In November/December of 2008 I had a Make Do and mend challenge- the idea was to show folks how much moola we spend buying crap. I guess it was my non-consumerist attempt of sticking it to the man.
I was bored the other day so I did some "Make Do and Mend" action- I added up the costs of replacements for the Items I repaired and it came to at least $67. Not bad for an hours worth of work! Well this is what happens when I get bored:
I repaired my paper cutter- I lost the straight edge out of it, so I took a piece of 1/8" X1/8" square stock since it would fit and made a new one- all I had to do was cut off about an inch of the square stock. Some new washers and screws and my paper cutter is good as new- Savings-$20-$30. Cost to repair- $1.47 for the square stock and two new washers.
That rusty old shower curtain pole- I painted it with about the same color spray paint (that I happened to have on hand- Saves my from going to hardware to buy a new clothes rail- Savings $7-$15- Cost to repair- FREE!! (I already had the paint, was bought for another project)
Mom's Reading lamp- made it so the odd 4-prong fluorescent lamp bulb that costs more than than the entire lamp it's self(not really but at $12 a bulb, I should have let her toss it!) Anyway, it wouldn't fit in- Savings $40-(cost of lamp) Cost FREE- just took some verbal coaxing and a screwdriver.
The whole point is not only did I save some cash, but buy getting out my tools and fixing things, I saved some trash! And if you are anti-consumer like I am getting to be- that is cool too (I should qualify that last statement- I am not necessarily anti-consumerist, but I feel that your money should be saved to go to things that matter or that you cannot live without)
1 comment:
Fantastic. I love simple fixes that save money and keep things out of the landfills. Sounds like the lamp will end up more trouble than it's worth... :)
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