Three small fixes and one improvement
Though I don't particularly love the process, fixing things is one of my favorite ways to save money. Repairing what you already own is almost always cheaper than buying something new, and it extends the life of something that might have otherwise been at the end of its useful life.
Win!
The other day, I took a load of laundry out and found that the binding around the edge of my black fleece had come loose from about half of the collar.
I snagged this on clearance at Old Navy years ago, so I think I only paid something like $2 for it. But it still has plenty of life in it, so I used my sewing machine to fix the binding.
It was a little tricky due to the stretchy nature of the binding, so my mending job wouldn't withstand super close inspection. I really only wear this at home when I'm chilly, though, so it's good enough for me.
In the same load of laundry, I discovered that a pair of jeans was coming apart at the waistband.
I got these jeans at Goodwill last year, so again, it's not like I sunk a lot of money into them. But I knew I could stitch 'em up pretty easily.
I didn't have any orange-ish thread, so I just sewed right over the loose threads, using a dark thread. This way, from a distance you can't really see that I used non-matching thread.
Plus, I always wear a belt with these, and I pretty much never tuck my shirt in, so it's not like this is a visible area of the jeans anyway.
Know why I was especially pleased with myself about these two fixes?
I took care of them as soon as I found the issues, instead of leaving them in the to-be-mended pile for an embarrassingly long time.
Ahem.
Mending is such a cost-effective use of sewing skills!
The other thing I fixed was a fiber-optic Christmas tree, which the girls like to have in their room. When we plugged it in this year, it seemed awfully dim, and if you shook the base, it sounded like something was rattling around.
Even though this is certainly not an heirloom quality tree, it did have screws on the bottom, so I took it apart.
It turned out that a screw which holds the lightbulb upright had gone missing. The lightbulb was all cockeyed, which meant it wasn't shining in the right direction.
I didn't have any teeny screws, so I borrowed on from the bottom of the base and secured the light bulb.
And now the tree is shining brightly.
The last thing I have to share is really an improvement, not a fix-it job, and it's been waiting for a ridiculously long time.
(9 years, actually.)
We bought this corner unit when I was pregnant with Zoe, and ever since the day we got it, something bugged me. Do you see it?
The underside of the top piece is not black.
And since this is a fairly tall item, the not-black-ness is visible almost all the time.
Apparently this didn't bug me to an incredible degree because it has sat there in its not-black state for 9 years.
But when we got a warm day recently, it occurred to me that it was perfect weather for spray painting.
(I am sure that this is what you all think of on warm days as well. "Hmm. What could I spray paint??")
So I took the top off, brought it to the back yard, and used the last of a can of black paint to fix it up.
I feel much better about this now.
Unfortunately, I now realized that the bottoms of all the small shelves are also not black.
However, this is mostly just visible when you're viewing the shelf from a low angle.
Still, next time I have the black spray paint out, I might take care of at least the top few shelves.
And I will try not to wait another 9 years. 😉
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P.S. I know some of you will be thinking, "What in the world do they have CDs and DVDs for??"
We've now pretty much switched over to MP3s for music and streaming for movies, but because we aren't the youngest of spring chickens, we already had a pretty good stack of CDs by the time MP3s came along.
(Hey, at least we don't have a huge cassette tape collection!)
We transferred the music from the CDs onto MP3 players or our iPhones, but I haven't quite figured out what to do with the CDs. It's not really legal to give them away while still keeping the music on our digital devices and I sort of hate to just chuck them all in the trash. So they're just sitting in the corner for now.
We still keep cassettes and, gasp, vinyl in the house, so CD's are no problem with us!
Vinyl is what all the cool kids have these days. I have a 2x4 Expedit full of records and zero shame.
I love this post because it shows how you make goods last....and last....and last. I especially am impressed that you repair clearance/ Goodwill items because well, it does make sense. Thanks for the ideas.
I am a longtime reader/fan and have recommended your blog to others. However, I long have had a question that I hesitate to ask:
You use spray paint - a whole lot. I haven't found a spray paint that is not harmful to the environment. Have you found a brand that I am unaware of and if so, please share the name! If not, why do you use it?
Been wondering the same thing about spray paint--not Eco-friendly and so I don't use it.
No worries! I actually do more brush-painting than spray painting (when I do furniture, I only use spray primer, and then all the coats of paint are brushed on). And when I did my cabinets, I didn't use spray paint at all.
I do ponder this conundrum sometimes...especially when I'm fixing something to keep it from turning into garbage, is it wiser to spray paint it than to throw it away? Throwing things away is definitely not an eco-friendly option, you know? And buying newly manufactured items isn't very eco-friendly either.
A single can of spray paint can save a LOT of vent covers/furniture/hinges/switchplates, though, so my unprofessional gut feeling is that since a can of spray paint can save multiple items from the landfill, it's probably an ecological win. I could totally be wrong, though, so feel free to point me to studies or something that can educate me better!
(In this particular instance, I had the last of a can of black spray paint in the house but I had no black brush-on paint left. So I'd have had to go buy a new can of paint to do this project, which means in this unique case, using up what I had left was smarter. But that doesn't really answer the question as a whole!)
I REALLY need to learn how to sew! Right now I do everything by hand which, let's just say is less than beautiful. :-/
A simple sewing machine does make mending WAY easier, that is for sure.
CDs and DVDs.....you should see how many VHS tapes I still have in my home! I think I am almost ready to let go of them. Maybe a yard sale in the spring will help shrink the collection.
I have a huge amount of VHS tapes too, but they're all movies I love, so I hate getting rid of them. We use a projector instead of a TV, and the VCR is hooked up to the projector right now...
