then got very dissuaded and just started hiring people to do the stuff I needed done.

I definitely have become the "pay someone to do it" guy on anything more complicated than what my basic tools can handle. I realized that my time is more precious than anything... and that was BEFORE my child was born. Now especially.

My dollar goes further by not investing 9 hours into a project and pay someone to do it for 3 hours while, at that time, I work extra at my job and in long term it pays off 3x in my professional career over time.

Source: This is an extreme example but I once spent 11 hours fixing my dryer. I went where no licensed man should go. I started a small fire. I learned a lot... then i bought a used dryer for $200 and it's been running for 5 years now lol - Waste of time but a good lesson overall.