imple Vegetarian | Money Crashers: Should I Repair or Replace a Broken Appliance?

One of the easy premises of the ecofrugal existence is that it is commonly better to repair an item, if you can, than to update it. Repairing is usually cheaper; it prevents waste; and it saves the power and distinctive useful resource charges of making a opportunity item. That's an ecofrugal win-win-win.

However, every rule has its exceptions. Sometimes repairing an object isn't possible, or is so hard as to make it impractical. Sometimes it definitely charges extra than changing. Sometimes it is inexpensive, but quality truely, and the greater years of lifestyles you'd get out of the repaired object aren't enough to justify the charge. And once in a while preserving your antique item can really value you cash, as inside the case of an antique appliance that uses hugely greater power than a more moderen version. In a case like that, replacing could in reality be each less expensive and greener ultimately.

Back in 2011, I did an entire collection of posts exploring this

Recently, I decided to sum up my findings from all those posts with my readers in a single article on Money Crashers. It compares the benefits of repairing and replacing in detail and then outlines a series of questions to help you decide which is the better option in any given case. In brief, the questions are:

1. How hard is it to repair?
2. How do the costs compare?
3. How worn out is it?
4. Is it costing you money?
5. Will its value increase?
6. What's the disposal cost?
7. Do you love it?

This, in short, is the article I wish I'd had handy for reference back when we first started having trouble with Brian's bike five years ago. If you have anything broken lying around your house and you just can't decide whether it's worth repairing, perhaps this article can make your decision about repairing it a little easier than ours was back then.

Should I Repair or Replace a Broken Appliance? – Here’s How to Decide