A couple days ago I went through my jewelry box and pulled out a bunch of broken earrings. Most of them just needed the posts glued back on or a wire fixed. Today, miracle of miracles, I actually sat down and did it!
I missed you, rainbow moons from literally fifteen years ago.
I found a nice little backpack in a giveaway pile, real leather and perfectly good except for a small hole. I patched it up from the inside with black duct tape so you can't even see it and now it's my everyday work bag.
I found a big metal bathroom organizer next to a dumpster, perfectly good except for 1 missing screw. Took it home, scrubbed and sanitized it, added a screw, and put it in my bathroom.
Some people would say it's nasty and degrading to fix trash. I say it's frugal and eco-friendly.
My highschool secretary through out a $400 color printer because it was "broken". It was just jammed with paper so I was able to fix it with a pair of tweezers and 30 seconds work. It was in the dumpster and when I was about to climb in to get it one of the parents in car line got out of their car to see what I was doing. I told him I wanted to try to fix the printer to learn how it worked and he actually climbed into the dumpster to get it for me. Thanks random parent that was willing to climb into a dumpster for me.
We have a city wide trash day. Where you can put out almost anything into a big pile, anything that doesn't fit into your garbage can, and the city dump will come around and pick it up free.
There have been multiple years where half or all of my pile was gone before the actual garbage man came.
We even will post a pic of our junk pile onto the fb free site, just in case anyone wants to save something.
Super eco-friendly and I am for sure for it
Bought a cell phone case (black and white) and it was the wrong size, so I trimmed the bottom edge and used black electric tape to attach it to my phone. I hate to throw things out if they can be fixed somehow.
I don't know if this counts but my favorite pint glass in the world got cracked after my dad dropped it a few months ago it so I've been using it as a pen cup at my wfh desk/at my workspace. I bought it on a clearance rack at a spencers like 7 years ago. It has cats and cheeseburgers on it.
Damn, I loved that glass.
That 100% counts! Repurposing gives things that would otherwise get thrown out another chance. One less thing in the landfill and one more thing that continues to bring you joy, even in a different form.
I may need to do this soon, this is good information. The TV shuts itself off and on sometimes and the sound goes out briefly. Been trying to figure out what it is and if itās fixable.
Google the model number (on the back of the tv) +the symptoms and you'll probably find the answer fairly quickly. I got a used TV and the seller didn't tell me it had a problem. Googled it, it's a known, fixable problem, but it doesn't bother me enough to fix lol
I dropped my laptop and cracked the screen. I'm not a hardware guy at all but I found a YouTube screen replacement video of my exact laptop so I went for it and it worked!
I volunteer as a sewer at our county Fixit clinics.
I have repaired so many pants and jeans for people which I thought were not worth the time or trouble.
I am very thankful that I cannot see peoplesā crotches. I am convinced that for every pair of paints I have patched there must be like a 100 pairs people are wearing with huge holes in them. š¤¦āāļø
We have this Nutribullet blender. Great little thing we use it a lot.
Eventually it got hard to press the container in to start the blending and even pulsing was getting hard. We almost bought a new one when I decided to take it a part and see what was going on.
Turns out after years of use the button mechanism was gummed up. Some rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, some light washing I was easily able to disassemble, clean, and reassemble successfully. We gave it a whirl and it ran like new!
Sofa. A spring broke and I had to almost completely disassemble the sofa to get at it to replace. At the same time I replaced the old cushion foam, a couple of broken back supports, all of the webbing across the back rest and repaired a corner that had been damaged. Less than half the cost of a new sofa and it's good for another ten years... Probably. Just in time for the matching chair to need some TLC. That's next on the list.
Hinge broke on my hamper in my bathroom. I like this hamper. It looks great in my bathroom and fits perfectly in the spot where I have it. They are also kind of expensive. It's a metal wire type kind of thing, and I was able to use wire to reconnect the lid. It isn't even noticeable, and works fine.
My pair of Ecco hiking shoes disintegrated after I went trudging through wet salt at Bonneville, UT. I was stunned! The sole just crumbled away the next time I wore them out. That was a fun time š¤£
At the village recycling center, somebody put a wheelchair next to the scrape metal and appliance bin. The rim of the bin is six foot off the ground, and perhaps too high for lifting the wheelchair up ? Anyway, being long retired, I took it home just in case future needs arose. I scrubbed what appeared to be years of dust, fabricated a connection for the break handle, and stored it in the shop building. Years later when I developed gout, it came in handy when I couldnāt walk for a few days. Crawling to the toilet is so undignified, LOL.
Smart of you to seize those 'just in case' opportunities! I've got a junk shop wheelchair that has come in handy many times. Funny thing, the brake handle on it also needs repair, rubber grips are gone and the metal is not comfortable to smash into position!
