Want to be green? Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!

This Great Depression era saying summarizes — in memorable words — almost everything you need to remember about how to keep as green a life as possible. (I might add — plant trees.)

This article is not new but its timeless words will keep the words fresh for generations.

Use it Up, Wear It Out, Make it Do or Do Without!

May 18, 2015 By: Liz E.

Whether you’re a dedicated homesteader with your own farm or you’re simply a fan of the old-fashioned lifestyle and of living more simply, you probably know how hard it can be sometimes. There are days when nothing seems to go right, and no matter what you try, things just don’t work. Believe me, we’ve all been there, and you’ll make it through!

While roaming about the internet one day, I came across this awesome saying that was apparently very common during the Great Depression, when everything was a little scarce and everyone learned how to be a bit more frugal, thrifty and creative. I have since been working on adopting this as my own personal motto.

Here’s the quote:

Pretty catchy, right? I absolutely love it and it has really helped me put things in to perspective when things are a little rough. It takes a bit of getting used to and really requires a different mindset, so don’t be worried if it takes you some time. But the rewards are fantastic. Not only do you save money, but you also get to be creative, which is a huge bonus to me! There’s nothing quite like the feeling of pride you get when you reuse something or make it yourself.

So, if you’re looking to “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without” then here are some ideas and tips to get you started:

Use it up

• If you have it, use it –  Whenever possible, use up what you already have before buying something new. It might not be as shiny or fancy, but it’s certainly going to be functional. This seems pretty common sense, but when you’re trying to make ends meet or live more simply, then fashion ought to be at the very bottom of your list.
• Make it at home – Making things at home is almost always going to be less expensive and better than what you can buy. Use up whatever scraps and leftovers you have to make something new.
• Use leftovers – On that note, don’t throw away food simply because you don’t want to eat it. Instead, find ways to reuse what you already have.
• Substitute when you can – Whether it’s baking substitutions or reusing something for another project, substitutions are a great way to use up excess.

Wear it out

• Put your clothes to work – Instead of throwing out stained, holey or faded clothes, repurpose them as cleaning rags or simply wear them as work clothes. Old shoes are great for things like mowing the lawn and working in the garden as well.
• Hand-me-downs are king – You’d be amazed how far clothes can go if you don’t mind hand-me-downs. You can even do things like letting out hems or adding ruffles to make kids’ clothes longer or take things in for shorter and younger siblings. They’ll grow into it!
• Repurpose as much as you can – Before throwing something out, try and think of a way you could repurpose it. Take that broken box fan apart and use the rim as a raised flower bed. Plant something in that broken bowl and use it as  centerpiece or turn that scrap wood into a trellis for your garden.

Make it Do

• Fix it, don’t toss it – Instead of tossing something out because it’s broken, see if you can find a way to fix it up or repurpose it for something else. There might be times when you have no choice but to replace items, but there’s nothing wrong with making it work!
• Learn to sew – Knowing how to sew can extend the life your clothes by years. Let out hems, patch holes or combine a couple too-small shirts to make one that fits just right!
• Use thrift stores – Make your money stretch by buying from thrift stores. Not only can you find unique, old and cool things there, but it’s way cheaper! Add a bit of creativity and you’ll have it made.
• Use it more than once – You’d be surprised how many things around the house can be reused or used for multiple things. Take the workhorse baking soda for example, which can be used for everything from cleaning to personal care.
• Use what you have – Before you go buy something, look at what you have and see if you have something that will work just as well as that shiny new product.

Do without

• Know why – If there was ONE thing on this list that you’re going to do, this should be it. For everything you do, know the reason why. Do you really need that shiny new object, or is it just kind of neat? Do you have to eat out tonight, or do you just want to? Understanding the reasons behind doing things will help you stray away from needless expenses and bad habits.
• Stay home – I’m not saying you should never go out (that would be boring) but if you consolidate your trips to town and find things to do locally or at home, you’ll be better off financially. Also, fewer trips to the mall and other places will help curb impulse buying.
• Keep it simple – Doing without can really simplify your life. You’ll be amazed at how much easier things are without all of those little, unnecessary things.
• Sell what you don’t need – If it isn’t functional, beautiful or memorable, then you don’t need it. Declutter and get rid of the excess that we all collect over the years to make more room for useful things.

Of course, once you get the hang of all of that down you’ll be amazed at how much extra money you have. Be sure to treat yourself every once in a while with a meal out, a new pair of shoes or splurge on a fun afternoon with the family!

Here’s a recent article about applying these principles in the context of tech devices. Notice how many of Pierre-Louis’ activities fit into one of the four above categories (altho many of them are simply protecting the tech from destruction and wear or tear).

Want the Greenest Device? You May Already Own It

One way to help the planet is not to buy new tech, especially stuff the planet never needed, says Kendra Pierre-Louis, who reports on the environment.

