do you repair broken things?

[K-Mom3]

I mostly have a question about my stroller--not sure if this is the right place for it. I put it here because I want some opinions from some like minded people.

In order to save money and keep things out of the landfill, I often repair things that are broken, mend clothes, etc. much more than my friends who seem to think little of throwing stuff away and buying new things. With my stroller, though, I'm trying to decide if this is one of those times that I should just give up on repairs and invest in something new.

I bought a used double jogging stroller for $35 and it functioned for a while--now I can't keep the tires inflated for even a block. I just replaced the tubes (I got the self-sealing kind) and it still happened. I can spend about $40 for new tires and tubes but I'm not sure if that will even fix the problem. Can't decide if it is worth it to keep putting money into this thing. I have about $100 in Christmas gift money and I could try to find a better stroller on Craigslist....

What would you do? How do you decide when to repair something and when to throw it away?

[LaughingHyena]

I'm usually up for repairing things but there does come a point where I would rather just buy another than spend the time/money fixing stuff. DH is pretty handy so most repairs are things we will tackle ourselves.

In your case I would consider taking the stroller to a bike place, since many jogging type strollers take bike wheels a lot of the bikes shops here will repair them.

If I;m not up for the time or money to fix something I will stick it on freecycle, with an estimate fo the cost to fix and repairs needed etc. Most things seem to go.

FWIW I got our stroller from freecycle because the wheel had fallen off. It took me less than 5 minutes and a washer to fix it. We've been using it for a couple of years.

[cschick]

Can you take the tires off and sink them in a tub with water? Squeeze them and find the bubbles (other option is to "paint" with a mixture of soap+water and squeeze). My bet is that you're going to find something has punctured the outer tire and is still there, thus is poking holes the inner tube.

The "self-healing" tubes can only do so much. They're really only intended to get you home if the inner tube gets punctured.

[KariM]

I do and did!

We bought a double jogging stroller at the Salvation Army Thrift store for 25 dollars. I took it down the block to the local bike shop and had new tubes and tires put on. When I was finished I ended up paying 83 for the stroller.

For a bit more, yes, I could have had a new stroller, but I like the idea of supporting local charities and businesses and also like the design of the old stroller better than the low end options on new ones.

[HollyBaby]

I'll repar or mend something unless the cost is 75% or more of the replacement cost. It's wasteful to throw something away because it needs to be rehemmed, or because a new part would be $5 and 10 minutes of time for something that would be $80 to replace. The industrious Victorians and those who lived through the Depression would be ashamed at the wastefulness we see so often now.

[ALittleBitCrunchy]

I repair where I can, but it's not 100%. I've been through 2 garage sale bread machines in the past 6 months. This time, I'm just paying the $40 to get a factory refurbished basic one I like. I feel like used bread machines aren't economical for me right now. I also bought a new sewing machine after finding out the repairs would run more than what I had paid for it...and that for 40% more I could buy a new one with the features that I need for my new projects.

So...it depends