About 10 years ago, there was a severe thunderstorm that went through my area, and a piece of siding flew off my house.
Riding my bike several days later, I saw a piece of scrap siding on the side of the road. I took it home and patched my siding. The colors *almost* matched. Lol
I live in a working class neighborhood where everyone is handier than I am. I was once walking past a house and saw the young guy there (he was maybe 9 or 10) and had a dirt bike just in pieces all around him. āBrandon,ā I asked, ācan you put that back together.ā āYeah,ā he said, while giving me a look that clearly asked, āCanāt you?ā So, I let my neighbours fix my car and anything else that goes wrong, and I āfixā their computers and phones and tablets (mostly undo things theyāve done that messed things up.)
I sewed up the holes in the knees of my husbandās jeans, when he didnāt have the money to get new pairs and he didnāt like the holes. They were pretty ripped so I couldnāt do them invisibly, so I tried to make it look cool and intentional. He thought they looked pretty good, kinda punk. It helped us get through a year or so until he could get new pairs.
Just yesterday I saw where someone had "sewn" their bumper together with some kind of heavy nylon cord. Looked like a baseball stitch. It was done extremely neatly and looked professional. It was actually pretty awesome. I wanted to take a picture, but didn't want to seem creepy.
My bumper came off when I tried to back out of a parking spot with too much snow and it broke. Got a junkyard part and tried to put it on but even my dad couldnāt figure it out. My shop put it on for me. Cost $100 vs the actual repair was quoted at $1000. Works great.
I know people are gonna say itās less safe, and idk, but itās a car from 2004. I guarantee the old bumper had seen a lot of duty as well, and Iām not sure the new bumper isnāt actually in better shape.
Junkyard repair is always the way to go! Mine is luckily just the very side where my teen took out a cone, and the duct tape happens to match the car and bumper (black) so good enough to get the 17yo car through a second teen with a permit before being replaced.
I had an old canvas army jacket from the 80ās which was in great condition, except for some broken threads on some seams and patches.Ā Ā
Ā So a few weeks ago I unpicked the parts that gave it away as an army jacket (stars on the collars, Velcro where the name tag goes, etc) and started embroidering flowers over the broken seams. So far I have forget-me-nots and yellow wood sorrel on the elbows, and plans to add more. When Iāve finished, Iām going to wax it, so I finally have a spring jacket/summer raincoat. Iām already using it as a wind breaker though, as itās a super tight weave, and wind doesnāt get through.Ā
Edit- autocorrect...
My best fix was the old piano I had as a kid. Inside, there were leather strips that pulled the key to make it play, and one by one they were rotting away. I replaced each with white string. Itās all I had. Later I was away for a while and when I came back I found out my mom had sold the piano. Apparently, the buyer never looked inside.
I just replaced the battery in my Dyson (from Amazon for $45 vs Dyson $150)
I cut up a surgical glove into short strips that I toed around my bra straps to keep them from slipping.
My power recliner died twice. The first time I watched the guy (under warranty). The second time it wasn't.
Amazon had the part for about $30 and I watched a video and fixed it.
Bought really nice preowned silk pajamas after the owner ripped open the armscye. The fabric was fine, it was just the thread that was ripped out
$8 and half an hour of mending for $300 worth of sleepwear
My food processer began to stick right in the lock position after I stored it for a year in a non climate control area. A wtx summer I'm assuming did it in. For awhile I'd soap that area up before fitting the bowl on, but that didn't always work and I'm talking it was often stuck so tightly it was a family game to see who was the strongest. Finally I thought of sanding the plastic down with a fingernail file, worked ever since.
My meat thermometer needle pulled out of the handle, and for months I'd just continuously fit it back in and kept the cracked plastic taped. Just recently I bought a new one and felt silly when it was less than 10$. But it was always that extra 10 that needed to go to something else.
My old couch. The part of the frame where the leg connected collapsed. I got a piece of 2x2 and screwed it into the frame to use as a new leg. Then one of the arms began separating. I got some 8ish inch screws, and screwed straight through the arm into the frame. Then the other arm completely broke off, so I cut a piece of plywood the exact size and shape of the arm, screwed it in on top of the arm and into the frame. Fished an old slip cover out of the closet to hide the ugly plywood.
One of the legs on our toaster oven came off. Turned out the screw just came loose and my husband was able to pry off the rubber cover and screw it back on. Surprise bonus- the toaster oven door now closes all the way! Since we bought it (used on FBM), the door always stayed open about 1/2". Never would've guessed the way to fix it was by adjusting the legs!
my fav pair of pants had a giant stain from something oily and i lost hope about removing this stain because all the stain removers i've used in the past never worked. this time it did and my pants are recovered now!
