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.
Oh, forgot to suggest an alternative for lining your bags — try using thrifted table linens. My sister picked up a bunch for me for a school project at insane prices, like $1.50 for a 60″ x 104″ rectangular table cloth that still had the store tags on it. I can’t buy drop cloths for painting that inexpensively.
The really insane purchase was a cloth I can only assume was meant for a trade show or massive banquet table — 90″ x 16 FEET LONG — only $3.50. Absolutely insane price.
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.
I would love a “fix-it cafe” or a MakerSpace in this community. I’d be willing to volunteer to help and bring some of my materials stash, but I’d also love to find someone who can do small metal repairs, like braze a patch in a stainless steel bowl or weld a handle back onto a towel bar for me.
Seems like it’d be the perfect place to meet like-minded people, too, an alternate venue for social organizing.
our local library does a monthly “fix-it” day for people to come in and work with volunteers on repairing all sorts of things.
We have one person that specializes in fixing zippers. She has a stash of parts.
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.
Rayne, Joe O.,
I want to thank you for the timely thread and pile on the giving back to community through reuse. Cleaning up with a little elbow grease before staging on sidewalk is perfect Joe. Also please consider the positive mental health benefits you create for yourself by giving back to your sidewalk community. We are in this together. Peace,
Christopher and family
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.
Yes, that’s true — and I will keep a Windows 10 machine for those apps, but not attached to the network. I have had too many attempts by Microsoft to force CoPilot onto my machine; Microsoft has also been training its LLM on files generated by other Windows apps like Notepad and Paint, without my advance fully-informed consent.
I’m going to use a Linux laptop, an Android tablet, and a Chrome OS desktop in addition to this standalone Win10 desktop rather than migrate to Windows 11 which will eventually force invasive and security-undermining Recall on users.
I use Firefox for its security features but I’m disgusted. I have a brand new laptop with 16 GB RAM. Last night I had just 1 tab open watching a video on youtube and Firefox RAM spiked up to 8 GB. WTF is that all about?
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.
LOL Canvas lasts quite a long time if prepped and maintained appropriately, as Renaissance works prove. I don’t need anything that lasts that long.
Let’s not forget that the wood on which many masters have painted were boards they or other craftsman planed down by hand from single planks, physically joined as necessary, back when trees were allowed to grow very old. Today’s plywood is loaded with many chemicals that may affect longevity compared to hundred-plus year-old wood planks.
I do miniature portraits of dogs and horses, and instead of putting them in insanely expensive gold portrait frames with glass, I put them in antique pocket watch cases, from watches that cannot be made workable.
Men usually hang them in a pocket watch display, women often wear them on a chain or ribbon as a necklace. The cases are very handsome, easy to obtain, and I like continuing their usefulness. I give the guts to a couple of local watch repair guys for parts.
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 believe they are 40 foot containers. They are working on their next load so I hope it goes ok. It’s a process as they have to clean the cabinets and maybe do some repair to the electronics so I don’t know when they will be ready to ship or what the price will be. The 10 percent tariff they need to consider, but the cheaper shipping should alleviate that. Who knows what next month will bring though. Yeah the big drop in shipping cost wasn’t too much a surprise with everything else we know right after the tariffs were announced but the fact that it is still low is just more indication this “pause” hasn’t significantly increased shipping demand. That surprised me a little.
40-foot containers…whew. That’s a lot of vintage games. O_O
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.
I gave up composting because I have neither a garden or an endless supply of water to support it. I broadcast all waste vegetable matter. Meat or fish waste goes into the wood stove. I wash everything that goes into trash cans to reduce bear problems.
Doggone it, I meant to reply to this yesterday, Peterr. Does your state permit rainwater collection without any permits or compliance with state regulations?
IIRC there are 10 states that limit/restrict/regulate rainwater collection in an effort to protect the state’s watershed. Anyone thinking of using rain barrels should check their state’s laws before implementing one.
Yes, we can do this. Here in MO, they are more worried about too much runoff from impervious surfaces (roads, buildings, parking lots, etc.) and most new construction of subdivisions has to include retention areas for excess runoff in heavy storms . . . like the ones we are getting right now.
Our HOA, on the other hand, prohibits outdoor clotheslines . . .
My HOA also bans outdoor clotheslines. I ignore them — or I should say I cheat. I have some rolling metal drying racks that are lower than my deck railing; they provide enough space for two loads of towels and clothes but their heigh prevents them from being seen by neighbors. If they can see them they are toooo close.
I also bought a 90-inch long folding rod-type drying rack for use in my garage. They can’t tell me what to do in my garage so I back out my car and hang sheets and blankets on that rack. Bonus: if it’s threatening to rain I don’t have to worry about them. I’ve thought about mounting a retractable line as well but the rod-type rack has been enough so far.
