Many of us pride ourselves on being self-sufficient and/or creative. But sometimes we overestimate our abilities in the DIY department.

In fact, there’s a reason repairmen and women are paid to fix things and that their work takes training!

Of course, sometimes we simply can’t afford to have someone else put our mess back together or we need a quick fix and we have to figure out a way to do it ourselves. Those solutions aren’t always…how shall we say, the most elegant.

Check out these 50 improvisations and marvel at the heights (and depths) of human ingenuity.