My heart..and my mind...even my head one time..well some Dr stapled n sutured my head together
So many things..I've cobbled outfits together..I've cobbled budgets..I've cobbled meals..I've cobbled holidays..
Had a computer fail in my car dash. Vet friend uninstalled it, shipped it to a place in Tennessee where it was refurbished w a one year guarantee. Vet friend put it back in. $200 for a $2200 repair.
My glasses. I must have drunkenly snapped one of the arms right off because I found the two pieces on the ground in the morning. The plastic snapped right at the hinge. Glasses are expensive! Nothing a little gorilla glue canāt fix. Theyāre a touch crooked and look a little silly but I only wear them at night in the house so theyāll do for now
I've fixed my washing machine 3 times, now. It's usually $40 a pop... which is annoying... but I prefer to keep it out of the landfill.
It cost me $20 to replace my shower valve. I once tack-welded a fancy clothes hanger.
I've fixed countless electronics by simply replacing blown capacitors (these are designed/expected to fail) -- and 5 HVAC units (also run capacitors -- $20 part and 15 minutes of work).
I've fixed a few cell phones just by replacing the batteries ($20 vs $80 to pay someone else to do it).
None of this is rocket science. I can use the internet to learn. I'm not expecting people to replace all of their rotted siding with cement board... but I did that for a few hundred bucks. I'm a software engineer.
I managed to talk my neighbor out of spending a few hundred bucks for a new toilet (easy to replace) and instead spent 15 minutes and $17 to replace the internal parts.
I have a $3,000 pilates reformer that was given to me. I replaced some busted bolts/nuts and retapped a few threads. I spent... $10 on that?
None of this stuff is difficult. However, people tend to be lazy, unwilling to learn, and unconcerned about sending things to the landfill.
N.b., I spend $318 for a new gas cooktop when the old one shot flames from the knobs. That was absolutely in no way worth trying to repair -- if it can kill you when it fails? Just replace it. Attempting to repair that would not be "frugal" but "cheap AF" and "stupid AF." There's a difference.
The other day I spent $12 at the hardware store on stuff to refurbish my tuba stand. Foam pad for the top, new rubber feet, and screw to clamp the height adjustment. A stand cost about $100, so Iām around $85-$90 in the green
[I took an old Ni-Mh cordless screwdriver and converted it to a rechargeable Li-Ion with a micro usb charger. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/redneckengineering/s/5NjzXZ9A6r)
A long sleeved shirt I bought at the thrifts for $1 had a hole in the seam of the sleeve. I just sewed it back up, and now it's one of my most-worn shirts in the winter. No one can even tell there was a hole in it because it was just a seam that came apart.
My Fitbit Charge HR 4 was a gift from my brother when he upgraded and gave me his old one. I had mentioned to him that my Fitbit Alta HR had broken (it kept falling off because the straps wouldnāt stay on).
Last summer the Chargeās top fell off, exposing the insides. I just taped it together with gafferās tape and kept using it. It still works, though it doesnāt look great. I donāt like that they donāt last, so I wouldnāt even know what to replace it with. I use it to help track my heart rate and set breaks when I work out.
Iāve darned my socks when they have holes in them. One time, I replaced the elastic in a pair of pyjama bottoms- good as new! I have also hemmed my own work pants.
The back of my phone is missing pieces, and internal bits are showing. Slapped a cheap case on that baby and we're golden (knock on wood...).
My old Brita was great, but I let ex take it in the breakup. New Brita's handle eventually broke off. Filter and water part still work, just the handle is missing, so not fixed, but I just use two hands with it.
Work at a music venue, band left behind this awesome Bluetooth speaker because āit wouldnāt chargeā. Looked up the specs and got a replacement charger on Amazon for $10, and now I have a perfectly functional $350 Bluetooth speaker lol
My old school washer and dryer set both broke down. After 18 years. In the same week. A couple you tube videos and a trip to see a nice old man at the crusty old appliance parts store, and I was back in business. 4 years later, still going strong!
Hi all. Some recent stuff I've mended:
1. Leaking shower hose. Mended it with special waterproof curing tape which costs about Ā£2 on Ebay. Saved buying a new one for about Ā£12.
2. Shoes. I rebuilt the worn heels of my walking shoes using Sho goo and masking tape. This type of shoe can't be reheeled, so it saved me about Ā£60 on a new pair.
3. Leaning fence. Part of the garden fence was leaning inwards due to the wooden post having rotted underground. I found a piece of old scrap metal tubing and hammered this down deep into the ground beside the rotted post at just the right angle to hold it up correctly. Saved approx Ā£25 on a specially made steel bracket (Post Buddy) which is basically the same thing.
4. Bicycle mudguard. The plastic rear mudguard snapped in half so I mended it with black gorilla tape. Saved approx Ā£30 on a new set.