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.).
I’ve used my electric clothes dryer maybe 5 times in 25 years. Unless you’re doing laundry in the nude nobody needs their clothes dried in 30 minutes.
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.
Chained rubber bands make an effective eyeglass retainer. With a cinch loop for attachment.
[Thanks for updating your username to meet the 8-letter minimum. Please be sure to use the same username and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you./~Rayne]
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?
I want to know how EAT THE TARIFFS as policy helps all the big rollers in the investor class who own Walmart stock, especially after Walmart’s stock split this last year may have helped protect some investors from the savaging Trump’s governance has wreaked on the rest of the stock market.
Seems to me its a regressive tax on the poor and working class.
His “big beautiful bill” will do that, too.
In trump’s mind, everybody. He’s said it many times: the whole world is ‘ripping us off.’
This is so stupid that it transcends analysis, but to the extent it matches any business model, it’s the company store: captive customers who must pay any arbitrary price. The only thing missing is that some companies that had stores paid workers in scrip that was worthless anywhere but in the store.
(It occurred to me this morning that the US is on a 100-year cycle of stupid tariffs:
1828–Tariff of Abominations
1929–Smoot-Hawley Tariffs
2025–trump yo-yo tariffs.)
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.
I still wash plastic ziploc bags and reuse them — there are two hanging on a rack in my sink right now.
Every plastic bag is made of oil. I refuse to just toss more oil into the landfill without using as long as possible.
I reused plastic sandwich bags. I could get two or three weeks’ use from one.
There is one drawback to reusing lightweight plastic. As it wears out it releases more and more micro plastics.
It’s a balancing act — chuck it into the recycling system immediately, where it may be shredded and release yet more microplastics before being recycled OR bundled with other plastic and shipped to gods-know-what-3rd-world-country for disposal, or reuse it before recycling it.
Until this country does a better job with plastic recycling, trying to reuse single use plastics to avoid buying more plastics may still be a better approach.
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!
Are you familiar with the Japanese term sashiko? If you appreciate the wabi-sabi aesthetic, sashiko repair work on your jeans and cargo pants may be just the thing even if you’re not an extremely adept hand sewist.
Example: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/68748872390/
Japanese developed a form of fabric reuse called boro; some of it uses sashiko to incorporate scraps and patches into a larger piece. I’m doing that now with my vintage quilt which has already accumulated a number of patches. Your jeans might be candidates for a similar approach.
Don’t forget potato printing. Easy to carve and super fun. You can also layer up styrofoam food containers or the like and ink them up for pressing on to fabric or paper. It’s really easy to cut.
I’m also a big fan of sashiko, as Rayne mentions below.
Not to be overlooked, thrift store frames and paintings for reuse/repurpose. I am a thrift store junkie. I just had someone refinish my mother’s childhood dresser, that I also used and was in my sister’s apartment. She is in assisted living now, and I had the old dresser refurbished. It is just lovely and has deep drawers unlike what is available now for the most part.
Recycling metal is another thing I do. Keys, faucets and other plumbing often have a lot of brass in them. Even a smallish box of old locks and motors (copper) can bring a little cash. We have a neighbor who recycles aluminum cans to supplement his income, and a bunch of neighbors bring their cans to a bin I keep for him. He comes every couple of weeks to pick up what we have saved.
I have a compost pile I’ve used for more than 30 years with red worms. They produce a lot of poop that is great in the gardens or for making “compost tea” for watering.
I use a lot of recycled materials in my art. Reuse and recycling is my life.
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.
Shhh…don’t talk about your wood shop too loudly here or you’ll give my spouse ideas. He’s already gotten on my last nerve this past week starting up his 15-inch planer at bloody 7:00 am one morning to work on a cherry wood box crafted from materials he’s ratholed for over a decade.
I mean, to be clear it’s still a relatively dust free environment. I have portable tablesaw, chopsaw, and work table that I can roll out onto the concrete apron – but it’s not like quite like having an atelier that’s all set up with sawdust extraction.
And beyond that is Madame punaise’s dust-free storage area. Including our deep freezer m, my golf clubs, and the rest.
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.
Biden / cancer / damn.
Kamala’s like: Dude? Now?
punaise mentioned the prostate cancer diagnosis of Joe Biden. I read that he is 82, it is aggressive and metastatic. That is sad news. However, what I don’t understand is that with the extremely comprehensive medical care presidents (can) receive, why didn’t they catch it much earlier? None of the ‘main stream’ news reports delve into that, I get tired of the fact that they all seem to be only focused on dramatic headlines.
You forgot an R in your list though you did mention it.
Rain.
