Help, It's Broken :: Fix Your Life
by Dominic Muren, Philadelphia, USA on 10.24.05
Every once in a while, dispite our commitment to providing the best, hippest, and greenest design, we feel like we might be giving consumption too much play. So we were delighted to hear last week from Arianne Cohen, Author of "Help, It's Broken"
According to Arianne: "In the world of home repair, the trick to being a good Treehugger is to not unnecessarily replace things in the first place. Here are a few earth-friendly tips:"
On Not Fixing: We seem to think that all broken items must be replaced immediately, or fixed with expensive, wasteful fix-it kits. This is rarely the case. The next time something breaks, ask yourself, Do I really need this? Do I actually use this item enough to justify it? For example, who needs a doorbell? The knocker works fine. Electrical sockets? No one needs twenty. The garbage disposal? Use the trash. We are a society full of extras, and replacing extras is both unnecessary and immensely wasteful.
Don't Buy New, Refurbish Old: As we all know, there are plenty of perfectly functional furniture and appliances already in existence to go around. Buying new only encourages companies to produce more, while landfills overflow with old furniture. The best secret stashes of free stuff can be found in city apartment building basements, a gold mine of furniture and equipment left behind by tenants. Make friends with a doorman or Super, both of whom will happy to clear out the space.
To save some cash and help out the environment, try acquiring imperfect items. Take advantage of the ignorance of others who trash furniture, toasters, vacuum cleaners, anything, just because of a few cracks. Thrift stores, garage sales and city blocks on garbage day are overflowing with easily fixable (and often adorably retro) items. A good repair guide, like Help, It's Broken! explains how to cheaply and easily get everything back into tip-top shape.
Spare Parts: Most people toss old appliances, unsure of where to purchase replacement parts. Luckily, specialty dealers by large quantities of older parts, and your replacement piece is only a phone
call away. Try the phone book, under "Appliances—Supplies & Parts", then simply call up and ask. These dealers are usually much cheaper than a repairperson, because repair folk know that you have no clue how much a part costs, and will triple the price. If you can't find a
dealer, try the original company's customer service line—they'll know
where you can find parts and a specialized repairperson.
If you think those are good, she's only getting started. Check out the rest of Arianne's Tips, tricks, and secrets in "Help, It's Broken", available on Amazon or at your local bookstore. :: Help It's Broken
In Minnesota, one good place to connect to get used stuff is http://www.twincitiesfreemarket.org It is free to post things you want to give away and where to contact to pick up stuff for free only need to figure out a way to get it -- no pics though and no guarantee as to quality.
A book like this is very usefull. It is true that so many people just toss something because it stopped working or was working poorly. The real shocker was a story I read on how people would trash (I hope donate or recycle) a year old computer because it was running slowly. Clean off the spyware and it would run like a top.
Much of the "throw it away for a new/better item" got going after WWII when manufactures out of greed created "need". My dad was raised on a farm many miles from the nearest town, they had to fix things and keep them going. He showed me how to do much and I learned alot from books as well. I'll try to fix anything before I replace it. Sometimes you can't fix the item but it's worth a shot.
The yahoo freecycle groups are very good for finding old stuff in good condition. I've used them mostly to get rid of things I no longer needed.