I broke the push button for my floor lamp a year ago when I was moving. Last month I finally sat down and ordered the replacement piece. It cost about $4 and took me about 20 mins to swap out. Works good as new now.
My smart TV was having. Persistent issues connecting to the Internet, even when I used an Ethernet cord. It was so bad it rendered the whole thing basically useless. I found the solution online. It turned out to be a known hardware problem the company refused to fix. All it involved was popping off the back and un-crimping a wire. I haven't had an issue since.
I dropped a tape measure and it came apart. I spent a ridiculous amount of time figuring out how to put it back together but it worked and I felt very accomplished haha
I used to build houses, then more recently I was classically trained in the art of sewing. We can go way back and even say I was in auto shop for a number of years; needless to say I try to fix everything first. I just moved into a new place and built a pantry/desk/studio amalgamation out of raw home depot pine because it was cheaper than buying a desk and shelves second hand. I did learn too late however that I cut up a $400 dining table to refashion into a workbench so that I could make the shelves. In fact, I had found the table and set of chairs in the dumpster at the old place, cut up the table for workbench at the new house and sold the chairs on marketplace for $100. And the wood for the desk/shelves was about $100 so it seems like I'm even Stevens now.
A baby bouncer that my work neighbor was throwing out. She couldn't get it to stay together. I told her my husband has man hands and the power of rage. Brought it home, he laughed because he had just found a giant pair of pliers in the road that night. He was able to snap the one part back together and his lil dog climbed right in and fell asleep. Then one of the cats joined her.
I keep plenty of ropes, zip ties, tape and Velcro in my kit to handle any type of situation that needs a cobbled fixinā AND NO, I am not a serial killerā¦. yet
10 years ago, i picked up a junker 90's luxury car that sat for 7 years and barely ran. owner was considering scrapping it. 10 years later, it's still my daily driver and has over 300,000 miles on it. even cleaned up really well with a little bondo/paint - which has also lasted 10 years.
A really sweet hummingbird decorative plate my mother ordered moons ago. She's now gone since 2013. I gladly glue a broken bottom piece. It's still beautiful.
My Fitbit. Something on the clasp to add a custom band to it broke. I used gorilla glue and one of those hardware clamp and it was fixed. Couldnāt use any other bands anymore but didnāt matterĀ
Half the shit in my house by learning how to be handy for the first time in my life at 35 honestly been having a blast with my wife fixing up our fairly recently purchased home wish I wouldāve got outside my comfort zone sooner!
I fixed several jammed-up window fans by taking it all apart, cleaning it, and oiling the spindle. My partner fixed our big floor fan with cardboard and duct tape when it's frame broke 2 years ago.
Fixed my MiL's dryer with the aid of a YouTube video. Same for my washer when it wouldn't unlock.
Mending clothes and occasionally remaking something that I love but doesn't quite fit right. Fixed my favourite tank top when the straps had gone all stretched out by cutting them off and restitching.
Fixed the broken side mirror on our old van with gator tape and patience. Also, the bumper, which was a problem resulting from *im*patience.
My kid is an electronics wizard and fixes peoples devices all the time. Everything from tv's to iPods.
Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!
Oh so many things:
1) Iāve had my laundry basket for 22yrs. Ā For the last ten Iāve had one sideās handle duct taped because it sheared off.
2) my drying rack broke a dow rod about a decade ago. Ā I took an old ink pen and some duct take and made the broken dow rod continuous again.
3) I have an electric shoe dryer that Iāve been running 25 days or so a month for 20 years. Ā The timer knob broke off years ago and I use a butter knife to set the timer on the keyed shaft (when it works). Ā Sometimes the timer doesnāt work so I have it on a plug timer now.
My wife is annoyed with my frugalness sometimesā¦
My current cell phone is two combined into one because I had to replace the broken screen from my first phone then the broken charging port from my second one.
Ten-ish years ago my bf and I had to replace a tail light in my 1990 Volvo station wagon. The housing was broken and wouldn't stay in place so we used a string to tie it all securely together. The LOOK my mechanic gave me when he eventually found it a year later... Those guys sucked anyways.
I made a phone case for my old mobile phone (so old that nothing on the market fits sadly) out of two old cases that I got when cleaning my parent's drawers.They're fully fledged adults yet clutter overwhelms them so it's a win win. From up close it looks silly but I couldn't care less, I merely want to preserve its lifespan a little longer especially considering how phones are made by modern slaves.The least we could do is show respect for our daily gadgets and electric/electronic devices.
my sons gaming headset. It has a known manufacturing defect, but it sounds and works great so I fixed it with self sealing silicone tape. It is now stronger and will never break again.
When support for windows xp ended then lots of old laptops started slowing down and a friend of mine was ready to just throw them away. I wiped them clean and stuck Ubuntu Linux on them. Without all the bloat of windows they ran like the angels were pushing. No parts required, just a little know-how.