Please send some – to Florida. I forget about where your relatives live, but we in SE and SW FL – pretty much anything South of Lake O are a bit parched and starting to burn.
TY
Late to the party again – thank you Rayne for an engaging and relevant topic. I am retired and volunteer one day a week at a local charity called Bridging. We take in furniture, housewares, and lightly used mattresses, box springs and bedding. Our primary beneficiaries are unhoused people starting fresh or people getting out of jail, abuse shelters or halfway houses. So, our whole gig is about recycling, re-using and re-purposing. We are located in an affluent suburb and get unbelievably high quality donations (e.g. a brand new four piece king bedroom set – free!). There is incredible wealth in the U.S. – it is just so inequitably distributed.
My mother had been volunteering at St. Vincent de Paul’s thrift shops for nearly 20 years. The household items she saw going through the Florida store were mind boggling, just too much high end stuff, and much of it of little use to those in most need. She used to collect basic bedding and t-shirts at St. Vinnie’s for one of the Catholic churches serving migrant workers; I wonder if anybody is doing that now or if it just ends up in a landfill.
Our experience in South Florida with several departed extended family members is that certain furniture of a size (like large wall units, etc) can’t be given away, won’t be picked up by “free” concerns – e.g. Salvation Army, Faith Farm, VVOA, etc – or even by “for feee” junk haulers. I get it. Some donations can be pretty removed from the basic need(s) to be met and are just the inheritors trying to dump a problem or a charity.
Maybe it’s like disaster relief donations – cash is better donated than not quite usefully material stuff someone might have – think is useful – and is just a free exercise in dumping.
Well I feel late to the party lol! Had a humdinger of a migraine yesterday.
My Uncle and I are both widowed and in 2019 we decided it was time to head to the hills literally. He purchased 7 acres and bought a down right nasty 1980’s mobile home (with my health issues we realized dealing with roof trusses wouldn’t be feasible) for 1200.00 that he stripped down to the frame.
He got a lot of materials to rebuild it through Facebook’s maketplace (we found our rather oversized wood stove there) and the Habitat for Humanity store in the big town close to us. Less that a quarter of the materials we used were new. Finished, it looks like a hipster container house. But it did take four years to complete.
We reuse all our feed bags from the chickens to winterize coops and line between the rows of our garden to keep out weeds. And I do have to brag just a little that we have the most luscious compost from the kitchen and chicken and rabbit poop.
Someone above mentioned not having enough water for compost but that’s not what you really need. We actually cover ours all year with a tarp to keep out water, snow and leaves and keep it simmering in winter.
Then in March to kickstart composting after the cold slows it down, I put about 3-4 quarts of me pee on it (regular backyard compost generally needs just a quart) turn it once a week and it all breaks down into the most lovely, deep rich brown compost. It takes about a year to compost chicken poo and straw to that point so we run two piles, one cooking and one to use.
I worry frantically about bird flu and would be heartbroken if we got hit. My little flock is producing around 12-16 eggs daily, way more than we need so I take them to the food bank, the women at my doctors offices as thank you gifts or drop them off at the Goodwill in our tiny county seat.
The only thing I sew regularly is dog toys that have fluff coming out of them so I’m a wee jealous Rayne of your cool sewing projects.
I almost forgot!
The thing that saves us the most money by far is my Minky Easy Breeze rotary clothesline. Plus there is nothing in the world that smells like sun kissed laundry.
I’ve done my share of dog toy fabrication and repairs. My son has now forbidden me to recycle denim into toys for his dog; she developed an association, [denim = dog toy] and started chewing on all of his jeans. He didn’t like my rebuttal that perhaps he shouldn’t leave his jeans where the dog could get to them…LOL
Paper can’t be recycled if it’s dirty or wet. Yet most of my neighbors don’t put the lid on their recycling container when it rains. Drives me nuts.
Everyone’s examples are so great! Mine is not worthy to be submitted alongside of all of the ones so far, but it is somewhat unique.
Husband and I downsized a few years ago and moved into a significantly smaller residence that we had to add onto. The problem was – trees! Century oaks over a hundred feet tall. We had 5 that had to go for several reasons – blight, too too close to existing house, dangerously leaning (yes, they fall on houses in the neighborhood and crush them).
I called several local tree services. Not only the cutting down and removal was thousands and thousands of dollars, I asked each one what they did with the trees / wood. Each one cheerfully replied that they could cut it up into firewood size logs for us. GASP! The thought of burning them all made me ill.
I had an idea and a long-time business who supplied me all my rough-cut horse fencing rails over 20 years at our farm, agreed to process all of the trees!
After we had them cut down, I had a picker truck take the haul to the sawmill. They cut it, kiln-dried it and we used every bit that was able to be used. The smaller branches did get cut up for firewood.
