Inflate your balloon yourself

For my son's third birthday, I bought him a huge "3" balloon. For just the balloon, the shop charged $12. If I wanted to fill it with air? $25. I went home and pumped it up myself with my bicycle pump. I understand it's business and many people would have paid for it. But I just couldn't. If I didn't have a bicycle pump, I'd probably have stuck a straw in to blow it up!

Being frugal matters. But this is more than money. It is about self-reliance. We should learn to do things ourselves. My dad taught me that by being a role model. He fixes everything at home. Even if he doesn't know how, he tries. If he fails, well, he says he learned something new.

Recently, my toilet lock broke. He didn't know how it worked, but he took it apart anyway. I panicked, but I reasoned worst-case we would just replace the door. We discovered a tiny component with two little forks had broken. We couldn't find a replacement, so he welded the pieces back together himself.

Yes, we saved some money. But, more importantly, the lock doesn't seem that scary to me anymore. If it breaks again (which I hope it doesn't), I am confident enough to take it apart, investigate, and put it back together. I may or may not be able to fix it. But I will learn something new.

Being able to do things myself also taught me that there are many ways to solve a problem, which often makes the problem seem less daunting. If the door lock broke, I could replace the door, replace the lock, or fix the lock. If I want a nice "3" balloon for a party, I could pay for air or—inflate the balloon myself.

(P.S. I later realized the lady was probably selling me helium but she only said "air" and I didn't think about helium because I didn't want a floating balloon.)