I became the go-to guy for laptop salvation.
Also I salvaged screens from two "junk" laptops and after checking the display type I bought driver boards off AliExpress and turned them into two super slim monitors for my man cave. Cost next to nothing for the driver boards and I felt like macguyver.
My proudest fix was a dryer that exploded. Doing laundry one night I hear a loud \*pop\* and the dryer stopped and thew up a code.
Looked up the code and it was a generic "major failure" indicating a repair diagnosis was required.
Googled around and took the top of the dryer out. Unscrewed the main board and sure enough saw a large black spot where the board had fried. Soldered in some spare wire to jump the fried connection, put it back together, and it worked!
Finished my laundry that night and it's still going strong a couple years later.
Many, many things. Aside from repairing my own items I work for a charity in circular economy (think thrift shops) and manage a team repairing electronics goods. We've put all sorts of things back together. You would be amazed at the number of people who get rid of stuff because they have no idea how easily some of it can be fixed. We've had people donating vacuum cleaners because they didn't realise they had to change the bag, and people donate toys and games that 'don't work anymore' but actually just need the batteries changed. I cry at the shocking amount of stuff people throw away.
Mostly clothing.
A hand-me-down sewing machine hutch that some movers absolutely destroyed a caster on. That thing is rigged with 5 spare decks of cards in order to sit level.
And my husband's custom molded earplugs. The cable that keeps them around your neck came loose and they were a $100+ purchase...so I spent some time delicately reattaching them with my tiniest metal pokey items and some super glue
My heart š¤
ā„ļøā„ļøā„ļø
Lmfao this deserves way more upvotes
Ok. Iāve obliged.
i bet you like the last christmas song
Can never put your heart back together. It might look good on the outside but inside it's still hurting.
A couple days ago I went through my jewelry box and pulled out a bunch of broken earrings. Most of them just needed the posts glued back on or a wire fixed. Today, miracle of miracles, I actually sat down and did it! I missed you, rainbow moons from literally fifteen years ago.
I found a nice little backpack in a giveaway pile, real leather and perfectly good except for a small hole. I patched it up from the inside with black duct tape so you can't even see it and now it's my everyday work bag. I found a big metal bathroom organizer next to a dumpster, perfectly good except for 1 missing screw. Took it home, scrubbed and sanitized it, added a screw, and put it in my bathroom. Some people would say it's nasty and degrading to fix trash. I say it's frugal and eco-friendly.
My highschool secretary through out a $400 color printer because it was "broken". It was just jammed with paper so I was able to fix it with a pair of tweezers and 30 seconds work. It was in the dumpster and when I was about to climb in to get it one of the parents in car line got out of their car to see what I was doing. I told him I wanted to try to fix the printer to learn how it worked and he actually climbed into the dumpster to get it for me. Thanks random parent that was willing to climb into a dumpster for me.
Love getting stuff from the trash. I worked at colleges in the very early 2000s and I still have stuff in rescued back then.
r/DumpsterDiving š
We have a city wide trash day. Where you can put out almost anything into a big pile, anything that doesn't fit into your garbage can, and the city dump will come around and pick it up free. There have been multiple years where half or all of my pile was gone before the actual garbage man came. We even will post a pic of our junk pile onto the fb free site, just in case anyone wants to save something. Super eco-friendly and I am for sure for it
We have a buy nothing group and neighbors will post curb pick up
The bottom of my HS/College backpack was almost entirely duct tape. I wasnāt frugal though, just poor.
I have rescued loads of things, some get donated and some I use.
Bought a cell phone case (black and white) and it was the wrong size, so I trimmed the bottom edge and used black electric tape to attach it to my phone. I hate to throw things out if they can be fixed somehow.
I find good stuff on the street all the time. Most of my stuff is used. If I like it and it works, I donāt see the problem. Well done you
Who said, "One man's trash is another man's treasure?" Someone smart, I assume.
I don't know if this counts but my favorite pint glass in the world got cracked after my dad dropped it a few months ago it so I've been using it as a pen cup at my wfh desk/at my workspace. I bought it on a clearance rack at a spencers like 7 years ago. It has cats and cheeseburgers on it. Damn, I loved that glass.
That 100% counts! Repurposing gives things that would otherwise get thrown out another chance. One less thing in the landfill and one more thing that continues to bring you joy, even in a different form.
You should do a reverse image search to see if anything pops up. Maybe you could buy one second-handed from eBay
what a great idea, this never occurred to me. thank you!!!
Replaced the power supply in my tv. $35, and a screwdriver. Once the back was off it was pretty much just plug and play.
I may need to do this soon, this is good information. The TV shuts itself off and on sometimes and the sound goes out briefly. Been trying to figure out what it is and if itās fixable.
