Fixing Stuff

A big problem nowadays is that it is many times less expensive and less hassle to replace something than it is to fix it.

The sole falls off your shoe? Replace it.
Your printer needs new ink? It's sometimes cheaper to buy a new printer (!?*#)
Bicycle tube gets a flat? Replace it. It's complicated to patch them.

But no!!! It may be easier sometimes to replace something, but in the long run, that's not the right thing to do. It's not the right thing for the planet -- it's a huge waste of resources -- and it's not a good lesson for our children. If something is worth having, it's worth taking care of.

I have 3 recent examples of how fixing something may be a pain, but it's worth it:

1. I bought a pair of shoes at Goodwill. They are awesome. They are SO cute. They cost 6 or 7 dollars. They're leather with wooden soles. Love 'em. But AFTER I bought them, I realized that one of the shoes was missing its rubber sole. And that the other one was about to fall off. So I brought them to the shoe hospital. About 40 dollars later (Gah!), I had a sweet pair of shoes.

Was it cheap? NO.
Was it worth it? Yep. I love these shoes. And they would have cost about 100 dollars new.

Incidentally, shoe repair is much more prevalent and less expensive in Latin America. When I was a frequent traveler, I used to bring my dead shoes to Latin America for revitalizing. Usually to the tune of less than $5 a pair.

2. My home phone stopped working. We decided that after many many year of love, the battery had probably worn out. I went to Radio Shack to get a replacement. It was about 20 dollars. Holy canoli! That's almost the cost of a new phone. But... I had the best ever response to the salesman who tried to sell me a new phone. Check it out: "I can't. My mother passed away 5 years ago and I have messages and songs from her recorded on my phone. I'm not buying a new phone." The salesperson sold me a battery.

3. My lamp stopped working. It just wouldn't turn on anymore. We had an extra lamp in the garage, so I tried to substitute, but I found out that I had a LOVE affair with my Tiffany lamp. I would get very grumpy every night when I had to read by the harsh harsh light of the substitute lamp. I told my husband that I would do anything to repair the lamp -- I was willing to pay $100.

Then I remembered my mother rewiring a lamp. Shoot. I can do that. I went to Lowe's. I bought a socket. It cost $3. I tried rewiring the darn lamp. It sort of worked. My husband brought the lamp back to Lowe's. The most awesome Lowe's worker ever tried several solutions, in the store, until he was able to fix it. For less than $10. No charge for the electrician consultation. He even gave us a new curly lightbulb.

That lamp cannot be replaced. It HAD to be fixed, and we found a way.

Anything worth having is worth taking care of.