Breathing Room: The Three Rs — Reduce, Repair, Recycle
[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]
While waiting for the worst of the supply shock to hit consumers thanks to Trump’s misbegotten tariffs, I have been working on the three Rs.
Not reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic but reduce, recycle, repair.
You may already have noticed the supply shock beginning wherever you live in your local stores. I had to hunt for flax seed last week; I knew flax was grown all over the world including the US, but for some reason I had it in my head this wouldn’t be a food product affected by the tariffs.
Nope, illusion shattered – the label on the packages I found show origin USA and Canada.
The price wasn’t out of line with expectations but I bet the next time I hunt for flax seed it will be more expensive even though some of it is likely grown in North Dakota and Minnesota.
Flax isn’t just a food product; the plant is also not just a source of fiber for fabric. It’s the source of linseed oil used in many applications including painting and wood finishing.
In other words, the ripple effect of tariffs on this one agricultural product could be widespread.
I haven’t gone looking for linen fabric but I imagine worse results because the US has very little if any linen fabric production even though the US grows flax seed.
The cost may not be as bad as imports from China since linen is grown and produced in northern Europe, but it’s still not going to be good if you rely on natural fiber fabrics.
Fortunately I anticipated the supply shock back in March. I bought an entire bolt of unbleached 100% cotton muslin while it was on sale, thinking I would use it for repairs and craft work over time.
That time is now. I am patching up a vintage muslin quilt, one too ratty for conservation techniques and too beloved to cut up for other purposes. It’s not a good weather project but it’s perfect for rainy days like we’ve had this week.
The next project I should take up is making covers for some old outdoor furniture cushions. I’ve had fabric squirreled away for a year now to freshen up some ratty-looking pads I can’t bring myself to trash. They’re polyester foam and fiberfill with a polyester-nylon cover – in other words they’re nothing but refined oil on its way to becoming a tax burden taking up space in a municipal landfill.
Ugh — I refuse to do that when I can simply recover and reuse them, especially when I can’t be certain there will be more new chair pads at the store due to the impending supply shock.
It’s going to be inconvenient for many of us if not downright painful — many families will struggle as the worst of the supply shock hits store shelves. But one of the effects should be a greater awareness about our consumption habits and how they affect the rest of the world. The climate may actually benefit from our reduced consumption of so many items requiring fossil fuels as both a raw material and fuel for production.
Let’s home this expanded consciousness has a long-term positive effect, not the least of which is the need for smarter and less corrupt governmental leadership — the kind that doesn’t tell businesses to “EAT THE TARIFFS” in all caps via social media when the tariffs look more like a shakedown and less like a rational, targeted instrument of effective policy.
What about you? Are you seeing the effects of the Trump supply shock? What are you doing to reduce, repair, recycle? Who can you help with the three Rs and how will you do it?
This is an open thread.
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Thanks!
timely thread! I put in new flooring a year ago and still had boxes packed up from that project in my spare bedroom where they joined boxes still waiting to be dealt with from when i downsized from my home to a condo. i was overwhelmed and not sure where to start when i met a woman who works as a “de-clutterer”. we just had our first session, and in 2.5 hours she helped me clear out tons of things that she will be re-homing to various charity shops throughout the County. i’m going to continue to work with her on the clean out, and continue getting things that other people can use into their hands.
Super! Liberate the excess! That’s a project I need to work on this summer, some form of Swedish death cleaning. Now that my in-laws are both gone we can release some of their multi-generation accumulation that flowed downhill to us. I don’t know who wants that goofy hanging lamp but they’re welcome to it!
We’re doing some of the same, especially with clothing.
“Reuse” doesn’t mean I have to reuse it; passing it along for someone else to reuse is at least as good an idea, and for things like clothes I don’t wear, getting them into the hands of someone who needs it is better than good.
yup! and the woman i am working with has turned me on to ALL these charity/thrift shops i had no idea existed. i encourage people to research what is out there in their hometowns, may be surprised.
Affluent societies can afford to be be very wasteful. It is a form of laziness.
I have some worn-out jeans (holes in thighs) that I intend to turn into shopping bags. I figure I can get two bags from three pairs of jeans.
I couldn’t envision how you’d get three bags out of two pair of jeans but now I think I’ve got it.
(2) like this https://www.upstyledaily.com/diy/handbags-totes/decorate-restyle-or-refashion/1-pair-of-old-jeans-makes-a-great-diy-tote-44453600
(although I’d prefer to leave the rear pockets complete: https://www.welke.nl/lookbook/awildekamp/Leuk-om-zelf-te-maken/lyka7/leuke-tas-van-spijkerbroek.1359829655)
And at least (1), maybe even (2) from the legs:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rswvZf7AV5E
Got it. I have some jeans that need to be recycled, may try the same approach. Thrifted some woven belts super cheaply, may use them for straps.
