Could you save money and help the environment by getting items that need fixing repaired instead of throwing them away?
Typically, Brits throw away 28 million toys, over 11,000 bicycles and 22 million small pieces of furniture a year, according to research by the North London Waste Authority (NLWA).
In fact, the NLWA found in 2018 that less than 10% of people attempted to repair broken or damaged furniture, even though half of those surveyed said they would like to learn how to fix these items.
Yet, half of the people surveyed throw these items in the rubbish instead of taking them to recycling centres.
I wondered how much money I might be able to save by getting some items around my home that were in need of some TLC fixed rather than throwing them out – and if it was ultimately better value or not.
Repair or replace: how to extend the life of your appliances
Ikea sofa bed: should I repair or replace it?
A few years ago, we bought an Ikea sofa bed for any guests staying over.
It’s not really been used much but it has, unfortunately, been abused by our elderly cat, who decided to protest about having to share our home with our dog by peeing on it repeatedly. Not nice.
We tried to fix the problem by spraying it with a cat urine enzyme spray, but it didn’t really work.
And in the summer months, it became a particularly stinky problem.
What should we do? It was an embarrassing issue and my husband reckoned spending more money on trying to fix it was “throwing good money after bad.”
The difficulty was that finding replacement items for it was tricky. Covers for the sofa bed were out of stock and replacement mattresses were not available at our local Ikea store.
In the end, I managed to find some online that were available in the nearby Ikea store and headed down there after school.
Ikea hell
My six-year-old and I spent the customary 20 minutes trying to navigate our way through the store to the right place.
We ordered the mattress, handed over the cash and waited for it to arrive from the stock room.
“I’m so sorry,” said the store attendant. “The only mattress we have in stock is damaged and I can’t sell it to you,” he told us.
Although the website said there were 12 in stock, the remaining 11 were actually still in their warehouse in Tilbury, he said.
I had begun to believe the Ikea sofa bed was cursed somehow, so I looked into replacing it with another second-hand one from eBay – but got outbid at the last minute.
Next, I decided that an alternative could be to get the mattress cleaned. It might not work as the damage had been done a while ago, but it was worth a shot.
It might also be more environmentally friendly as we wouldn’t have to dispose of it if it worked.
So, I hired our local carpet cleaner for £80. He did a top-notch job and the mattress smelt a lot better.
Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do about the cover as it was too big to fit in the washing machine – and so, unfortunately, I took it to the dump.
But I found an alternative stretchy one-size-fits-all all cover from Amazon for £36, which was much more attractive than the original one.
Estimated replacement cost: £300, cost of repair: £116
Overall savings: £184
Hush Puppies boots: should I mend or recycle?
Some time ago, I bought myself a pair of brown leather boots from Hush Puppies for about £60 to celebrate a work achievement and they managed to last me nearly 15 years.
Alas, the zip has gone on one boot and the sole on both. Should I replace them or get them repaired?
I am really fond of these boots and felt sad at the thought of throwing them away.
I looked online, but, unfortunately, Hush Puppies no longer makes these particular boots and I couldn’t find any on eBay or any other second-hand sites.
Sole provider
Then I remembered that, when I was a kid, my mother was always taking her shoes to the shoe menders to get them repaired – something that, with so much footwear now being synthetic, we don’t often bother to do.
I headed to my local Timpson branch to see if they could fix them. Luckily, the man there was able to get the zip working again and was able to re-sole them.
It cost £30, which wasn’t cheap but was less than the cost of replacing them, which would now be about £110, according to the price of current similar boots from Hush Puppies.
Estimated replacement cost: £110, cost of repair: £30
Overall savings: £80
Car dashboard lights: what they mean and how much each repair will cost
Car: should I hang onto it or trade it in?
Everyone knows that cars can be a terrible investment. As soon as you drive them away from the forecourt they lose up to an estimated 40% in value if they are brand new.
At 10 years of age, my Nissan Note is far past its best and, at its last service, I had to spend £2,000 on various things that had corroded on it that I’d never even heard of.
I should have replaced it then rather than paying for the repairs, but I wasn’t in the position to do so.
Was it time to replace it with another model or stick with it, knowing that it was now only worth about £2,300, according to an online estimate?
My last car, a Nissan Micra, ended up being sent for scrap for just £100 aged 13 as it had given up the ghost. Not a great investment or send-off, for that matter.
I decided that, instead of potentially facing more expensive repairs or its inevitable big end, it was time to trade the Nissan Note in for a more up-to-date Mini.
My son, who loved the Note (mainly because he was always filling the boot with sticks) cried and sulked for two days.
It was not a cheap option as the new car was £12,000.
But at least, from a reuse point of view, there was the knowledge that the old car was not being thrown away but sold on and used by someone else.
And we got £2,300 for it as a part exchange, which helped.
Cost of the new car: £12,000
Saving on part-exchange: £2,300
Repair or replace: my findings
All in all, my total saving from repairing items around my home instead of replacing them was £264.
Unfortunately, replacing the car was expensive but it would inevitably have to be done at some point. At least the savings from repairing the other items helped soften the blow.
In the future, I would definitely make more of an effort to repair items around our home instead of throwing them out as savings can be made and less stuff will end up in the landfill.
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