Repair? Or buy new?
A choice that many of us have to make when something we have goes wrong or wears out. My electric oven died after many years of service and I wondered what to do. When is it economically better to invest in new or do I simply repair what I have and who do I use to repair it? TheBestOf Taunton & Bridgwater has many repair technicians that can help you decide.
Whilst cooking dinner the other night my oven blew the fuse and died. I don’t know who was more miffed, the kids because the wifi went off or me because the dinner wasn’t cooked! Anyway, it wouldn’t get hot anymore so cold suppers all round. I rang a domestic repair technician called Tim Brown, a local man with an excellent reputation who I’ve known of for years and used sporadically. He said he could pop in within an hour and take a look. He came, he diagnosed and he repaired on the spot with a spare part from his stock, charged a very reasonable amount (less than some call out fees!) for the entire job and was a pleasure to have in the house. My oven is now working properly and I can cook dinner tonight all for less than £75. Repair in this case was the very best option for me, for speed, for economy and for the environment. Nothing is going to landfill, the dead element will be recycled and no new appliance was needed. I supported a local business too, which makes me happy, and it was all completed within two days. Win Win I think.
This brings me onto when is it necessary to buy new? I have an old pair of Levi’s that I’ve had for nearly thirty years which were very costly when new but definitely worth the expense. They have washed and been worn so many times and feel like a part of me. As they wear thin, I will mend them until they are more mend than original. Patches or embroidery, whatever takes my fancy at the time. I believe that things can be mended. My parents believed the same thing and we enjoy bringing things back to life or giving them a new lease of life. They did it with an old cottage we moved into, renovating and revealing the history of the house, making good and giving it new purpose. I’ve done it with my first car, an old 1970’s VW Beetle, found in a barn and restored to it's former shiny noisy glory. I had an old Rayburn MF refurbished and converted to oil when we moved house, and my best boot fair find was an old Spong Bean Slicer that was exactly like the one my Nan used for years. It’s like being back in her kitchen every time I use it.
My point in telling you all this, is that old is not necessarily outdated, reusing something has a definite benefit to our household economy and can help our planet immeasurably by using less power, less packaging and sending less to landfill. Now I’m not so naïve to believe that it will work for everything, sometimes we have to buy new. Sometimes we want to buy something new, and I’m all for that too. However, I definitely want to make a case for repair before replacement. At TheBestOf Taunton & Bridgwater we have just the right people to help you too. Next time you need a tradesman or a repair technician take a look at our directory here and find your local repair person with a stellar reputation as recommended by TheBestOf Taunton & Bridgwater. We have locksmiths, garage door repairs, window repairs, drainage repairs, aerial services, plumbers, builders, and too many others to fit here. Take a look for yourself next time you need something fixed.
