I was in my late twenties before I started programming professionally. Always had super crappy jobs before that, and grew up without a lot of money, so I ended up with a fix-all-the-things mindset. I'd think something like "well, I don't have hundreds of dollars to get my truck's ignition fixed. Guess it's time to learn how ignition systems work and fix it myself before I need to goto work on monday."

It could be super stressful, but I appreciate knowing those things now that I could afford to ignore them if I wanted to.

I actually ended up getting a side job working for a stage magician because I worked for the moving company that moved his stuff. I overheard them talking about a motorcycle they used in a trick, and how it wasn't working. I told them how they could fix it and they asked if I wanted to make some extra cash fixing other tricks, which by their nature were all cobbled together one-offs.

>order a new one with overnight shipping

ahhh, the things we do to our stuff when things can't be shipped and already cost a fortune (AU) :).

Kiwi in the US here.

It probably varies depending upon your social circles. Plenty of North Americans repair and improvise, especially those not in dense urban areas. Americans may love their disposable consumer goods but I wouldn't write of their ability to adapt and improvise just yet!

I remember hearing (perhaps apocryphally) that the repair meaning of fix was one of the early American English words, dating back to the 1730s or so.

If you get out into the country (especially the mountain areas which have always bread independence) you'll see similar mentality. That to is going away in favor of a more throw away society but for the time being you still have a lot of tinkerers and rural-renaissance people (farmer/welder/machinist/etc).