Your first ten fixes, from a mending box to the fixer's side of the table

Eight weeks to go from throwing things away to mending them. If you are new to it, you end with a few things working again and a repair group you know. If you are already handy, you end as a regular fixer with a log of ten repairs.

Why this works

Cincinnati’s Tinker Team had mended nearly 1,400 household electronics in a year and a half when WVXU visited in June 2026, with no budget for parts and no experience needed to join. Don Hoffman, a retired art teacher, told the station his only background was things breaking at home. Mike Conaway, a retired engineer, said fans are usually just clogged with dog hair and need their bearings oiled. The volunteers reckon about half of what comes in can be repaired.

That is the method in this plan: start with the simple faults, learn beside someone who knows more than you, and keep going regularly. Repair keeps things out of the bin (the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor 2024 found that only 12 per cent of small electrical devices thrown out in 2022 were recycled), and a regular session with the same people is an easy way to get to know them.

Before you start

Find your group. Search the Repair Café directory (repaircafe.org), which lists more than 4,000 repair cafés. In the US, the Community Repair Hub run by iFixit lists free repair events. Some recycling centres run their own, as Cincinnati’s does.
The safety rules come first. Unplug before you open anything, and keep it unplugged until it is closed again. Leave microwaves (parts inside can hold a charge after unplugging), gas appliances and anything still under guarantee to a professional. At an event, the organisers’ safety rules apply; ask what they are on your first visit.
A small kit. A set of small screwdrivers (cross-head and flat), a soft brush, a torch, a few freezer bags and a marker for screws, and a notebook. The already-handy track adds a basic multimeter.
A mending box. One box where broken small things go instead of the bin.

The plan

Week	Do this	How often	Notes
1 (new to this)	Start your mending box. Find the nearest repair event and put the date in your diary.	Once	Two or three items is plenty.
1 (already handy)	Contact a repair group and offer to fix. Say what you can do and what you would like to learn.	Once	Many groups want people who sew, sand or solder as well.
2 to 3 (new to this)	Go to your first event with one item. Sit with the fixer and ask to do the unscrewing yourself.	One session	Photograph each step before you take it apart.
2 to 3 (already handy)	Work your first sessions beside an experienced volunteer. Start your log: item, fault, cause, fix, time.	Two sessions a fortnight	Mike Conaway’s rhythm is twice a month.
4 to 5 (new to this)	At home, on something unplugged and unwanted (an old fan or lamp), clean it out: dust, hair, fluff. Put it back together and test it.	Once a week	Screws into labelled bags, in order.
4 to 5 (already handy)	Learn one new skill: testing a fuse or cable for continuity with a multimeter. Practise on scrap parts.	One evening a week	Check your work with an experienced fixer before it goes back to an owner.
6 to 7 (new to this)	Second event: bring something from the box and try more of the repair yourself.	One session	Ask what tool would have made it easier.
6 to 7 (already handy)	Take on items others have put aside. Aim for five fixed out of your first 10.	Two sessions	The Tinker Team’s estimate is about half.
8 (both)	Look back through your notebook or log and decide what is next: a regular slot, a new skill, or helping start a group.	Once	See “What next”.

If it goes wrong

It will not go back together. This is why you photograph each step and bag the screws. Take the pieces and the photos to the next event.
You made it worse. It was broken already. Note what happened; that note is how you learn.
The part you need does not exist. Many groups strip unfixable items for spares, as the Tinker Team does. Ask whether there is a spares box.
There is no event near you. Check the directories again in a month; new ones appear. Or ask a library or community centre whether it would host one: Repair Café International has guidance on starting your own.
It smells hot, sparks or trips the fuse. Unplug it and stop. That one is for a professional.

Track it

New to this: one line per item in your notebook: what it is, what was wrong, and whether it works now. Already handy: the full log (item, fault, cause, fix, time taken), with a running count of fixed and not fixed. Either way, keep a tally of things that did not go in the bin.

What next

Make it regular. The Cincinnati volunteers work a set rhythm; a fixed slot is what turns a one-off visit into something you look forward to. If you enjoy the company as much as the mending, our guide to volunteering has other roles to look at, and men’s sheds, walking groups and clubs covers workshops where people make and mend together.

General information, not medical advice. Check with your GP before starting a new exercise programme.