You basically described my life. Ive been fixing things since childhood. I was born and bred to fix things. Born with unusually big hands and trained by my father with different technical skills starting at the age of 5. I had more tools than toys. I fix my own house inside and out and anything in between and appliances too. I even fix things for neighbors and friends for free, i not saying that i know how to fix everything but im always confident that i can figure it out. Just like you i strongly belive in repair and reuse. i even salvage parts for future use/repair. Theres a big problem about throwing things that really pollute our environment. Appliance contribute alot of those in the landfill just because of one or two broken components that can be replace very easily. Bleeds my heart everytime i see people throwing stuff thaf can be repaired/resued.
That being said, im not encouraging people to live the same path as i am. its a constant study of different things like material properties, part specifications, tehniques,testing and methods. Repairing things is sometimes not straightforward. Also you need to acquire additional skills inorder to do a specific task applicable inside your repair. And you need to buy additional tools, equipments, hardwares, components and consumables. Theres too much anxiety with this kind of life. Things becomes tasks and the enjoyment drains really fast. The sense of achievement is short lived because theres too much to fix lined up. This "hobby" of mine is way more difficult than my actually job and i fix aircrafts for a living.
Most of the appliances and things today were designed to be more efficient but less durable, cheap but expensive to repair, user friendly but less reliable. Thats why people are more encouraged to buy new/updated one than to repair, its good to know and have the skills to fix things for your own and for others but its overwhelming and defeats the purpose of having a simple life and you be missing other things that could make you happy. With this life youll become just a utility not a creative person. Sorry for the long read.