Reconsidering “If it ain’t broke. . .”

You’ve heard it for years, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And in a throw-away culture, it seemed to work. The days of throw-away culture are over. The money we were throwing away took flight on its own and is gone. Suddenly, we are holding on, recycling, making do.

The big, important elements of your life–your marriage, your career, your house, your car–demand daily work and tinkering. You can’t leave them alone until they break. The consequences are too costly.

“if it ain’t broke. . .” never considered maintenance care. Keeping up with career skills, developing new ideas, contributing to your team collaboration is all maintenance work. Waiting until your job is “broke”–and you are laid off–is a harder choice. Fixing something generally leaves scars, or at least proof of mismanagement, is costly, either emotionally or financially, and takes more time than maintenance. Marriage counseling, for example, lasts months and saves marriage. A divorce is expensive, damaging, and forever. I speak from experience.

Maintaining your car keeps you in it and driving. Ignoring the owner’s manual, the dash lights, and that funny sound will not result in a miraculous cure. I’m often amazed when people call into Car Talk and describe a noise or vibration that they have ignored for months thinking it might go away. Sometimes it does go away, only to be replaced by something far more expensive, starting with a tow truck. Even Tom and Ray offer  ways to recession-proof your car and it includes regular maintenance.

Maintenance on your marriage, career, and car aren’t all fun and aren’t all cheap. But taking a look at small things long before “it’s broke” is a way to a longer life, a happier one, and a fatter wallet.

—Quinn McDonald is a writer, life- and creativity coach who teaches people how to communicate clearly at work and in a journal.

Riding the Freecycle Away From the Landfill

The large burly man looked doubtful.
“We can’t take those shelves, ma’am,” he said mournfully, “they are used.”
My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. “They are bookcases, and I’ve used them for years. I just don’t want to move them,” I replied.
He shook his head. “We don’t have no use for them, not used. They been painted.”
“They haven’t been painted. I bought them that white color.”
He shook his head. “No. They been painted. We don’t take painted, old bookcases.”

Freecycle

I wasn’t going to argue. He wasn’t taking the bookcases. Maybe because they were in my studio in the basement, maybe because his charity would never be able to use bookcases, even though they could hold video games or toys or clothing.

He left with the things his charity did not deem “used,” or “old.” I was beginning to feel both.

I dragged the collection of unloved items to the curb. Bookcases, several sets of roll-around drawers, two plants that won’t survive the trip, a laundry rack complete with hamper, a wood stand, some smaller items. I attached a sign that said, “FREE,” and went inside.

The city of Alexandria will take anything you can put at the curb, amazingly large items, but they come once a week. They will not come back, even if you are moving.

Within an hour, there was a swarm of activity on my block. About a dozen people milled around the “used” bookcases, and then, to my astonishment, things began to disappear. Within two hours the only thing left was the “FREE” sign.

The freecycling worked. I put out things in good repair, but not new. They were clean. Other people saw something they needed and wanted. It was a good exchange. I don’t have to move it, they can use it. Nothing goes to the landfill.

No, I don’t make money. But I’m OK with it. I want these usable items to continue to serve someone, to give them a new home with someone who needs them. And now I’m leaving a little bit of memory behind in a middle-class, thrifty neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia. It’s my idea of the new American Dream–Freecycle, reuse, keep it green and out of the landfill.

–Quinn McDonald is a writer and certified creativity coach who is moving to Arizona. See her work at QuinnCreative.com