Making do and Mending...

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)

Money saving Ideas Compliments of Crunchy

Haven't done a piggy back post in awhile....

Today Ms. Crunchy had an interesting topic- How do you save money ? She linked to this great post from the simple dollar. And for the most part I agree with them both. But I have a few of my own to add in the fray




REPAIR- If I had said it once, I will say it again- Don't throw out if you can fix it save the money and do it. I just had to fix my reefer- turns out all that was wrong was a corroded thermostat. Simply clean off the thermostat! I found this out asking questions of the HVAC guy at work - our HVAC guys also do refrigeration!
Also:

• Conserve- saving water, electricity, gas is a money saver, too


• Quit Smoking- Works for me. I saved enough the first four months to buy my bike.


• Pay off your credit- self explanatory
  


• Christmas time is coming start making your gifts!

Surprising to me is that Crunchy, queen of challenges, doesn't mention that all of the ideas or rather a good portion of them are answered in her challenges. Buying nothing, DIY, Self sufficiency, growing your own, etc. are all just ways to save money. Really. And they help you be nicer to Mama Earth.

Mske Do and Mend Challenge Check In #1

Make Do and Mend Challenge: How did everybody do this week? For me, I started repairing the siding that the roofers damaged during the addition by putting up sheathing, covering with roofers felt, then covering with shingles to match the addition; And I put a new handle on Grandma’s spade- I reused the handle from another spade that I saved; and saved old handle for a fencing project I saw once and want to reproduce; Made a closet pole out of an old broom handle- replaces the one that was either broken or sawed up.
How did everyone else do this week?

Make Do and Mend Challenge

After joining countless challenges, I am ready to host my first one:

Annoucing The Make Do and Mend Challenge, to celebrate that old friend –“Repair”
The challenge is simple, really, instead of throwing out something and adding to the waste stream, try repairing it instead.

This helps out in your other challenges:
Buying Challenges- you are not buying something new
Frugality Challenges- You are saving money buy fixing whatever and not buying new
Waste Reduction Challenges- Should be obvious
Independence Day’s challenge- I am big proponent on adding Repair to the “3R’s” –ReDuce, Re-Use and Recycle
Sustainability Challenges- Nothing more sustainable than Mending something to save from buying new now is there?

It could be something as simple as sewing a button back on a shirt or blouse, or mending holes in your jeans, doing a repair job on your vehicle or bike, sharpening and cleaning your gardening tools for winter, mending a fence, You get the idea- Just FIX something!

Once a week, On Sunday Evenings, I will hold a Make Do and Mend Challenge Check-In- where you can brag about your Repairing Prowess and what you repaired or ask questions on how to repair something-

Nifty little badge to put on your blog:

Anyone who signs up will get their name posted on the sidebar!

The fourth "R" -Repair

In these tough times I once again call upon all good citizens to utilize that fourth "R"-Repair.
That's right folks- I am once again being a radical- The three "R"s are just too convenient for all of us. Recycle, Reduce, and Reuse are just fine for getting around day by day, but whatever happened to Repair?
I am a big fan of Mr. (and Ms.) Repair. One of my hobbies is lamps. I have saved a ton of money buying old lamps and making new lamps out of them. Also I hate to buy new clothes when the ones I have are good enough. So I mend the ones I got. Of course it helps that Home-Ec was a requirement for guys when I was in Junior High.

Repairing things helps keep them out of the waste stream. I like this as much as Re-using items.

And it is like having something new! I have kept my very efficient car around for years simply buy repairing things that go out.

And repair can be used for Gift giving too. If you are so enabled offer to repair someones car, or mend some clothing or do some home repair. It will be a most appreciated gift.

Start out small- start by repairing the buttons on a jacket, shirt or sweater. Get a new button at a sewing store if you have none. The best thing to do is keep the button that fell off. Simply sew it back on. This is so easy to do! And it saves you at least 9.99 at Sears for a new shirt! I put at stop at darning socks, since I use the old sock for dusting, cleaning etc. But I could If I had to!

My latest "repair" re-fabbing a tent trailer that has been sitting around here for 2 years. I need to put the body on a new trailer chassis, replace the tent canvass and a few other jobs, The cool thing? This trailer has been around since 1960, can be made as good as new and very little goes into the waste stream, including the waste from making a new trailer.

So let's say I would rather repair something old than buy something new. But then that's me!

Saving the damn sofa

Ok, I admit to being spendy at times. Like furniture. Seems like I buy an inordinate amount of furniture. What with three dogs, two cats (well, one cat now) an occasional bunny, my furniture gets a pretty good work out. Probably why I pick Ikea so often. I have bought expensive name brand before - it didn't last any longer than the Ikea so I figure why spend so much more money?
Well, my couch broke. Those damn Ikean Swedes, who use only reclaimable wood, joined together two pieces to make a 1 X 4 (or the Swedish equivalent) and the damn thing busted. I found another frame, for $35 on Craig's list but I don't think the seller really wanted to sell it. At least she didn't want to spend as much time talking about the couch as she did the collection of light house memrobilia. Now I am not one to dis a nice light house collection but I wanted the couch. So, anyway, I started looking at the sofa and trying to figure out what to do with the frame, (reuse, reuse) and then I came up with a plan.I fixed the damn couch. I got a 1 X 6, 72 inches long and a 1X4 same length, glued the wood on the frame back together and clamped it, then proceeded to install the 1 X 6 to . the front of broken wood, and the 1 X 4 to the back of it. Worked like a charm! Cost- $9 for the lumber. This was less than buying a frame used- or a new Lillberg couch ($299). So maybe we need to ad another "R" to Re-use, Re-Duce and Re-cycle- maybe it should be Re-pair, Re-use, Re-Duce and Re-cycle. I know that is just a basic repeat of re-use, but in this case It kept a bunch of wood out of the wastestream. Now on to repairing my work jacket!