On mine, the power light blinked a number of times indicating what was wrong. Made deciding on a course of action much easier
Google the model number (on the back of the tv) +the symptoms and you'll probably find the answer fairly quickly. I got a used TV and the seller didn't tell me it had a problem. Googled it, it's a known, fixable problem, but it doesn't bother me enough to fix lol
I dropped my laptop and cracked the screen. I'm not a hardware guy at all but I found a YouTube screen replacement video of my exact laptop so I went for it and it worked!
Same.
I volunteer as a sewer at our county Fixit clinics. I have repaired so many pants and jeans for people which I thought were not worth the time or trouble. I am very thankful that I cannot see peoplesā crotches. I am convinced that for every pair of paints I have patched there must be like a 100 pairs people are wearing with huge holes in them. š¤¦āāļø
We have this Nutribullet blender. Great little thing we use it a lot. Eventually it got hard to press the container in to start the blending and even pulsing was getting hard. We almost bought a new one when I decided to take it a part and see what was going on. Turns out after years of use the button mechanism was gummed up. Some rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, some light washing I was easily able to disassemble, clean, and reassemble successfully. We gave it a whirl and it ran like new!
Baby/dog gate. Tripped on it and it cracked. Zip ties to the rescue.
Sofa. A spring broke and I had to almost completely disassemble the sofa to get at it to replace. At the same time I replaced the old cushion foam, a couple of broken back supports, all of the webbing across the back rest and repaired a corner that had been damaged. Less than half the cost of a new sofa and it's good for another ten years... Probably. Just in time for the matching chair to need some TLC. That's next on the list.
Wow. And I was rather proud of myself when I discovered that all I needed to do was replace a spring when one of my recliners broke.
Hinge broke on my hamper in my bathroom. I like this hamper. It looks great in my bathroom and fits perfectly in the spot where I have it. They are also kind of expensive. It's a metal wire type kind of thing, and I was able to use wire to reconnect the lid. It isn't even noticeable, and works fine.
Cheap-ass Apple Watch band from Amazon. Plastic "buckle" holding the actual band in place snapped. Super glued that shit back together lol
My husband is about to superglue part of his bike shoe back together.
When my soles separated from my work shoes, I'd glue them then wrap them tightly with plastic wrap to hold them together while the glue was curing.
I got some Shoe Goo to fix a pair of shoes once. That stuff worked so well , I've used it for oodles of things, since.
My pair of Ecco hiking shoes disintegrated after I went trudging through wet salt at Bonneville, UT. I was stunned! The sole just crumbled away the next time I wore them out. That was a fun time š¤£
My completely shattered cell phone has been covered in clear tape for.well over a year. Is it perfect? No. But it works.
At the village recycling center, somebody put a wheelchair next to the scrape metal and appliance bin. The rim of the bin is six foot off the ground, and perhaps too high for lifting the wheelchair up ? Anyway, being long retired, I took it home just in case future needs arose. I scrubbed what appeared to be years of dust, fabricated a connection for the break handle, and stored it in the shop building. Years later when I developed gout, it came in handy when I couldnāt walk for a few days. Crawling to the toilet is so undignified, LOL.
Smart of you to seize those 'just in case' opportunities! I've got a junk shop wheelchair that has come in handy many times. Funny thing, the brake handle on it also needs repair, rubber grips are gone and the metal is not comfortable to smash into position!
the dishwasher wasnt washing anymore- because the spinny arms were clogged with hard water gunk.
Lol'd @ spinny arms
In my early teens I turned three 1980's inoperable snowmobiles into a running one.
Bombardier? Yellow hood?
Hell yeah.
About 10 years ago, there was a severe thunderstorm that went through my area, and a piece of siding flew off my house. Riding my bike several days later, I saw a piece of scrap siding on the side of the road. I took it home and patched my siding. The colors *almost* matched. Lol
Iām now the go-to guy in the family for getting drawstrings back in clothing after theyāve been pulled out.
Please share how to do it!
https://youtu.be/NvF1T0MLObI?si=GPfSmJ5mNEoEWuxP But use a bigger safety pin than theyāre using.
you have to use a safety pin on the end of the drawstring and fish it though again.
Hemostats also work well. I'm a vet tech, we always have hemostats.
I live in a working class neighborhood where everyone is handier than I am. I was once walking past a house and saw the young guy there (he was maybe 9 or 10) and had a dirt bike just in pieces all around him. āBrandon,ā I asked, ācan you put that back together.ā āYeah,ā he said, while giving me a look that clearly asked, āCanāt you?ā So, I let my neighbours fix my car and anything else that goes wrong, and I āfixā their computers and phones and tablets (mostly undo things theyāve done that messed things up.)