One leg for each wide side, plus one, split, for the narrow sides and the bottom. I’d probably get some fat quarters to line it.
Don’t forget reuse/repurpose. The more of this kind of work we do the better we get at it.
I think of reuse/repurpose as recycling. All the denim and canvas scraps I used this week for repairs are recycled bits of former jeans and drop cloths.
I agree. I think for many people recycling is often only seen only as taking trash to the recycle center. I have to be careful to maintain a balance between saving stuff as raw materials for my tinkering and hoarding. We have a “fix it cafe” organization in our small community.
For the last 3 years, I ‘ve been calling this “keeping it out of the landfill.” My first child was born 3 years ago. I had gotten into vintage, aka used, things when I moved to San Francisco in the ‘90s. The movement there, especially with the dykes, was all about using less and reusing more. But with the birth of my son it pains me to throw most anything away. Keep it out of the landfill for as long as possible. So not only making it available for another to re-use but to make that thing attractive to be re-used. So I scrub clean my son’s old shoes (they become almost new looking with a sponge and dish soap), spot wash his old clothes, clean, disinfect and nicely bag his old toys, etc. I do the same with everything else that ‘s worthy of being re-used- furniture, etc. My wife thought I was going too far at first but she’s seen how everything I put out on the street is picked up within minutes. Everything taken to a donation center is accepted. It costs my time and energy to give something away but it gives back to me, and my family, by keeping it out of the landfill for at least one more use. And I feel my consumption is not so shallow if the thing has more than one life. And I feel more personally useful and connected to the community- which seems to be a byproduct that a huge lot of people in our country need right now.
I never had lots of money so I’ve always had a DIY and buy-used mindset. I hate waste. I try to do my own repairs whenever possible. My latest project is trying to repair my 1995 lawnmower. It’s forced me to learn about carburetors. I’m still driving my 2003 Honda Element. I do all the basic maintenance myself. I’ve never bought a new car. We were still watching our 1989 tube tv until 2 years ago when I found a working 50″ plasma HDTV on the curb. Works great. I ride a bike and do all maintenance on it. I keep our window air conditioners working by oiling the bearings when moisture gets in them and the fan/blower stops spinning.
You have to be curious and willing to learn. Fortunately Youtube has been a terrific source for learning how to fix stuff.
Lawn mowers: ethanol free gas only. I have been fixing things since before I started school. At ten I took the toaster apart before anyone else got out of bed. My sister got up and thought I was in big trouble. I had it fixed quick before anyone else got out of bed. Trying is one way to learn.
One huge area that is being overlooked is microsoft pushing people to win11 with its ridiculous hardware requirements. This will/is causing people to junk perfectly usable computers/laptops. There are many alternatives: very expensive apple products, proprietary spyware chromebooks and as we recommend, install a user friendly version of Linux on your computer. You can test them for free before disturbing win10 on your hard drive, they are easy to adjust to, are usually free and are better and safer then windows in many respects. We have run community computer clinics for years and I recommend you peruse Distrowatch for a lot of good info.
Linux has a steeper learning curve, and a lot of software doesn’t run on it.
But you can find Windows downloads online, for Win10 and Win10 Enterprise, as well as some older systems. (If I have to get a new machine, it’s NOT going to run Win11.)
Only a few Linux distributions have a steep learning curve. A number of them are designed to be very easy for windows users to transition to. The software issue is just semantics. Libre Office works just like ms office and is compatible with most ms office functions and works with more file formats than ms office. Linux offers thousands of programs and functions for free. Many of those windows doesn’t offer at any price. Microsoft admits that soon, you won’t even be able to register win10 on any computer. While few in number, there are even Linux versions that will run on apple computers.
p.s. I’m surfing the web and commenting here using a 15 year old computer with a version of Linux running from a USB drive without touching the internal hard drive.
You might want to consider that some of us use programs that WILL NOT RUN with Linux. We need those Windows (or Mac) APIs.
dealing with this right now. can’t update the OS for either my Apple Imac or laptop, and websites are starting to break. my brother says that’s that, and i have to get a new computer. i will be going in to the local mac store to verify, cause if Apple is forcing me to buy some new AI drenched garbage, i don’t know what my next move is gonna be…
Every day for about a month now, every time I launch Chrome, I’m warned that I won’t be able to “get future Chrome updates” (not that I care, I don’t) because my OSX Big Sur operating system, which I cannot update beyond with my current hardware, is considered to be obsolete now. Big Sur was introduced in 2020, and the last update to it is from 2023.