Featuring Kendra Pierre-Louis

• Nov. 20, 2019

How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? Kendra Pierre-Louis, who covers the environment and climate, discussed the tech she’s using.

Kendra, what tech tools are most important for doing your work?

I use the standard suite of office software, from Google Docs to Office, depending on my specific needs. (Docs is better when it comes to edit trace, but I prefer Excel for certain things.)

I also use Tabula a lot to scrape data out of PDFs, and the Hemingway app to make sure that what I wrote is at least somewhat understandable. I appreciate the app’s color coding of things as diverse as complex sentences and passive voice.

For recording interviews, I use an external recorder because I don’t trust phone recording apps — I want to see that the device is actually recording. If it’s a phone call (or a Skype call), I’ll use it with a pickup microphone. I’ve had my setup for about five years, which is a pretty good run.

You recently wrote about buying clothes that last. Is there a method to buying tech that lasts?

Tech has a tremendous footprint. One estimate by the Lawrence Berkeley Lab said it took 70 billion kilowatt-hours in 2014, or nearly 2 percent of the total electricity generation in the United States that year, just to run the internet.

And then, of course, there are the materials used to create tech. The lithium-ion batteries that are in so many things, like my smartwatch, my cellphone and your earbuds, typically contain cobalt, which was potentially mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo using forced child labor and in conditions that hurt both people’s health and the environment.

Many companies will say their phones are recyclable, but even when they are recycled (and that process can be incredibly environmentally polluting as well), the metal is generally too low a grade to go into a new phone. All of which, yes, points to a need for tech that lasts.

I don’t know if there’s a method as detailed as the one I laid out in my article on clothes. I can say I tend to hold on to electronics for years — I once had a laptop that lasted nine years. Toward the end, people teased me about it because it was, physically speaking, a brick. I got my workout carrying that thing around.

Part of the reason it lasted so long was that I bought a machine that was faster, had a larger hard drive and could expand its memory more than I needed. So as software and the internet evolved to require more memory and higher processor speeds, the computer could handle it.

Also, I really took care of it. Every couple of years, I had tech repair shops clean its insides to remove the dust that built up inside. You can also do this yourself, but I liked having a professional do it for me.

And part of it is that the machine itself was well constructed, which I learned the hard way when I dumped an entire bowl of basil chicken on the keyboard. In most current laptops, that would immediately fry the computer, but the way that computer was constructed I only fried the keyboard. Replacing the keyboard only cost me $40 and the computer lasted another three years.

The secret is buying tech that really fits your uses, looking at reviews like the ones on iFixit about how easy it is to repair and taking care of things once you have them. Put a case on your phone. For my current phone, which is too big for me to use in one hand because most phones are designed for men’s hands, which tend to be larger, I got a PopSocket to make it less likely that I will drop it.

What does your eco-conscious tech setup look like at home?

I think the greenest things I do are the things that I don’t buy, honestly.

What tech trends or products are the least sustainable?

The products that are the least sustainable are the ones that don’t, objectively, need to exist.

I try to tread lightly here because I’m aware that some products that leave me scratching my head can be for people with physical disabilities or mobility issues. Maybe that’s the reason behind, say, motion-detecting garbage cans, which I acknowledge are cool.

But even if that really is a mobility need, does it have to be connected to the internet so it can reorder its own garbage bags?

When I think about the tremendous resources devoted to just that, it shocks me. Amazon has since canceled the Dash buttons, but each button had a full circuit board inside it, and the company has said it sold millions. Think of millions of circuit boards — the oil converted into plastic, the ore mined and the electricity used to turn that into metal for the circuits just so you won’t forget to order laundry detergent.

Does the world need a smart water bottle, or can you just set a reminder on your phone to drink water?

You’ve started tracking your sleep. What have you done with the data? Has sleep tracking been helpful?

It’s less that I have sleep problems and more that I have a bad habit of neglecting sleep and then wondering why I’m so exhausted. It’s a common malady of modern life.

At the same time, I know how important sleep is. Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley, has this expression, “The shorter you sleep, the shorter your life,” so for the past year and a half I’ve been trying to get better about allocating enough sleep.

To that end, I have the dumbest smartwatch on the planet. It doesn’t have a GPS tracker, for example, and it has a standard watch face so almost nobody suspects it’s a smartwatch. I thought a really long time about whether I really needed it, but I’ve had it for just under two years and just replaced the watchband, so I don’t feel bad about it. I can send it back to the manufacturer to swap out the battery when it dies.

I don’t care at all about the sleep breakdowns like deep sleep versus R.E.M. sleep, which most research says are flawed and may be especially flawed for people with dark skin. I just care about total sleep. I try to use the data to make my sleep routine, and make sure that my weekly averages are decent.

Kendra Pierre-Louis is a reporter on the climate team. Before joining The Times in 2017, she covered science and the environment for Popular Science. @kendrawrites