Article: Janice Anderssen from women24
Image: Getty/Gallo Images

It's raining, it's cold, and I'm freezing. And with all the recent hoo-ha about load shedding, I'm too scared to turn on the heater in case I cause a total power meltdown!

I decided that now is possibly the best time to get the gas bottles filled up, so that we can all get toasty and warm in front of the heater but, once again, there is a shortage of gas! What the heck is going on these days. No power, no gas, no sunshine, and I'm sure that we are not very far away from not being able to drink the water either!

This morning I decided to tackle my monthly shopping, in the hope that everyone was away for the holidays and I wouldn't have to stand in a mile long queue. Not! To top the list of my despairs, and I'm sure that of many other South Africans, is the spiralling cost of groceries. The price of sugar alone has gone up R2 in the past two months, and I'm going to be one of the first to start recycling my toilet paper going by the latest shelf price for this, what I consider, extremely essential commodity. If you see a house with toilet paper hanging on the line, that's me!

One thing that is in my favour; with the high price of property, the new credit act, rising inflation, the new petrol price, blah-di-blah, more homeowners are going to be considering the DIY option for home improvement and repairs.

It's possible to save thousands of Rand by tackling a home improvement project yourself, and whilst you may think that you couldn't possibly have the time or the know-how to undertake such a task, you might be surprised. Many suppliers of home improvement products are aware of the burgeoning increase in the do-it-yourself market and are making an extra effort to make DIY more affordable and easier to tackle. It wasn't too long ago that installing your own laminate floor was unthinkable now there are plenty of options available for the do-it-yourselfer.

To add to the wide range of DIY products now available, home-dzine offers comprehensive information and expert advice to make doing-it-yourself a breeze.

So forget about having to spend a fortune, suffering long delays in delivery and having to put up with poor workmanship, DO IT YOURSELF!

Janice Anderssen is Women24's Décor & DIY expert. Click here to ask her a question.