Tricks to make yourself last in the trade

[GoldDigger]

When I first saw the title, I thought why would I not want to be first in the trade instead.

 

[PaulMmn]

Cheap tools are more expensive! They wear out faster or break and you have to buy another one! Quality tools are buy once, use forever!
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Consider a shoulder harness to keep up your tool belt. Your hips will be fine but your shoulders will always need a massage! How about a belt with more than one pocket-- at least one on each side so you don't lean over all the time!
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Clean out your tool belt! Do you really need 5 of every type of screwdriver? Will a multi-tool replace 3 or 4? Your tool belt shouldn't store every type of screw, insulated joiner, etc. Just the ones for -this- job!
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Don't bend over! Squat down so your legs do the lifting, not your back!
Get your stomach into shape. When I had back problems, all of the exercises to 'cure' the pain were to tighten up the stomach muscles, which pulled the spine back into alignment!
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A young actor once asked Slim Pickens (or another old cowboy actor) for advice. "Sit down whenever you can." For an actor, you'd end up standing all day watching other people do things. For an electrician, sit down to eat or drink coffee. Sit down to fill out paperwork. Sit down to watch some other trade do something so you can get in and work.

 

[Jraef]

Hire a helper.

-Hal

Or grow your own… that’s what kids are for!

 

[Jraef]

Was an overweight ( ya fat boy ) maintenance electrician at large companies for 50 enjoyable years. My chief electrician father gave me great advice. Told me to get good no really really good at troubleshooting and keep up with the NEC. Got interested with VFD'S and learned to troubleshoot, install & replace them. Could usually troubleshoot any equipment company had. Did a lot of repairing injection molding machines at a nearby shop. A!ways used knee pads and had several pieces of 2" thick rubber mats to knee on. Would have worked even past 70 if my knees held out. Enjoy going on two vacations and a few 4 day ent ended vacations every year and spending time with the grandkids. Now know every playground & dollar store within 5 miles of our house. Would recommend for every one not to smoke, don't using drugs and only a couple of drinks a week. I gave up drinking when my children were born due to both of my brothers being alcoholics. Drank enough when young especially while working as a field Wireman in Viet Nam. Miss them 15 & 20¢ cold beer. One more thing please invest into a 401 or some other pension plan. I would change my contribution every week ( increase it ) that I worked overtime &/or a extra day. Now between Social Security, two small pensions & nice big 401K taking home more money then when I was working. Plan for the future!

You sound like my twin…. Except I missed Viet Nam by about a month (draft number was 48, got my physical and got classified as 1-A cannon fodder, then Nixon ended the draft before I had to check in). I too picked up on the fact that nobody knew squat about VFDs and made that my specialty, it has served me well too. One mistake I made early on though; an employer offered me a 1:1 match on my 401k contributions and I turned it down! I had no idea what a 401k was and I was young, so “retirement” seemed like it was so far off in the future, plus I needed all of my paycheck every month to afford partying. I want to go back in time and kick my own ass…

 

[kwired]

You sound like my twin…. Except I missed Viet Nam by about a month (draft number was 48, got my physical and got classified as 1-A cannon fodder, then Nixon ended the draft before I had to check in). I too picked up on the fact that nobody knew squat about VFDs and made that my specialty, it has served me well too. One mistake I made early on though; an employer offered me a 1:1 match on my 401k contributions and I turned it down! I had no idea what a 401k was and I was young, so “retirement” seemed like it was so far off in the future, plus I needed all of my paycheck every month to afford partying. I want to go back in time and kick my own ass…

You didn't party enough - you weren't supposed to live long enough to need those accounts

 

[garbo]

You sound like my twin…. Except I missed Viet Nam by about a month (draft number was 48, got my physical and got classified as 1-A cannon fodder, then Nixon ended the draft before I had to check in). I too picked up on the fact that nobody knew squat about VFDs and made that my specialty, it has served me well too. One mistake I made early on though; an employer offered me a 1:1 match on my 401k contributions and I turned it down! I had no idea what a 401k was and I was young, so “retirement” seemed like it was so far off in the future, plus I needed all of my paycheck every month to afford partying. I want to go back in time and kick my own ass…

Took me a few years to convince my son to sign up for his new companies 401K and contribute at least what they match Every year when I received a raise would increase my 401 by 1% .Before I know it I was contributing 15% plus all the OT pay. Managed to save money while in Nam.Would pull flight line guard duty at least 6 times a month for extra money and my enterprising sergeant had it set up that if somebody wanted a field telephone in their hootch they had to go to Saigon and get two steaks & 2 six packs of beer. One bad thing about 401K to many people use it as a piggy bank. While working at a newspaper years back tried to talk my coworker from borrowing $25 K to purchase a new car. A few months after he borrowed the money we got laid off. He refused to take a job paying less then the good money we were making. After unemployment ran out he took a part time job and ended up paying a large late penalty for not repaying the 401K money that he borrowed. He was sorry for ever borrowing that money.

 

[Jraef]

You didn't party enough - you weren't supposed to live long enough to need those accounts

I know it’s a joke, but I seriously felt like that at one time. I was convinced that I was going to end up dead in a gutter somewhere before I was 30, so who cares?

Then I got married and had a kid. That tends to make your perspective change overnight.

 

[PaulMmn]

You didn't party enough - you weren't supposed to live long enough to need those accounts

Surprisingly, the -original- Social Security, that kicked in at age 65, was at a time when very few people made it past age 60...