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TFS.x
When was the last time you threw a consumer item away in the bin, or took an item to the dump that was well and truly worn out? I mean totally beyond repair, or “proper mashed up” as the yewt of today might say? Like the equivalent of my lovely picture of the washing up sponge up there?
I am guessing if you are honest there are plenty of items you’ve replaced in the last year alone that have been eminently fixable, but have used the excuse of a minor piece of damage or functionary imperfection to ditch it and upgrade to a newer, more flashier version. Now, I’m not dead against that sort of thing, if the newer model promises greater energy efficiency for example (see:
performance of fridge freezers 20 years ago* compared to now), but upgrading your 3 year old 40 inch HDTV for a 50 inch 4K HDTV with internet connection does seem a little pointless (in my humble opinion of course!). This sort of behaviour will also result in a very small chance of reaching early financial independence, which is what we are all about here, so this mindset needs to be reversed if you still think like that.
Even if you are reading this and thinking “well that isn’t me” there are clearly
plenty of people out there who are….errrr…
“me”. However if we’re honest we know we’ve all been seduced by the advertising and marketing and upgraded before we really needed to, or alternatively just have been plain lazy and chucked something that could have been repaired.
Conversely, there are plenty of people out there who are going to great lengths to make not only their consumer goods but pretty much everything else last as long as possible by re-using, fixing, recycling, and upcycling such as Zoe at Eco Thrifty Living and Jen at My Make Do and Mend Year. Other key items to be doing this with are clothes and furniture, with a little time and skill you can create new fashionable looking stuff out of old gear. Now I have to admit I’m not exactly a clothes aficionado but I am interested in getting involved with banging about and upcycling some old furniture into something fancy – the shabby chic style tends to lend itself very well to this approach. In terms of consumer goods, I have recently fixed my phone screen myself (OK… I had to buy the part but installed it myself rather than sending it off) and patched up many a kitchen utensil rather than sending them to the landfill. And that’s a whole other article in itself: Avoid buying the cheapest goods in the first place as you end up paying twice or more when they break!
To summarise the benefits of wearing stuff out, fixing and upcycling:
- Reduce expenses
- Reach FI faster
- Earth is happier
- Learn new skills
That’s some pretty big plus points in my book! So my challenge to you is this:
Next time something breaks, no matter how hard you think it might be to fix yourself, get on the internet and learn how to fix it. Just give it a go!
We live in a world where the the answer to pretty much anything is at your fingertips, which naturally includes how to fix practically everything you own right now (Hint if you really need one: google and youtube).
As a secondary challenge, more of a fun game really, see how long you can make consumable items such as kitchen items and bathroom products etc last. There are some resources below for some more ideas on this. And don’t chuck those sponges away until they cannot be used no more! 🙂
You may have lived before in blissful ignorance but now you have no excuses.
All the best.
TFS
*I found that link
from here, which is also worth a read if you have time
Resources to reduce consumables:
Resources on recycling:
It should go without saying but if you do chuck stuff away, especially those electronic items and gadgets,
please recycle them properly. The
article from the recycle now website has some great info on what your old iPhone and X-Box can be made into if properly recycled
Wearing Stuff Out update 1/6/2014
Razors: I’ve just realised that I haven’t changed the head of my Razor for around 3 months. I only shave about once a week, I happen to like the stubble / short beard look just as much as clean shaven so just oscillate* between the two. Anyway so I reckon that is about 12-15 shaves at least. I used to replace these every month or so but I have found that after an initial dip in performance (i.e. sharpness of blades) it has levelled off dramatically and is still well usable after all this time. I will monitor and see how long I can go before I start ripping my face to bits 🙂
Guys out there… Any other frugal shaving tips? I am guessing most use an electric shaver but I have a huge dislike for those.
