make do and mend; is it worth it?

[mrsflibble]

yes. most of the time it IS... but for a £6 electric whisk from argos? dunno.....

[mrsflibble]

in this case... no. had a looksee, i see some really chewed up cogs. I can't replace those so it's got to be a new whisk

[fruitcake]

Spooky - I was just having the same conversation with OH earlier today - both my aluminium frame coldframes are worse the wear from the winter storms, being kicked by cattle etc - there's not much glass left at all and the frames are a bit bent - I've been meaning to get round to measuring up and going to a local plastics manufacturer and ask if they'll cut me some new perspex panels, but I need so many panels replaced now I'm almost tempted to chuck them in the recycling and order new ones off 'tinterweb - I've been so busy, away loads for work and am pretty tired that my ishy'ness might slide a bit further down the slippery slope.

Re the cheapy whisk - I'd stick it in the small electrical recycling box at your local dump and treat yourself to a new one - or polish your halo and buy a second hand one off fleabay

[StripyPixieSocks]

I make do and mend as much as possible BUT when it comes to kitchen equipment and other tools, sometimes the cheap stuff is a false economy.

Say you pay £6 for an electric whisk over paying £24 for a good one and the £6 one lasts a year (if that with some cheap stuff)... in the end you keep having to buy these whisks over and over instead of just paying a good / reasonable price for something that is going to last for a long time costing more in the long run.

This is my experience anyway and yes, I know what it is like being on an almost non existent budget but I'd rather save up for something that's going to last me a good few years!

[Sinmara]

I always look at the reviews on the Argos website, helps a lot when buying kitchen appliances :)

[Keaniebean]

I think it definately depends on what it is, clothes, shoes, garden stuff, cars can usually be mended, but I have to say things in the kitchen are usually replaced here when really necessary. I do loads of cooking and usually make do without something for ages before replacing it though.

I did make sure I had a new washing machine the same day mine broke though, with 3 young kids and washable nappies at the time it just wasnt an option to wait for one.

[Annpan]

We try to make sure that what we buy is repairable, some kitchen brands are better than others at this. Having said that, our Braun hand blender/whick/ mini-processor wand broke (a stupid plastic cog worn out) and it couldn't be repaired... I used it 3 times a week for 3 years... we needed to get a new one, a philips, which cost the same but isn't nearly as good

[crowsashes]

i have one of those old hand whisks!! much easier to repair!

the only problem these days, things just arnt made to last, look at the magimix stuff ( only one off the top of my head i can think of) if it breaks you can get a replacement part!

i find this site useful for spares if you need them

http://www.espares.co.uk/

repairing is better than buying new in some cases just not others

[Susie]

I set my cheap T*sco blender on fire making houmous. I bought another one for making soap (I don't learn) and the design of it is so absolutely crap I seriously think one day I might take it round to T*sco head office and poke their chief executive with it and say, look at that, how am I supposed to clean it. Perhaps they don't expect you to use it more than once. I have now learned my lesson and will buy no more cheap kitchen appliances. Crowsashes that is interesting about magimix, I never look at their stuff because they are dear, perhaps I will rethink.

[grubbysoles]

I set my cheap T*sco blender on fire making houmous.

For some reason that has just made me laugh 'til I pooped myself! Brilliant! How?!! You must have been really whizzing that thing! I've been considering a VitaMix (is that the same as MagiMix?) but they are SO expensive. I would literally have to save up for it for months and months, but everyone says they pretty much last forever... I'm sure Susie could set it on fire though

[citizentwiglet]

I learnt my lesson with a 'Value' hand blender for baby food when Ellis was small - it lasted three days, and the hardest thing it had mashed was cooked apple.

I guess I'm lucky that we get a lot of hand-me-downs from people who chuck out perfectly good stuff because, say, it no longer matches the kitchen tiles. That's how we got our microwave, toaster and kettle. Our 30 year old hand-me-down jug blender has just bitten the dust, I was lucky enough to get one from Freecycle which is almost brand new.

I must say, I'm not awfully good at fixing things - particularly if they are electrical things. I'm a bit scared of the potential for burning my house down.....

[crowsashes]

yes magmix are expensive i want one myself, i do a lot of baking and can justify the cost especially as i know people who have had them for decades! after suffering buying cheap goods for years i have decided it is time to start spending a little more. if you whisk cost £6 and broke every month or so it would equal the price of a magimix or other quality mixer in no time

my bed for example was £150 its not even 5 years old, brought it at uni and it ended up in storage for a while. its now officially broken! going to get one thats around £500 ( decent mattress and base ) and hopefully it will last more than five years and stop my back ache.

my electric cooker is the same, cheap as hell and it cant cook evenly as i found out yesterday slicing up bread! one end was perfect, the other uncooked

kettles are the same. so as items break now, im replacing them with quality items rather than value brands. it means i have to wait longer but ill not haveto replace themas often

[snapdragon]

Depends depends
am darning (for the third time) some wool socks that I knitted and are comfy to the 'n'th degree, but shop bought socks with a hole in 'em wil become duster/floorcloth/whatever.
small electricals don't appear to be designed for repair though

[wulf]

Not quite available yet to anyone without a fair degree of technical skill but low-cost 3D printers are becoming a reality (for example, RepRap). These will help "make do and mend" catch up with many of the gadgets we take for granted in the modern age. Potentially, you could design a new set of cogs with a 3D CAD program and then print them in plastic, moving something like the handwhisk described into the realm of "fixable".

There is even work being done on allowing home recycling of plastics. For example, it is feasible to take the plastic used in milk cartons, shred it up and turn it into a mix that can be run through the machine and used to print out soft plastics. The example given was producing a pair of child's sandals, which could be shredded and reprinted with an extra bottle or two thrown in every time they need to go up a size.

Wulf

[Green Aura]

I agree that repairability(?) is important.

Many years ago I bought a Dualit toaster. I had to put up with loads of teasing from pals about being trendy and wanting a loft apartment next (yawn). The reason I bought it was, having worked in the NHS, for donkeys years where every ward churned out reams of toast I knew there was very little to go wrong and those bits could be replaced.

About 12 years on we've just, as in 2 months ago, replaced one of the elements. I wonder how many "non-trendy" toasters all my critics have gone through in that time!