Do It Yourself

The Wall Street Journal offered a nice feature on website that help you take care of tasks on your own:

Instructions, Parts
Howstuffworks.com has step-by-step instructions and diagrams. YouTube.com has instructional videos submitted by users. Homerepair.about.com offers maintenance tips to avoid future repairs. Manualsonline.com has 1000's of owner's manuals available for download.
Searspartsdirect.com sells approved replacement parts for 1000's of models and brands. Partselect.com sells parts and has troubleshooting tips.