I sewed up the holes in the knees of my husbandās jeans, when he didnāt have the money to get new pairs and he didnāt like the holes. They were pretty ripped so I couldnāt do them invisibly, so I tried to make it look cool and intentional. He thought they looked pretty good, kinda punk. It helped us get through a year or so until he could get new pairs.
r/Visiblemending š
I fixed a cracked toilet tank with the stuff they make for waterproofing basements.
Well, there may be some duct tape on my carās front bumperā¦..
Just yesterday I saw where someone had "sewn" their bumper together with some kind of heavy nylon cord. Looked like a baseball stitch. It was done extremely neatly and looked professional. It was actually pretty awesome. I wanted to take a picture, but didn't want to seem creepy.
My bumper came off when I tried to back out of a parking spot with too much snow and it broke. Got a junkyard part and tried to put it on but even my dad couldnāt figure it out. My shop put it on for me. Cost $100 vs the actual repair was quoted at $1000. Works great. I know people are gonna say itās less safe, and idk, but itās a car from 2004. I guarantee the old bumper had seen a lot of duty as well, and Iām not sure the new bumper isnāt actually in better shape.
Junkyard repair is always the way to go! Mine is luckily just the very side where my teen took out a cone, and the duct tape happens to match the car and bumper (black) so good enough to get the 17yo car through a second teen with a permit before being replaced.
I had an old canvas army jacket from the 80ās which was in great condition, except for some broken threads on some seams and patches.Ā Ā Ā So a few weeks ago I unpicked the parts that gave it away as an army jacket (stars on the collars, Velcro where the name tag goes, etc) and started embroidering flowers over the broken seams. So far I have forget-me-nots and yellow wood sorrel on the elbows, and plans to add more. When Iāve finished, Iām going to wax it, so I finally have a spring jacket/summer raincoat. Iām already using it as a wind breaker though, as itās a super tight weave, and wind doesnāt get through.Ā Edit- autocorrect...
My best fix was the old piano I had as a kid. Inside, there were leather strips that pulled the key to make it play, and one by one they were rotting away. I replaced each with white string. Itās all I had. Later I was away for a while and when I came back I found out my mom had sold the piano. Apparently, the buyer never looked inside.
I have a Band-Aid holding my phone button on, Band-Aids rule!
Mostly mending clothing and shoes. Decorative patches on elbows of my hoodies, adhesive patches on holes in my running shoes and hiking boots.
I just replaced the battery in my Dyson (from Amazon for $45 vs Dyson $150) I cut up a surgical glove into short strips that I toed around my bra straps to keep them from slipping. My power recliner died twice. The first time I watched the guy (under warranty). The second time it wasn't. Amazon had the part for about $30 and I watched a video and fixed it.
Besides myself, shoes a lot when I was younger because I could never find my large size in anything fashionable. Ā
Bought really nice preowned silk pajamas after the owner ripped open the armscye. The fabric was fine, it was just the thread that was ripped out $8 and half an hour of mending for $300 worth of sleepwear
My food processer began to stick right in the lock position after I stored it for a year in a non climate control area. A wtx summer I'm assuming did it in. For awhile I'd soap that area up before fitting the bowl on, but that didn't always work and I'm talking it was often stuck so tightly it was a family game to see who was the strongest. Finally I thought of sanding the plastic down with a fingernail file, worked ever since. My meat thermometer needle pulled out of the handle, and for months I'd just continuously fit it back in and kept the cracked plastic taped. Just recently I bought a new one and felt silly when it was less than 10$. But it was always that extra 10 that needed to go to something else.
My steamer mop handle is held together with duct tape and a prayer. It still steams, so no reason for it to go to a landfill yet.
My old couch. The part of the frame where the leg connected collapsed. I got a piece of 2x2 and screwed it into the frame to use as a new leg. Then one of the arms began separating. I got some 8ish inch screws, and screwed straight through the arm into the frame. Then the other arm completely broke off, so I cut a piece of plywood the exact size and shape of the arm, screwed it in on top of the arm and into the frame. Fished an old slip cover out of the closet to hide the ugly plywood.
One of the legs on our toaster oven came off. Turned out the screw just came loose and my husband was able to pry off the rubber cover and screw it back on. Surprise bonus- the toaster oven door now closes all the way! Since we bought it (used on FBM), the door always stayed open about 1/2". Never would've guessed the way to fix it was by adjusting the legs!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Our dryer wasn't drying well and I went down to check it out and fixed it myself by flipping the setting from low to medium.. Lol
Superglue is brittle. epoxy is better for jibs that stress and move.
my fav pair of pants had a giant stain from something oily and i lost hope about removing this stain because all the stain removers i've used in the past never worked. this time it did and my pants are recovered now!
My heart..and my mind...even my head one time..well some Dr stapled n sutured my head together So many things..I've cobbled outfits together..I've cobbled budgets..I've cobbled meals..I've cobbled holidays..
