Make do and mend

helensbiggestfan

Well I am delighted that repair and reuse, mend and make do has become in vogue again. Apparently Gen Z have picked up the baton and are running with it.  Obviously for financial reasons but also because many of them are also environmentally conscious.  For a time there, especially during the madness of the 1980s,  society in general became shockingly wasteful and profligate.  The phrase "throwaway society" was coined for a reason.  

We are now reaping what has been sown by spending and living so recklessly. People in mountains of debt, depletion of the earths resources, environmental damage.  If a new spirit of living more simply and sustainably is fashionable again then that's great news. Bring it on.  

I was brought up to be resourceful, resilient and independent.  My father was a skilled diyer, he could turn his hand to anything and I learned a lot by watching him and "helping" as a child.  I never had to pay for shoe repairs, my dad was our resident cobbler.  Saved me a small fortune over the years.  

In turn I have passed my knowledge and skills onto my two millennial sons.  Apparently when my sons first went to university they had to teach their housemates basic life skills such as cooking, housework, laundry and simple diy tasks such as changing a lightbulb or plug, unblocking a drain etc  I can't help but think their parents were terribly remiss in not preparing their offspring for real life. 

Whilst technology has improved life immeasurably, giving us a life of ease, and comfort and plenty that our Victorian forebears could only dream about we must not lose our skill sets.  Machines break down and technology fails.  

That's why I love you tube......you can learn anything on there.  I love that people on sites such as MSE and content creators on you tube are so generous as to share their knowledge and skills. 

As well as learning gardening and diy from my father, I learned sewing, cooking and budgeting from my mother and aunts.  And somewhere along the way I taught myself furniture restoration.

Whilst initially I became an advocate for repairing and mending things as a means to save money I now also do it from choice, for environmental reasons and because I genuinely prefer the beauty and quality of well made objects.  There is also great satisfaction to be had from problem solving, being able to fix something that is damaged and giving it another lease of life.  

Tbh I often think that,  in general,  things were just better made in days gone by.  Furniture made from real wood, rather than particle board, good quality clothes made from natural fibres. Fast fashion made from synthetics (usually plastics) and (not so cheap) flat pack furniture doesn't last and very quickly ends up clogging landfill, the plastic and chemicals leaching into the soil and polluting rivers.  This stuff is not biodegradable and hangs around for decades.  The more we can repair and reuse, the less plastic we consume the better. 

Personally I don't want to wear clothes next to my skin made from plastic and laden with chemicals. I don't want to live in a house furnished with plastic covered particle board furniture and synthetic carpets and floor coverings. 

I want to live in a healthy environment not one filled with health damaging pollutants.  

Organgrinder

Really nice to read some of the comments on here.

We don't throw much out foodwise - our foodbin rarely has much more than about 1/2 a litre of waste in it. And I'm long passed buying the latest fashion items - I have my work attire - suits, shirts, ties, shoes - and then the rest are t-shirts and jeans mostly. I do though wonder about the ethical side of products in Primark etc.

But a positive this week was the return of my snowboard jacket - new zip almost identical to the old one and all for £30. So all set for a few days of the slopes over the new year. :-)

helensbiggestfan

Great news about the jacket. 

This week my sister aged 62 was so happy to get her childhood teddy repaired. Her dog had "savaged" it.  My sister tried a couple of Teddy hospitals who all said he was beyond repair.  She eventually found a lady who managed to put him back together again, even managing to make his head and limbs move again.  He had been "paralysed" for years because he had been restitched so many times.  

She didn't say how much it cost but she was so happy she was in floods of tears.  Lol. 

Savvy_Sue

Organgrinder said:

I do though wonder about the ethical side of products in Primark.

I checked this a few years ago and they were members of an organisation which certified good practice. If I can remember details later I'll add them.

Savvy_Sue

Savvy_Sue said:

Organgrinder said:

I do though wonder about the ethical side of products in Primark.

I checked this a few years ago and they were members of an organisation which certified good practice. If I can remember details later I'll add them.

So I think it was the Ethical Fashion Initiative, https://ethicalfashioninitiative.org/ but couldn't find a list of retailers there, so I went here: https://corporate.primark.com/en-gb/a/primark-cares/product

Looks promising. 

Savvy_Sue

This is not moneysaving but ...

We had our front door repainted. One of the hinges on the brass letterbox broke. It's been off the door for over a year, and there's a howling draft coming through the hole.

It's extremely difficult to find a replacement which looks good. There's moulding on the door so size is critical, and the actual hole is smaller than any replacement I've found - including at a reclamation yard.

So I reached out to NextDoor, and someone said yes, they thought they could silver solder it.

Many weeks and £ later, I got it back. Unfortunately it's not quite accurate: the repaired hinge leaves the flap 1-2mm lower than the other side. And consequently, it doesn't quite fit, and there's no obvious way of putting it right, short of re-soldering.

I've suggested making the hole slightly larger, and I think one day I might just find a large rasp and do that ... but I know it will annoy us!

Murphybear

Organgrinder said:

trevjl said:

Nebulous2 said:

I'm putting in a bathroom at the moment. I bought some bits from someone who bought it then changed his plans - unused. 

The waste is a vortex one which screws in with two screws and they were missing. I contacted the company asking to buy two screws or for the spec so I could source them elsewhere. They sent me a new waste, about £50 worth and said the screws weren't available as a separate item.

I simply don't understand it. 

probably all comes in together imported from china in a bag they wont open. Had the same yesterday with Wayfair      (or more accurately, whoever they were sourcing from). Had been supplied a smallish 60 quid unit where i had all the pieces nicely numbered but two were identical where they should be handed.
"Can you send me a number 12 please, I appear to have 2 number 13's"
Nope, we don't have spares, but we can send you a replacement unit" 
"Can't you just take number 12 out of the replacement you are going to send me"
"Nope, cant open the box, we will tell Wayfair to send a replacement, they will inform you about return of the original"
Good luck with that, it's been assembled apart from the last bit"

I despair

Same.....My patio heater took a storm beating....needs a new plastic collar. Can't get it on it's own. Part of a unit. Replacement price.....£60.

Or I can buy a whole new heater for......... £55!

Bonkers.

But on a positive, my ski jacket (my favourite one) is in with the seamstress.....£30 for a new zip. On a jacket that's £250 new it's worth it. (And yes I know Aldi sell brand new ones for less!)

We had a small ice cream maker.  We wanted to get a new bowl but the bowl on its own was more expensive than a new machine.