I assume that at least some in the DDF community would be inclined to try figure out how to fix things themselves (DIY - Do it yourself, with some guidance from youtube) to avoid paying to repair or replace "good" but "broken" items for full cost. (assuming it's not still covered by the Amex warranty, or not from Costco, or Land's End).
I'm curious to hear other peoples "Blunders" & "Successes". I'll start.
Blunder:
After viewing some youtube videos on the topic I was cleaning out a window air-conditioner from black spots that "might" have been mold, and adding some drip holes to avoid water-collecting inside. After disassembling and carefully cleaning the surfaces with diluted bleach, I wasn't careful when replacing the screws, and put a longer-than-appropriate a screw in the wrong place and punctured the Freon pipe, making the machine useless.
P.s. I take some comfort in the fact that the machine is significantly more than 10 years old, and probably not too efficient by today's energy standards.