海角大神

I鈥檓 actually pretty proud of myself when I use an item until it鈥檚 genuinely worn out.

I鈥檒l hold onto socks until the toes have gaping holes in them. I will wear t-shirts until they鈥檙e beaten into oblivion. I鈥檒l use razor blades until I鈥檓 scared I鈥檓 going to badly cut my neck or cheeks with them (and with a razor blade sharpener, that takes a good long time). I鈥檒l use a toothbrush until it鈥檚 bordering on scary.

For me,聽it鈥檚 not really a matter of saving money, though that鈥檚 certainly a bonus. It鈥檚 more of a matter of not throwing things away until I actually need to do so. A pair of socks worn another time is a pair of socks not yet tossed into a landfill somewhere, after all.

I often turn this into a personal challenge. How many uses can I get out of this razor blade? Can I get another wear out of these socks before Sarah has a fit?聽

When you start carrying that philosophy to more and more of the things you own, you begin to change your approach toward your possessions.

Minor flaws become more tolerable.聽For example, our crock pot has a broken handle on the lid. At some point, the lid of the crock pot fell on the floor, shattering the handle into a bunch of pieces.

Now, this makes the crock pot a bit more difficult to use, but聽it鈥檚 not an excuse to just toss it out.聽A bit of leverage with the wrong end of a spoon or with a butterknife and the lid comes right off.

Repairs become worthwhile projects.聽I鈥檝e repaired ancient computers. I鈥檝e repaired the internals of several different electronic children鈥檚 toys. Sarah has hemmed and then re-hemmed many pairs of children鈥檚 pants. Earlier today, I spent about an hour coaxing an old iPod Touch back to life.

A repaired object is one that has a new lease on life. It鈥檚 one that鈥檚 going to see more use before it ever hits the trash.

Certain things you used to toss now become things you save.聽If I receive a package with packing peanuts inside, I used to just toss them. Now, I save them in a bin in the garage. If I need to ship out a package myself, I just use those peanuts to make sure the package is secure.

Instead of tossing cardboard boxes in the trash, we break them down and save them until we have a聽lot聽built up. If we find uses for them, great. If not, we have a vehicle load to take to the recycling center.

It鈥檚 vital to remember through all of this that聽saving money is just a perk.聽The main motivation for us is to take less trash out to the curb each week, which means that there鈥檚 less trash filling up a landfill somewhere, which means a smaller problem for future generations to deal with. Trash might be out of sight and out of mind, but it will have to be dealt with someday.

Wear things out. Repair things that can be repaired. Find new uses for stuff. Minimize the trash you throw out. Not only will you save money, you鈥檒l also quietly give a bit of assistance to your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.