One of the most simple issues of the ecofrugal life is that no longer whatever lasts all of the time. No remember how an lousy lot strive you're making to pick matters as a way to very last?Clothing, footwear, products for your own home?They will still put on out ultimately. At a few element, you commonly locate your self facing the identical old predicament: Can I make this very last a hint bit longer, or is it time to present in and update it?
Unfortunately, there's no smooth rule to reply that query. There are a few present day requirements which could help making a decision, however mostly, you have to address the problem on a case-by using-case foundation. Just in this beyond week, I've confronted this identical question 3 instances, and I got here up with 3 exceptional solutions: one yes, one no, and one possibly.
Case #1: The worn-out trousers
About years inside the beyond, I advised with delight on how I'd managed to take inside the outsized waist on a new pair of pants with a bit of elastic. That restore has held up fairly well, but unfortunately, the rest of the pants didn't. Within a one year, they fell sufferer to the equal illness that influences all my pants in the end: extreme wear within the thigh vicinity, which is lots harder to patch than a rip at the knee. I tried to patch them with some grey fabric, and this stored them going for some time, but after some other yr, the patch itself had developed holes.
At this point, any ordinary man or woman would have given up at the pants, however I actually hated to permit move of them proper at the beginning of wintry weather while they're the warmest pair I personal. So I determined to take one extra crack at fixing them thru disposing of the old patches and stitching on new ones. This time I went with black cloth from a pair of fleece-covered leggings, putting the tender and comfy aspect going thru in and the smooth side going through out. I hoped this new patch would be each more long lasting and less enormous than the unique one. 
I used the same method as in advance than, slicing out huge squares that reached all of the way from the crotch seam to the spot in which the holes were. This allowed me to sew them down in opposition to the present seam on two sides, making the seams extra steady and a hint much less sizeable. Then I just whip-stitched them into area around the other sides. I moreover went round the edges of the hollow on the alternative side and stitched them down in the direction of the patch, so they could now not flop round.
Well, I can't say but how long lasting this restore might be, however I can say it already looks lots less glaring than the previous set of patches. When I attempted them on and confirmed the patched vicinity to Brian, he stated he may also want to slightly see it; the best reason he can also want to even tell it was there was because I informed him. So I genuinely have actual reason to wish this repair will offer me as a minimum one greater iciness's worth of wear and tear and tear out of those snug flannel pants earlier than I ought to discard them.
Case #2: The snapped-off rest room brush
You may additionally moreover bear in mind how disappointed I was final 12 months to discover that IKEA had stopped wearing refills for our vintage rest room brush. This became in particular irksome, because of the reality the cash-saving and waste-stopping refills had been the entire reason we might bought this fancy toilet brush holder inside the first region. We tried to tweak considered one of IKEA's new alternative heads to in shape the cope with, however it modified into too wobbly and sooner or later snapped off at a the take care of joint.
However, due to the fact that we had a 2d one of the substitute heads available, Brian determined to take some different crack at solving it. He inserted the today's head into the handle, then bolstered it with some Sugru polymer adhesive to maintain it from wobbling. We predicted this to be a brief-time period healing, but to our wonder, the repaired brush truly held together quite nicely, and we actually idea we is probably capable of make it artwork as a minimum till the pinnacle wore out.
Unfortunately, this week we located the bounds of this hack. After performing faithfully for about a year, this new brush finally snapped off right at the address, similar to its predecessor. And due to the truth we're all out of refills, there's no manner to restore it once more.
So at this factor, our choices are: (1) Go lower returned to IKEA, buy a few extra of those now not-very-suitable refills, and try and MacGyver them into vicinity all over again; (2) Go returned to IKEA and buy one in every in their new bathroom brush holders, for you to art work with the new refills, but won't paintings almost as nicely with our lavatory; or (3) Just surrender and purchase a cheap disposable brush. Of those, I wager alternative 2 is probably the maximum probably to paintings, but I'm not precisely happy approximately it.
Case #3: The no longer-so-water-proof boots
About years ago, I declared with extraordinary triumph that I'd ultimately located the right pair of wintry weather boots: an notable match, leather-loose, first rate-looking, snug, warmness, and dry. They were a piece highly-priced at $eighty, but I figured that grow to be a good buy for multiple running shoes that have to
Fast-forward to the start of this winter, and I've discovered that these boots no longer keep out water the way they used to. A week or so ago I wore them outside on a rainy day, and although I did my best to avoid the deepest puddles, by the time I got home both boots were soaked right through—and it took several days for them to dry out fully.
At this point, I could have just dropped another $80 on a new pair, but it hardly seemed worth it if they were only going to last me through two winters. And it was frustrating having to toss them when they were still in basically good condition, with the uppers still intact and even a decent amount of tread left on the soles. As far as I could tell, the part that was letting in the water was the joint between the upper and the molded sole, and it seemed like there ought to be some way to patch that.
So I did a little hunting online and found this page that suggested two ways to deal with this kind of leak in a winter boot: either a urethane sealer or a natural wax-based product called Sno-Seal. The Sno-Seal seemed less hazardous to work with, and we actually happened to have an old tube of it on hand, but it also appeared to be designed specifically for leather boots; a few sites said that it could actually damage a a nylon boot like this one.
The product recommended most often for synthetic boots was called Aquaseal SR, so we headed out in search of a tube. We eventually managed to locate a similar product, Aquaseal FD, at Dick's Sporting Goods, and I headed home to try it out. I cleaned the boots carefully and applied the stuff kind of like caulk, squeezing out a bead along the seam and pressing it in with a gloved finger. So far I've done the insides of both boots; they'll need about 24 hours to cure, and then I'll do the same along the outsides.
So it's too early yet to say how well this fix will work. However, it only cost $8 to try it, and if it enables me to get even one more winter's worth of wear out of these boots, that will be enough to bring their cost down from $40 a year to less than $30. Plus, it will save me from having to go back to the drawing board looking for that elusive pair of truly durable winter boots that will actually fit both my feet and my lifestyle.