*For sciencey/electronics people or anyone into music synthesizers I guess if you plotted “Level of beardyness” on the y-axis against time on the x-axis it would look like the classic “Saw tooth wave” 🙂
Razors: Update 21/6/2014 – Some comments below from Pez and DivHut have enlightened me to the world of Wet Shaving. I always thought this was the same as using shaving foam and multi-blade cartridge razors but apparently I am pleasantly way of the mark. As DivHut points out you can buy a double edged safety razor for around £20 and 100 blades on eBay for $9.99, or £5.33 over here, plus use shaving soap/cream instead of cans of foam/gel. I am off to order me some now! This newly discovered (for me) way of shaving fulfils the highly coveted trinity of being frugal, better for the environment (less waste, less plastic, easily recyclable blades, no cans of foam) and being pretty darn bad-ass. I may do a follow up post when everything arrives on how I get on 🙂
In the meantime this post on Zen Habits should fill you in on all you need to know if you are as in the dark as I was a few hours ago about “Real Wet Shaving”
Toothbrushes: Again I’ve had my current toothbrush for what must be a record amount of time for me. I can’t quite remember exactly when I changed it but it must be coming up to 4 months. The recommended replacement time is every 3 months so I am only 1 month over but previously I reckon I would change it every 2-3 months. The key to making your toothbrush last longer is the pressure applied when brushing. If you apply loads of pressure you will quickly get the splayed out bristle effect which renders the brush less effective and will have to replace it soon, the technique I have been using is to imagine my arm is an electric toothbrush and is making lot’s of small but very fast rotations or circles (you won’t, of course, reverse the direction of the rotations like the electric toothbrush might, unless you have digital robotic levels of coordination, you just keep going in the same direction and maybe reverse it every ten seconds or so if you really want to). You will feel that only a small amount of pressure needs to be applied to get a decent brushing with this technique, thus ensuring a longer life for your ‘brush. I reckon I will get up to the 6 month mark with this technique but again I will let you know how it goes 🙂
Discussion (26) ¬
Yes once that scrubber for dishes is worn out…it is downgraded to scrubbing the stove! You’re right about people’s tendency to upgrade every few years, when whatever it is they’re upgrading is perfectly fine! There is no need for it yet people continually get newer and fancier things that might have a new function. It also seems the quality of the things made these days aren’t as great either.
Hi Andrew!
Good to see I am not the only person running a multi level use scrubber system. 🙂
I’m usually quite good at not upgrading if I don’t need to – eg, I only changed my big old style tv to a flat screen because the digital switch meant I wouldn’t be able to get many channels on the old one! I only changed my 20 year old washing machine for a new one last year when I couldn’t get an engineer to come out to fix it (the model was too old!). Sadly, soon, I will have to get a new oven as again, I’m struggling to find someone who can fix that particular 20 year model. And on the clothes front, I actually darned some socks a few weeks back that had holes in them!
Anyway, you might find this article interesting, which almost confirms what Andrew says about the quality of things being made these days not being great: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27253103
That’s pretty good going weenie!
You should find your newer washing machine is much more efficient than your old one so it’s kind of a win still there, and you did wear it out pretty good by the sounds of things!
Confession: I am wearing holey socks right now. I am going to learn how to darn them next time I get a spare hour or so (hopefully it won’t take longer than that!)
Thanks for the link to the article… It is sad but true and perhaps inevitable that is the way things are going and will continue to go. Most people only see price paid up front and cannot work out that 2 things bought in 10 years at £300 is worse than 1 thing bought at £400. The thing here though is that the £400 item has no extra guarantee over the cheaper item to be any better build quality or last any longer, it likely just has more bells and whistles and features crammed into it that you won’t use anyway.
Maybe there is a market for one of these technology manufacturers to charge a premium but build a higher quality machine, and back it up with a quality 10 year guarantee, but with our use it and lose it culture at the moment, I’m not sure there is!
You are right that people have lost the art of fixing things.
My dads first job was as a TV repair engineer as people use to fix TVs in the ‘olden days’ instead of just throwing a broken one out. I do think we have turned into a ‘throwaway’ society but stuff like TVs, furniture etc are relatively cheaper than 40 years ago.