As a programmer, I’m faced with a similar dilemma. I’m developing an application for a client using 2018 software (client’s choice – he didn’t want to go to the cloud-subscriber setup that most big companies use now) designed for Macs with Intel chips. The Apple M-series chips, introduced in 2020 are supposed to be able transparently run software designed for Mac Intel-chip computers, but I’ve recently run into a situation where my Intel-chip machine runs this software perfectly, but on at least 2 M-series newer Macs, it hard-crashes at a certain point.
So they’ve got you coming and going, on both ends…
You might consider Sherman J’s suggestion earlier in this thread.
Linux should run very well on your Apple laptop(s). It is light-weight, has tons of available capabilities (free and open-source). Since MacOS is a close cousin to most Linux distributions the underlying OS will be similar.
Look for some online advice such as:
https: //techlogging.com/how-do-i-convert-my-mac-to-linux/
(note URL is broken – remove space after https: if you want to visit.)
Apparently PearOS is a Linux distribution that tries to mimic the MacOS experience closely.
I’m an artist and prefer to paint on plywood panels rather than stretched canvas, but I’ve been saving up cardboard and will try painting on that. It helps that experimenting is such an important part of creative expression!
I admit to splurging just today and buying some illustration board for painting but they’re intended for a show, think I’d better play it safe rather than experiment this time. Haven’t tried plywood panels yet. Have you checked with your local Habit for Humanity Restore to see if there are any plywood panels being thrifted?
I wish I had the moxie to do something like Dave Pollot does, inserting pop culture works into thrifted art. It’s another form of recycling and extremely creative.
https://www.boredpanda.com/pop-culture-characters-thrift-store-paintings-dave-pollot/
Illustration board is pretty nice, at least for water-based media. I seal it on both sides (GAC 100 or maybe shellac) and then paint with casein or acrylic. Egg tempera is fun to play with on a cheap, lightweight but stiff support like illustration board, too!
Interesting! Thanks for the pointer wrt sealing it, have only used gesso (which isn’t always satisfactory, creating too much texture depending the project). I’m a n00bie painter, going to stick with acrylic paints until I feel I’ve achieved some mastery, but egg tempera sounds exciting just for research purposes. I finished a second class on Art History this last semester and after reading so much about artists using it before oil paint emerged, I’d like to try it just to see what painters faced when creating their masterpieces. I can see where a protein-bound paint like egg tempera would definitely need a good seal beneath it.
Wood/plywood is a much more endurable base for painting. Many classics are on wood . There is an endless supply of scrap plywood going to waste in the construction industry.
Oh, by the way, I want to express appreciation for all the great info Emptywheel provides. We would contribute, but for security reasons we are limited to usps money orders which don’t work outside the death spiral united states.
If you click the “Support” button at the top, you will see that there is a US address for contributions by cash or check. A money order should work for that as well.
So, Peterr, how dare you expect me to be a responsible person and support a great site like this! (sarcasimus maximus)
Seriously, I will to click on that and see how I can help.
Envious of your handwork. Last week I tripped on an easy stroll in my neighborhood and now have two sprained wrists and a fractured metacarpal. My sewing room is lonely not to mention the knitting next to my TV chair.
But real reason for comment. My son moved to Japan to start a business exporting vintage arcade games to US. Small potatoes one container at a time. Recall during height of COVID shippers jacked up cost per container to about $10K USD I think. Well my son said for his first two containers, shipped November ‘24 and March ‘25, cost to ship was about $4500 USD each. After tariffs he was quoted $1500 USD. (Yeah there’s an element of currency adjustment but still.) Couple days ago, after the “pause” I asked him if rates had gone up and he said no.
Wow. That’s a crazy drop in container price. Was that for a 20-ft. or a 40-ft. container? Hope these prices help him turn a quick profit!
Shippers are feeling the pinch of factories choosing not to ship. Not surprised that they are trying to bring in more business by cutting the price per container.
I wonder what’s happening to the price to buy a used container. I would love to make a container house to retire to – sadly, I have neither the resources, the skills, nor the time for it.
Composting is another piece of our routine that fits under the theme of this post. We compost mostly leaves, grass, and other garden trimmings, but little comes from the kitchen, as we don’t want to attract any more critters than are already around here).
Our gardens include flowers, vegetables, and herbs, and they love the compost that enriches their beds every spring and fall. We replaced our gas powered mower a couple of years ago with electric, running on rechargeable batteries. Quiet as can be, and does a great job on the lawn.
Next step: rainwater barrels to help cut the watering costs during the hot summer months.
A couple of years ago, our electric utility shifted to time-based charges. They offer a variety of plans, based on when you tend to use electricity. Our plan has a base rate from 6am to 4pm, a higher evening rate from 4-8pm, then it drops back to the base rate from 8pm-midnight, and a low low rate from midnight to 6am. By setting our dishwasher to run at 2 am (and we only use it when it is full), and by NOT using our clothes dryer after 4pm, we saved a good chunk of money with very little effort on our part.