Lol! Great post..you don't have any 8 track tapes either? My husband was sorry he did not keep his. 🙂
You can buy heavy gold "Levis" thread, and also denim blue thread, at the fabric store. Makes those home-hemmed jeans look like you bought them that way!
Yes! I knew I'd read about people doing that before.
But I had such an unusual mend-it-now fire under me, I wasn't willing to wait to go buy the thread. Ha. You never know when mending inspiration will suddenly float away, so you have to take advantage of it when you've got it.
It's funny that you mentioned the spray painting. I'm waiting for a warm day (this weekend hopefully! ) to spray paint some chairs!
You and Katy (NCA) are the spray paint queens. I had to laugh when you made the comment about everyone thinking about spray painting something on a nice day. LOL Any fix is a good fix. That said, my latest darning attempt didn't turn out so well.
Ooh Ooh! I know what to do with the CDs....check out http://www.decluttr.com/. I love it-- and I think it's a great solution for your exact predicament!
Gosh, I would sell them, but then I feel like that's copyright infringement to do so while still keeping the track digitally, you know? I'm pretty sure it's not legal (although if someone knows otherwise, I'd be glad to hear of it!)
Your intuition is correct: selling one copy while retaining another, is not legal. In the same vein, you might want to consider trashing disks before you throw them out.
How about donating the CDs (not selling them) to Goodwill or giving away on Freecycle? Surely that can't be illegal.
It is still illegal - buy buying the disk you bought the rights to watch it once-at-a-time. If you make a copy and give away the disk, then it can be watched twice-at-a-time.
(FYI, purely digital media has different rules, which are generally more restrictive than physical media.)
If donating CDs and DVDs are illegal then every thrift store I have ever been in to is breaking the law .... they all sell these items that were donated to them.
Salvation Army thrift stores are registered charities and if they are not being prosecuted for accepting donated media and then re-selling them ... then I think it should be okay to donate to them. Think of those old-timey laws still on the books (ie. cannot order an ice cream cone on Sunday in Woebegone Wisconsin) ... it's one of those situations where common sense overrules.
Well, it's not illegal to donate them. What's illegal is donating them WHILE keeping a copy for yourself. So as long as I didn't keep a digital copy for myself, it would be perfectly fine to donate them (and I definitely have donated some that I no longer wish to listen to).
The rub is when it's music that we still want to keep and listen to digitally.
You are such an inspiration! And, I am so bad!!! I have 2 sewing machines and still can't take the time to teach myself how to sew. I just took a jacket to the dry cleaners to have a zipper mended. This will be a 2015 goal for me.... learn how to sew. How did you learn to sew?
I'm in the CD, DVD, VHS, and vinyl club too. I just can't bring myself to get rid of them.
Fortunately, my mom taught me when I was in grade school. She started my sister and me off with some simple stuff like beanbags and easy shorts, and I sewed a fair number of clothing items during my teen years.
I don't do much from-scratch sewing these days, but I am very happy to have basic skills under my belt when it comes to mending.
Years ago when women had to iron almost everything, I heard a woman confess that her daughter had outgrown some of her clothes before she got them ironed.
My kids have definitely outgrown some clothes while waiting for mending/modifying. Ha.
I've been in a fixing mode myself lately. I've also been in a "I wish stuff would stop breaking mode" as well. I've recently repaired a few things around the house and I'm waiting on parts to repair a Playstation 2 controller which has a broken right analog stick, otherwise the electronics workbench will be empty for a while unless I decide to restore another game console.
I am SUPER INTRIGUED by your collection of "The Rockford Files" DVDs. I'm assuming that's the TV series with James Garner, right? Wasn't that series finished before you and your husband were even born? How did you or your husband become interested in this show? I'm hearing the theme song in my mind as I type it. And the telephone answering machine and its' message at the beginning of the show!
P.S. I'm older than you so I do remember it. One thing I've noticed when I watch a '70s show nowadays, is how slowwww the pacing of the show was. Not to mention how long the episodes were. Nowadays TV shows are so fast-paced to keep up with our distracted minds, and most episodes are shortened considerably to accommodate for commercials!
Well, my husband used to watch them as reruns when he was a kid, and somehow or another, he and I think Joshua and Lisey also caught some as reruns on TV. So, then we all kind of got into watching them together.
Do you remember the phone sound? Recently I was at an office and the phone rang in EXACTLY the same way as the Rockford phone. Cracked me up.
I love the Rockford series. I watched it when it was originally on in the 70's and just recently began watching it again on ME TV. My favorite part is the phone call at the beginning.
For those wanting a trip down memory lane ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO0Vq4fj3ho
And boy, do I remember the sound of that telephone ring as my parents still used their phone like that up until about a decade ago ....
I'm guilty of not mending my mending pile. I'm not a whiz with the sewing machine, so it usually takes as long for me to hem up a pant cuff as it did by hand, but I'm learning.
That bookshelf looks so much better now!
I love this post! Your humor, your desire to save money (and the planet!) and your honesty! Keep it up! I read your blog every day! Thank you!
Everyone used to live like that- make do and mend- until advertising brain-washed people into believing life is all about shopping! I just bought obamacare, so there will be a lot more make-do-and-mend in my future. And I just pulled out the big fleece dressing gown I paid $2 for in a sale because it had a torn seam. Mended in 5 minutes by hand...
I've moved all our CDs to a very large binder style case. It wasn't cheap, but now they don't take up so much space. My soldier son did the same with his DVDs before he shipped to South Korea.