I am not getting on a soapbox today. I am writing this to help myself (and you) remember that it is important to take care of what we have.
Our society tells us, if something breaks, we can buy another. I say, if we care for it, it won’t break as quickly, which will save us money. (This is a lesson we all need to learn, but I urge you to especially teach it to your children.)
Electronics and cell phones. Broke your cell phone because you dropped it? No problem! Order another on Ebay, or maybe it is time to upgrade. Cell phones and other electronics are not cheap. Do your best to care for them.
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Carry items carefully and store them properly.
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Don’t get electronics near water. (Yes, you shouldn’t take your cell phone in the bathroom.)
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Do what you can to preserve batteries and/or buy items with rechargeable batteries.
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Treat your electronics well, you probably spend more money on them than any other household item.
Cars and other vehicles. I will say that this is one of my downfall’s. You don’t need a new car. You just need to take car of the one you have.
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Change the oil every 3000-5000 miles.
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Keep up the basic maintenance, like brakes, wipers, and tires.
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Wash it occasionally. Especially if you live in colder climates with lots of salt on the roads.
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Find a good, trustworthy mechanic to take care of things that are over your head.
Personal Items and Clothing. Do you follow the directions for washing your clothing? For example, I just accidentally dried one of my bras. A few days later, a wire popped out. Coincidence? I think not.
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Wash most items in cold or warm water to extend their life.
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Keep hair dryers and curling irons unplugged and in safe parts of the house.
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Follow directions for caring for items.
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Get handy with a need and thread. (Repair instead of replace.)
Kitchen appliances and kitchenware. Dreaming of a new fridge, because yours is ugly? Unless you have an extremely old and inefficient model, you will probably be find without a new one.
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Replace appliances only when the cannot be repaired or are too inefficient.
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Follow directions for caring for your appliances. (Yes, occasionally clean your oven.)
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Don’t put items into the dishwasher, unless you know they are dishwasher safe.
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Store kitchen items in safe, dry, organized places to extend their life.
We don’t have to be a throw away society. With a few changes, we can learn to save our belongings, and the money we would spend replacing them.
Do you have a Thrifty idea? Did you save a ton of money this week? Do you have a Thrifty deal you want to share?
If so, please leave a comment or link up below!
If possible, please leave a link back to Coupon Teacher so that we can all share ideas.
This is linked to Life as Mom and Madame Deals.
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Before purchasing a major appliance, I go to the library and research the appliance in Consumer Reports magazine to be sure I am purchasing the most reliable product for my money.
Great tip Lisa! We are discussing a move or some remodeling. I will have to keep that in mind when we pick out new appliances. (Our fridge is almost as old as me, but not quite.)
Great tips!
Thankfully I have my mom and MIL for the needle and thread part. I can only sew on a button!
I totally agree with your post! Growing up, I had a cousin who would ruin ALL her Christmas presants before New Years Day. I would get so mad because I never got much at Christmas (my mom could write a book on being frugal!) My mom always told me take care of what you have because you won’t get another toy if you destroy the one you have. I have taken that lesson into my adult life. LOVE the post!
Thanks Georgia. Sometimes I need a little reminder myself!
I leanred the hard way when it came to taking care of a car. I was young and didn’t know any better but I learned my lesson and now our cars get their maintanance when they need it. One of our cars is 8 years old and hasn’t even reached 100k yet. It’s running well (knock on wood), it’s paid for, and yea it might be a little worn down inside from the kids but it’s a great car. We plan on keeping is for a long time. Thanks for sharing such wonderful ideas.
Thank you for the wise reminder. In this throw away society, we need to be reminded to take care of our things.
I’d also add to keep the bills for things you buy; if they break before the warranty expires, you can get them replaced: this year we replaced an expensive vacuum cleaner as well as a weed whacker, both of which broke very quickly.
Annie Kate
I completely agree with this bullet point, “Treat your electronics well, you probably spend more money on them than any other household item”.
Electronics is the item I do not take the cheap route on. If you go cheap, you’ll end up getting what you pay for.
Using the jars my Grandma used for homemade blueberry jam. Love it.
What a great reminder! I agree that we as a society know that we can just buy another; we don’t take care of things like we would if we knew it were the only one we would have.
I will have to incorporate this into a lesson at school this year for sure!