Last year, I fixed my old dyson cleaner with a screwdriver and the help of a youtube video. The funny thing is, that a couple of years ago I would have just gone out and bought another one and been pleased with myself as I would have got one in the sale with say £50 off. Never mind the fact that I had just spent £150 and I probably could have fixed my old one for a lot less!
Nice fixing skills Mrs FF!
Our hoover is getting a bit long in the tooth and I am awaiting the day it conks out with baited breath to see if I can fix it 🙂 – we went for a cheapo Dyson copy not the real deal though (although so far it’s been really good actually… can’t fault it).
With TVs – I kind of assumed that flat screens are built to be (like many things nowadays) pretty much unfixable, but according to the BBC article that weenie linked to above apparently they are in 75% of cases, which is great to know. I’m not sure I’d trust myself with that one though and might well call in the professional 🙂
More on the throwaway society point… part of it is the cheap cost to replace broken items making fixing it seem pointless, but part of me does wonder are our lives so boring and meaningless that the only way we can derive pleasure is to constantly buy new items and upgrade existing ones? I guess that is the consumer culture in a nut shell isn’t it!
I watched this the other day: http://vimeo.com/ondemand/theeconomicsofhappiness and it rings very true with me, basically that consumer/westernised culture does not (necessarily) equal happiness. Pretty obvious to most people, especially those reading this blog, but the pervasive culture is still one of the consumer, brands are bigger than ever, and the values society it putting on appearances seems to be getting stronger while the values of integrity and being a good person are getting weaker, so what are the people as a whole doing to rectify this, not much it seems. Sorry for the mini rant there!
I’ll finish on a positive note, there are plenty of good eggs out there doing their very best to rectify the situation, which gives me great hope (not least many readers of this website and the bloggers who comment!) 🙂
Happy to take on your challenge – fingers crossed nothing breaks too soon though! We’re all settled in our new house now so are ready to get frugal and lock down the budgets!
Good to hear it Joe!
My posts seem to have a habit of coming back to bite me in the ass… Our car clutch bit the dust shortly after writing this. I looked into doing it myself, but it is just a ridiculous thing to take on with practically no car knowledge at all. Clearly we are going to get it fixed though and not take it down the scrap yard! 🙂
I’m with you on ensuring things are worn out before they are thrown away. What I’ve noticed though in the last few years is that more and more items are just not of the quality they once were. I suspect companies are reducing quality for a few reasons – keep prices low’ish, maximise profit (same price for less cost = profit) and if they wear out quicker you’re a customer again in a shorter time span. It’s backfired on me though. I’ve just stopped buying their stuff.
For me to keep my FI in 10 years ambition alive I need to be saving circa 60% of my gross earnings (ie before tax) which means when I buy something it has to be able to last. I’m 7 years in and have 76% of the wealth accrued so I’m not about to let the corporations beat me now.
Cheers
RIT
Some inspirational numbers in your comment RIT.
Yes, I am more and more of the opinion that older second hand goods (as mentioned, furniture specifically comes to mind) will actually last longer than something built new nowadays. With the tecnological gadgets and gizmos out there this is not really a viable strategy as anything of the age where they built stuff to last is actually “useless” by yesterdays standards, or didn’t even exist back then.
I’m a big fan of the blog by the way so really glad you stopped by!
I have to admit that it really just depends on my mood at the time of the potential repair. I’ve been known to spend a few hours repairing something (e.g. – switching out the little plastic piece in our faucet head) rather than replacing the whole thing, or paying someone to do it. And sometimes, if I’m feeling lazy or tired, I’ll go the easy way out.
Ha ha, I think most people are like that DB40! Some things really aren’t worth the effort but a lot of things people chuck away are still salvagable or even actually worth a fair bit of money.
For me something gets worn out when its usefulness is done. For example, I still have my old CRT TV. No flat screen for me. Our old TV works perfect and seeing people spend their money on plasma, LCD, 4k, etc. TV’s is ridiculous. In the “old” days you could buy a TV and have it for 20 – 30 years incident free. These days these HD sets are outdated or have busted pixels or some other issue after a few years. Some progress!
