Last October I broke the headphone jack in my laptop. I ordered a $12 part from eBay, opened my laptop case, unscrewed said broken part, unclipped a ribbon cable plugged in, and now the audio works without an external USB audio dongle. The dongles worked and are convenient as you can plug them into any port but having a built-in in audio jack is better.

I also bought a tube of rubber / fabric bond and fixed my ski boots. They are clamped down and drying downstairs. Productive day.