Being thrifty is being green
Before I was born, or so my Gramma said, people would buy clothes, repair them when needed then hand them down. When they finally expired, people would eventually turn them into quilts. In our house, old sheets and pillow cases would become rags for my Dad’s automotive shop.
It seems that todays society has made shopping into a sport. Malls are the size of small towns, designed to handle 10’s of 1000’s of cars. Shopping carts can hold complete dishwashers!
Our house has quite a bit of ‘new’ products but only when we need the warranty. A lot of the kids gear is used as they out-grow it SO FAST! That includes toys, clothes, bedding, dressers etc. etc. We visit sites like FreeCycle.org, Craigslist, Kijiji, eBay and more.
Bartering is big amongst my wifes ‘mommy group’ where she’s 1 of 300 mothers who are local and meetup to swap baby clothes and toys. It’s a fun event.
Schools also have toy swaps, or at least they used to when I was a kid. When my boys reach that age, we’ll see if the school has one, if not, we’ll start it.
so by swapping, recycling and keeping an eye open for deals, you really are helping the environment and in some ways, stimulating the local ecoonmy by putting cash back into the parents hands.
It’s a good circle to be part of.