Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, Or Do Without

Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, Or Do Without

The Three Year Experiment  Make It Work

Earlier this school year, my cell phone was stolen.

I’ve never really been sure what happened, and the police have never figured it out, but here’s what I do know.  When I left my garage for school, I had my cell phone in the car with me. Sometime between the time I arrived at school and 10:30, when I realized I didn’t have my phone, my phone was stolen. We (meaning the police, the school administration, and I) believe I left my car unlocked and someone came into the parking lot and stole my phone. I looked up the phone on Find My Phone when I got home that night, and it took a joy ride down to the airport before going dark, forever.

Obviously, I was bummed. Not only did I lose my Iphone 7, which I’d bought the previous summer, and all the pictures in it, but I also had to get a new phone. I did not want to spend another $350 (which is what I’d spent to get the refurbished Iphone 7).

But I needed a phone. Even during my experimentation with Digital Minimalism, it was obvious that I needed a phone.

Enter Mr. ThreeYear with a solution. He pulled out my old Iphone, which had a cracked screen, and suggested we take it to get the screen fixed. We took the phone to UBreakIFix, which is an electronics repair store about 15 minutes from our house.

We got a quote for a new screen and a new battery. Because the phone was an older model, both repairs came to less than $100. We went ahead and had the phone repaired, then picked it up later that evening.

We also ordered a new case online from Amazon.

By the time we were finished, it felt like I had a new phone. Sure, the camera wasn’t quite as nice as my previous phone, but it worked, and I paid around $110 to have it refurbished, versus over $350.

Use What You Have

One of the lessons Mr. ThreeYear learned well as a kid growing up in a third world country was that when something breaks, or when something’s stolen, you have to figure out how to move ahead with what you have.

Like the frugal lessons I learned from my in-laws, I’ve learned a lot about making it do from my husband.

They didn’t know the WWII-era proverb growing up, Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without, they just lived it. Making do was part and parcel of my in-laws’ DNA.

When something broke, instead of rushing out and buying a new version, they fixed it.

Since we’ve collectively been in quarantine as a world, I have no doubt that this old proverb has been lived out by millions of people around the planet.

As a nation, we’re not used to facing shortages, but since March we’ve had to make do with shortages of toilet paper and paper towels, alcohol, Clorox wipes, dish soap, and now meat (good thing this was the year we’ve opted to eat more vegetarian!).

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.thethreeyearexperiment.com/make-it-do/