Today, we have variable width hardwood flooring throughout the house, a beautiful stair case, built-in cabinets and columns, wainscotting and every interior door is made with the wood from those trees.
We are holding an open house to introduce the update to the neighborhood in a few weeks, but throughout the process, I’ve told everyone that I could about what we did – maybe it will influence some to do something creative with the trees that have to be cut down in their yards.
Just to clarify – we are not supportive of cutting down trees just to cut them down, but our area is experiencing an oak blight that kills. When they die, they fall and when they fall, they destroy houses and cars. So, I look at it as taking lemons and recycling them into lemonaide.
Oh I love the recovery of the oaks for woodwork! We did the same with our house when we built it 20 years ago. I wanted interior features based on a combination of Scandinavian, Asian, and Mission/Craftsman design — japandi wasn’t a thing at the time. I wanted clear unstained maple for minimalist interior trim. My spouse harvested some deadfall maples on his father’s acreage; they would have simply rotted over time but instead they are now the trim around my windows, baseboards, the mantel around my fireplace, and some of the flooring.
Given this post is still alive…thought of this yesterday, but didn’t post. I miss the occasional tunes talk here of yesteryear. So…
A toast and a tune for Rayne’s future canvas mastery.
Someday…everything’s gonna be smooth like a rhapsody…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgI2OaYb9vU
I love this version. Here’s hoping Rayne or someone — anyone! — enjoys it too.
Peace.
I use old jeans and upholstery fabrics to sew tool rolls and suchlike. I still have one from the ’80s for my nice set of Vemco blue-dot drafting instruments. I buy upholstery remnants from a fabric outlet, and can get Sunbrella, etc. for ~$1.99/yd. Also, just made an art-deco stepped base for my wife’s makeup mirror out of painted scrap plywood. We couldn’t find a new mirror as good, and I don’t like to throw broken things out. Tip: Use a random-orbital sander to create a lovely frosted finish on aluminum parts. I also have a strategic cardboard reserve for use as models, dropcloths, and various small projects. Painted cardboard can become quite sturdy. Tin cans, especially the 6 oz tomato-paste cans, can be used in small utility carts to sort and hold tools upright, and can-clusters glued together make great desk caddies for small tools and writing instruments. I buy certain brand of olives because the quart jars have the right form factor for holding spices, and I have LOTS of spices. I could go on …
Same, same. Made one last year while I was working with charcoal because my tins kept sliding around in my bag and I was carrying a 9-fucking-pound textbook. If I hadn’t corralled the charcoal in a roll that mothertrucking-expensive textbook would have smashed the tins and made a mess. I had plenty of scrap denim, poly cord, buttons, and elastic so I didn’t have to spend any more $$ on already-pricey art supplies.
At some point this summer I am going to attempt to make charcoal with some willow branch chunks a friend gave me after they pruned their pussywillow. I’m going to need a bigger roll!
I also favor certain brands of pasta sauce because the jars are just the right size and configuration. Love Classico brand’s Atlas jars because they’re marked with volume measures; one of Aldi’s pasta sauces comes in a very similar jar. Oui French yogurt has been another must-save; the jars are just the right size for all kinds of oddments from spices/herbs to small amounts of liquid, and both wood lids with silicone seals and stretchy silicone lids are available that fit these jars.
The last time I was at my grandparents’ house, in the mi70s, the little baby-food jars my grandfather used for small stuff were still in the workshop in the garage. (Lids were fastened to shelf, so you just unscrewed the jar and it was in your hand, ready for use.)
Rayne great post. A year ago I purchased new items for my balcony. The old umbrella from last year plus a cafe table and chairs I gave to my friends for their balcony. I threw in a matt rug I had in my closet to finish off the space. They were thrilled. Makes me happy to give items a new home.
Repaired jeans and news buttons on a shirt. Feels good to renew clothing. By the way, You Tube has great tutorials for sewing repairs and more.
Also have been sharing purchased items from Costco with my friends. Some products are just too much for a single person. They are grateful as am I.
I hope to do a better job of group shopping at Costco this year. I’m overdue for a trip and I know there are items friends and I won’t buy for ourselves but we’ll do it if we can split the item into smaller amounts.
But I’m not splitting my Kirkland vodka. Nope, nope, nope.
@Rayne, May 18, 2025 at 11:49 pm
“braze a patch in a stainless steel bowl”. Just make sure they use food-grade brazing allow, i.e. No Cadmium. :-) As for welding, the new fiber-laser welders look very interesting, but pretty expensive. I’m not geeky enough to make my own.
Good point about the food-safe brazing/welding. That factor narrows down many metal workers.
Just a reminder: many local nonprofits have thrift stores where they resell donated goods.
Check to see if your favorite 501c3 has one!