We are also starting to see the long term benefit to some trees we planed to the west, to help shade our home from the hot afternoon sun in the summer. They’ve now grown tall enough to cast enough shade on the house that we can feel the difference (and likely help our A/C costs as well.).
Looked for some eyeglass straps the other day to keep them on while exercising. Those I saw in the store were $18. Went home, spent about a half an hour trying some things, and used some elastic cord and a couple of plastic straws I had on hand to make my own.
PS: About half of the country “gardens” year in and year out. That percentage rises whenever the economy gets tough. The WWII Victory Garden program produced up to half of all fruits and vegetables consumed on the Home Front within three growing seasons. Imagine what might have happened if it had continued from then to now.
If the tariffs are a shakedown, who are the intended targets of the shakedown?
Other countries. Trump seems to be under the mistaken impression that the world can’t survive without the US, specifically the currency, and their economies will suffer great harm. They could give him gifts or fast track the development of Trump labeled property or even sign long term contracts with Starlink, but these won’t substantially touch the base 10% universal rate. Basically he wants the rest of the world to bend knee to him.
When Trump set the tariffs at 145% on goods from China, it was China because the extreme tariffs shut down demand here in the US. But China didn’t blink and apparently didn’t pony up a bribe so Trump backpedaled and dropped the tariffs substantially.
When Trump tells Walmart, “EAT THE TARIFFS,” he’s telling Walmart the shakedown’s on them instead. They can either EAT THE TARIFFS or cross his grubby little sweaty palms with crypto.
He’s also announced he will be imposing new tariffs on certain unnamed countries soon, with letters (whatever that means). I guess they aren’t jamming the phones begging for a deal. Walmart can’t afford to pass the whole tax in one shot, most likely they’ll pass it on in stages.
The psychologists would say that the intended target is the world, which will see how great and powerful is the Mighty Donald.
Walmart can just ask, how does Walmart eating tariffs make America great again?
Seems to me its a regressive tax on the poor and working class.
Rayne, thank you for this post. It brought back this memory.
When I was a kid, my mother would save the plastic bags that some food came in, wash them, and let them dry for re-use. To assist, I made a little stand that looked like a mini coat rack, with pegs sticking up and out from a central post. We would place the wet bags on the pegs, to dry.
I won’t date myself by asking when Glad and ZipLoc got into the market and put me out of business.
Fun fact.
I was asked to refurbish a pair of vintage skates, British , Wilkinson! Yes the sword company. These had a very high carbon steel and during an easy sharpening ,the sparks came off the stone like fireworks. Then the fun part.
They were a barn find and the most soiled I had ever seen. Saddle soap took care of that and the final step was “ Dubin “ to soften them. In the end, the brand tag in the tounge became legible.
WILKINSON. “ Wears like a pigs nose”
They were circa 1901. Made my day and the owners too.
I just finished patching up a massive tear in my favourite pair of cargo pants, only to find a new mystery hole in the knee after a night spent in the mosh pit. My hand-sewing skills are passable at best, but my ambitions have left me with a basket full of pants with holes in the thighs that I will probably/hopefully/eventually get to fixing. I’ve also been hoping to dabble in diy stamps/printmaking so I can decorate my coats/pants/dishcloths with neat little things. I’ve seen people use erasers to make small ones, and that seems an easier (and cheaper) way to practice than lino medium.
Also, gardening. My forget-me-nots (I think that’s what they are) are loving the wet weather, even if I can’t seem to keep anything alive in my other plot. I’ve had things sprout, but then they all get eaten by something. Deer, ground squirrels, birds, I’m not sure what, but at least they leave the forget-me-nots alone!
I refurbished our freestanding “garage” (actually, a combined workshop and storage space for bikes, camping, equipment, wine, etc.) last summer and took pleasure from using a lot of wood that I had stockpiled over the years for various components. Also integrated legacy items from late father’s workshop and found a way to augment my wood storage for future projects. I just hate to throw away anything that might be useful.
Have been participating in a local Buy Nothing group, giving and receiving a wide swathe of things, from a few monitors to some furniture we’re repurposing, or passing along to the next person.
P J Evans said: May 18, 2025 at 8:09 pm You might want to consider that some of us use programs that WILL NOT RUN with Linux. We need those Windows (or Mac) APIs.
Dear P J, you are quite right. I was addressing the majority that are the ‘daily driver’ crowd. I am not your typical user. I have 2003 and 2005 vintage Dells that I have always used to run multi-media creation software that won’t run on anything else.