This is very true DivHut!
I have a 50″ Plasma, which is admitedly ridiculous. However it was a last in the line bargain and it’s been going strong for nearly 5 years with no signs of conking out, and it was the first main/big room TV I ever bought. Hopefully it will last me another 10-15 years as I see no point in ever upgrading it until it totally breaks or somehow becomes obsolete (HDI+4.0 cables only accepted on future broadcasting boxes maybe? Or wireless transmission only is more likely! Who knows!)
Thanks for the mention and I like your challenges! I like the point you raise about noticing how long things last as I have really noticed how quickly things break. Especially kids toys. In my house with two boys it seems like something gets broken most days. Also I notice with bags and clothes there always seems to be something to mend. I’ve got into the habit now of mending things as quickly as possible now otherwise I’ll feel overwhelmed by the amount of things I need to mend. I like your tips for making toothbrushes last longer- made me laugh 🙂
No problems!
You are a master mender compared to myself. I haven’t got kids though so there is (a lot) less to mend in my house by the sounds of things. I have a very moderate list of clothes (few socks, one pair of trousers) to mend at the moment which I will tackle in good time, but to be honest that is about it.
Ha ha, I know it’s a bit over the top, bordering on OCD levels of attention on this subject. But to me it makes it another little game to play. It’s not exactly rock n roll but it turns something I have to do every day any way from being a boring chore into something ever so slightly less boring. 🙂
I definitely wear stuff out. As a minimalist, my clothes go through several stages – special occasions (assuming that’s why they were bought) then everyday wear, then allotment clothing, then torn up to be cleaning rags. And I look after stuff, mend it, clean it properly etc, so that it lasts as long as possible. It’s pretty satisfying, like my own personal victory over the throw-away attitude of most of the fashion industry!
That is a truly epic life span for an item of clothing! I have some old T-Shirts I use for rags but most go to the charity bin, I will remember that next time when there are some really tatty ones in there that will clearly just get chucked out and cut them up ready for some cleaning action 🙂
Frugal shaving tip: Consider wet shaving
Pez… that is an awesome shaving tip! I am presuming you mean with a proper old fashioned barber style cut-throat razor blade. I was considering getting one a while ago but have since forgotten about the idea. Thanks for reminding me, I will look into asap. Any recommendations for a blade let me know!
Thanks!
You are welcome.
I meant a safety razor (with shaving cream/soap and a shaving brush). You can use a straight razor, but that’s very advanced level shaving.
Search for the keywords “wet shaving” on wikipedia and wikihow. I recommend “mantic59” channel on Youtube for tutorials and equipment reviews.
Thanks again for the reply!
I think I am getting confused by terminology here, I always thought wet shaving was what I was already doing (multi bladed cartridge razors plus shaving foam). Having viewed the video you suggested and reading this post here:
http://zenhabits.net/the-zen-of-shaving-how-a-double-edge-razor-can-change-your-life/
I can see I have been barking up the wrong tree completely.
I never knew such a device even existed… thanks again Pez! I’ll definitely start off with the safety razor rather than the cut-throat as it seems to combine frugality with a certain level of saftey. I will now be living a Gillette free life… excellent 🙂
Another lesson in thinking the only option available is the one presented by mainstread advertising is TOTALLY ERRONEOUS!!!!!
And another reason I am so glad I ever decided to start this blog up 🙂
I have made the switch to wet shaving and save a lot of money. I use the Parker 99r and buy 100 Dorco blades on eBay for $7.99. I use the blades 2 or 3 times and toss. I always have fresh sharp blades and don’t have to feel bad when I throw away my $4 Gillette disposable.
DivHut, with yours and Pez’s comments above you have opened my eyes to a method of shaving I never knew even existed… thank you! 100 blades for £5.33 on ebay over here, that is amazing and should last me about 3 years by my calculations! Ha ha!