As far as generational names go, Gen X is kind of snoozy. You’ve got the Greatest Generation, the Baby Boomers, Millennials—all cool, engaging names that offer insight into the era in which each set of people grew up in. Even Gen Z, while similar, gets the ultimate letter of the alphabet, and for the past five years, people have been vying to recast the group with a different moniker: The Founders, Zoomers and most recently, Quaranteens.
Some have tried to rechristen Gen X as the Baby Busters, Post-Boomers and Latchkey Generation—essentially, all terms really reflecting the generation before them more than the social and economic trends that shaped them. Well, if an August 2021 survey from warranty company Cinch Home Services is any indication, maybe those terms should be swapped for the DIY Generation. As it turns out, those born between the mid-1960s and 1980 considered themselves “extremely confident” in their ability to fix things around the house, a much higher rate than millennials and baby boomers. And the projects they’ll take on run the gamut: More than half had tried to repair clogged toilets and broken toilet handles, and nearly 40 percent said they’d tried fixing door locks, light switches and patching up holes in drywall. They were also more likely to try repairing their washing machines, dryers, water heaters and stovetops instead of buying new ones.
