"To combat a throwaway consumer culture, Sweden is giving financial incentives for people to repair clothes, bicycles, appliances, and other goods, according to the World Economic Forum. In addition to providing tax incentives for repairs, levies are being added to the manufacture of new appliances based on the amount of chemicals used. More people paying for repairs should mean more people in the labor force and more local jobs." - quote from
The Mennonite May 2017, which is summarizing from
Christian Century
My purse which I love, but it is vinyl and the corners are wearing off; I took a blue Sharpie to the worn corners. A stopgap while I shop for a new purse (hopefully not vinyl).
A Moses basket whose handles were fraying off the basket. I darned the handles back on to the basket with twine.
A tiny hole in our plastic watering can melted by a neighbor's cigarette cinder; I thought it was worth trying to fix with a small piece of duct tape inside and out. The fix has been holding for months.
My granny shopping cart had a frayed back pocket. I handsewed some patches over it so important
things (wallet! phone!) wouldn't slip out.
I would love to see incentives for repairs! It's hard to find repair shops for anything these days because so many people say it's cheaper to buy a new one. Do you try your hand at fixing things or know a fix-it genius?
12 comments:
"Do you know a ...?" Yes I do--me.
I love your repairs! I will always choose to fix something before throwing it out. And, yes!, to the Sharpie! I've done that with all sorts of things.
How great that Sweden is encouraging this practice!
Your Sharpie idea is so clever.
I don't get much repaired because the cost (usually) seems higher, AND it's hard to find people to do the job.
Recently, I have put a great deal of effort to discovering my style and buying classic clothes that will last years and are worth having altered or repaired. I'm trying to be more long sighted with everything I buy.
Great fixes all! I do lots of repair work too, of little things, and try to make things last as long as possible.
I haven't seen a good old-fashioned shoemaker in years. I used to have a favorite pair of black slingbacks that I had repaired several times over the course of ten years. Too bad the shop and the shoes are now gone.
But yes, my sheets and comforters mostly have little patches on them here and there.
I fix nearly everything and if I can't do it, I find someone who can. I darn socks, re-sole my shoes, remake dresses, use scraps, mend things, and my husband does that too. We're like old granny and grandpa over here. :)
The only thing I categorically refuse to deal with are holes in jeans. I don't know why; I just won't touch that. I have turned a pair of jeans into a skirt before, though; I can accept that!
We have a remarkable cobbler in town. I had three great pairs of shoes (actually a pair of boots, some Born slides and a pair of Ropers) all well loved, worn frequently but because of that, all needed repair. The cobbler brought them all back to life and I have may favorites back.
Mending is such a lost concept with the growing throw-away mentality.
Keep up the good work!!!
I recently realized my favorite (and not that old) leather flip flops have a thinning toe strap. So that's next on my to-do list. Sitting on my desk is my new turn signal for my car that my husband ordered from a junk yard on ebay and the new ignitor for my oven is in the mail.
I love that there are incentives to repair things - I would love to see something like that here, but we are so far away from seeing that happen. My long time girl friends joke that not only do I have the same style I had 30 years ago, I'm probably wearing the exact same items. That may or may not resemble the truth.
I'm 50% German Mennonite but I don't know if that figures out to 50% or more frugality or not. ;) I do try to patch things up and make them work out as long as they can. I've done the sharpie on a purse before. I bought a leather purse a few years ago and it didn't hold up very well. I only ever have one purse at a time and it didn't even last a year. That was disappointing!
This is a subject dear to my heart! We repair everything we can, sometimes multiple times. My father and mother did the same thing. I've used a marker on clothing, with mixed success, but it's always worth a try. You've done a great job prolonging the life of your items. As citizens of the western world, we waste a woeful amount of resources ...
I had to smile at Becky's comment - if I still fit into my old clothes I'd still be wearing them! My husband and I both wear our clothes to death :)
Both my husband and I fix a lot of things. It is kind of fun, and we like to save the money. We have a cobbler in town, too, and they are great. I also spend most of my sewing time mending. There is always something to be fixed, especially when we adults wear our clothes threadbare.
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