Don’t Throw Out What You Can Fix or Mend

I was walking around the house when my husband said to me, “There’s a hole in your sock.  You should throw it out.”

That got me thinking about how we are so quick to throw things out when there is something not quite right with an item that we own.  It used to be that people never threw anything out.  My grandparents were immigrants from Finland and Italy.  They were very poor and they kept things a very long time, fixing things that were broken.  My Mom is also the queen of renewing things that are old.  I had lilac colored sweater that I had gotten tired of and I gave it to my mother.  Being a master seamstress, the first thing she said to me was “What don’t you like about this sweater?  Can I fix it for you?”  I told her no, there was nothing that she could do with it for me.  She quietly took it from me.  The next time I went to see her, she smiled and pointed at the couch.  “What do you think of my new pillow?”.  I laughed.  She had taken the sweater and turned it into quite a lovely pillow that brightened her gray couches very well.  This is a great example of extending the life of an item.

I think that we all need to reconsider our relationship with our things.  We should consume mindfully and only buy what we really need.  And we should also look at ways that we can save and reuse our things before getting rid of them.

This past week, I went to put on one of my favorite dresses and found that the zipper was broken and would no longer close.  Instead of getting rid of the dress, I brought it my trusty seamstress Dhamika at Couture D M (4919 Blvd St Charles, Pierrefonds QC (514)675-6066).  She is able to fix just about anything: evening gowns, jackets, coats, suits.

She was also able to repair my dress so that I could wear it again.  Shopping averted!

I also have a beautiful pair of Adrienne Vitadini leather boots that were looking a little rough around the edges.  I bought them 10 years ago in New York.  I took them to my favorite shoemaker, Gerry at Cordonnerie Pointe Claire (281A St-Jean 426-4060).

My boots now look like new and as they are a classic shape, I am certain that I can wear them for 10 more years.  They look like new!

Sometimes repairing things requires persistence and patience.  We had a coffee maker that had a knob for steaming milk that was no longer working very well.  My husband decided to bring the coffee maker to Mr. Fix It to be repaired.  He drove downtown and after the parking the car, he trudged up the hill to have Mr. Fix It work his magic in his workshop.  When he got to the shop, Mr Fix It looked at the coffee machine.  He sighed.  “I don’t think I can fix it.”  My husband encouraged him.  “I was thinking that we could replace the gasket on the knob to get it work again.” Mr. Fix It stared at him.  “I guess that would work.”  My husband walked back down the hill  with the coffee maker, thinking to himself, what the heck?  In any case, my husband was able to add a gasket and keep the coffee maker working for another few years.  Even without Mr. Fix it.

How is my sock that had a hole in it?  Pretty good I think.

Challenge for the week:  Is there something that you can fix or repair to avoid having it go to the landfill?