Whether you’re trying to live a bit more sustainably, want to be more frugal, or just don’t like things to go to waste, there are plenty of reasons to want the things you own to last a little longer.
How do you do this, though? In the state that the world is currently in, people are constantly being told to buy more, and products are actually being made to not last as long on purpose.
With this in mind, how is someone who is trying to make their things last longer going to do so? Here are just a few tips on how to do this.
Take care of them
While this might sound obvious, you would be surprised at just how many people don’t look after the things they own. From throwing around their devices as if they don’t cost a fortune or treating their clothes as disposable, a good number of people really don’t treat their things properly.
After doing this, they are probably the ones who wonder why they need to replace something so often or why stuff keeps breaking.
If you look after what you own, it can last a lot longer. Whether that means carrying your laptop onto a flight instead of sticking it in your suitcase or washing your clothes the way the label says they should be washed. There are always ways you can treat the things you own with more respect.
Repair them
When you have the mindset of repair before replacement, the stuff you own can truly last so much longer. Repairing used to be the main focus that people had when it came to their things years ago afterall it was so much cheaper to put a button back on a shirt rather than replace the shirt back then.
However, in the consumerist culture that so much of the world lives in now, this idea of repairing something seems odd to most people.
Learning how to repair things is a great skill to have, though. Whether you learn how to sew and, therefore, can fix torn clothing or use plastic welding rods to fix something around the house, there is so much potential.
Buy better
Making the things that you own last starts from the very beginning, right from when you buy them. If the reason you want your things to be with you longer is out of frugality, it can be tempting to also buy the cheapest version of whatever it is.
This makes sense if you are trying to save money in that very instance but can come back to bite you when you take into consideration the cost per use. Although it may cost more money upfront, buying a higher quality version of the thing you are buying often means you have to replace it a lot less often, if at all.
Making the things you own last longer is very possible with just a few small changes.