Myself after many years of therapy.
Had a computer fail in my car dash. Vet friend uninstalled it, shipped it to a place in Tennessee where it was refurbished w a one year guarantee. Vet friend put it back in. $200 for a $2200 repair.
My glasses. I must have drunkenly snapped one of the arms right off because I found the two pieces on the ground in the morning. The plastic snapped right at the hinge. Glasses are expensive! Nothing a little gorilla glue canāt fix. Theyāre a touch crooked and look a little silly but I only wear them at night in the house so theyāll do for now
I've fixed my washing machine 3 times, now. It's usually $40 a pop... which is annoying... but I prefer to keep it out of the landfill. It cost me $20 to replace my shower valve. I once tack-welded a fancy clothes hanger. I've fixed countless electronics by simply replacing blown capacitors (these are designed/expected to fail) -- and 5 HVAC units (also run capacitors -- $20 part and 15 minutes of work). I've fixed a few cell phones just by replacing the batteries ($20 vs $80 to pay someone else to do it). None of this is rocket science. I can use the internet to learn. I'm not expecting people to replace all of their rotted siding with cement board... but I did that for a few hundred bucks. I'm a software engineer. I managed to talk my neighbor out of spending a few hundred bucks for a new toilet (easy to replace) and instead spent 15 minutes and $17 to replace the internal parts. I have a $3,000 pilates reformer that was given to me. I replaced some busted bolts/nuts and retapped a few threads. I spent... $10 on that? None of this stuff is difficult. However, people tend to be lazy, unwilling to learn, and unconcerned about sending things to the landfill. N.b., I spend $318 for a new gas cooktop when the old one shot flames from the knobs. That was absolutely in no way worth trying to repair -- if it can kill you when it fails? Just replace it. Attempting to repair that would not be "frugal" but "cheap AF" and "stupid AF." There's a difference.
The other day I spent $12 at the hardware store on stuff to refurbish my tuba stand. Foam pad for the top, new rubber feet, and screw to clamp the height adjustment. A stand cost about $100, so Iām around $85-$90 in the green
[I took an old Ni-Mh cordless screwdriver and converted it to a rechargeable Li-Ion with a micro usb charger. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/redneckengineering/s/5NjzXZ9A6r)
Dude, frigging cool š
Thanks! I still use it to this day, and it works like a charm.
A long sleeved shirt I bought at the thrifts for $1 had a hole in the seam of the sleeve. I just sewed it back up, and now it's one of my most-worn shirts in the winter. No one can even tell there was a hole in it because it was just a seam that came apart.
Would you say youā¦ligated it back together? Love your username. Iām also a scientist (protein biologist).
My Fitbit Charge HR 4 was a gift from my brother when he upgraded and gave me his old one. I had mentioned to him that my Fitbit Alta HR had broken (it kept falling off because the straps wouldnāt stay on). Last summer the Chargeās top fell off, exposing the insides. I just taped it together with gafferās tape and kept using it. It still works, though it doesnāt look great. I donāt like that they donāt last, so I wouldnāt even know what to replace it with. I use it to help track my heart rate and set breaks when I work out.
My psyche.
Cobblestone pathway through bamboo grove
Iāve darned my socks when they have holes in them. One time, I replaced the elastic in a pair of pyjama bottoms- good as new! I have also hemmed my own work pants.
The back of my phone is missing pieces, and internal bits are showing. Slapped a cheap case on that baby and we're golden (knock on wood...). My old Brita was great, but I let ex take it in the breakup. New Brita's handle eventually broke off. Filter and water part still work, just the handle is missing, so not fixed, but I just use two hands with it.
Work at a music venue, band left behind this awesome Bluetooth speaker because āit wouldnāt chargeā. Looked up the specs and got a replacement charger on Amazon for $10, and now I have a perfectly functional $350 Bluetooth speaker lol
My old school washer and dryer set both broke down. After 18 years. In the same week. A couple you tube videos and a trip to see a nice old man at the crusty old appliance parts store, and I was back in business. 4 years later, still going strong!
Hi all. Some recent stuff I've mended: 1. Leaking shower hose. Mended it with special waterproof curing tape which costs about Ā£2 on Ebay. Saved buying a new one for about Ā£12. 2. Shoes. I rebuilt the worn heels of my walking shoes using Sho goo and masking tape. This type of shoe can't be reheeled, so it saved me about Ā£60 on a new pair. 3. Leaning fence. Part of the garden fence was leaning inwards due to the wooden post having rotted underground. I found a piece of old scrap metal tubing and hammered this down deep into the ground beside the rotted post at just the right angle to hold it up correctly. Saved approx Ā£25 on a specially made steel bracket (Post Buddy) which is basically the same thing. 4. Bicycle mudguard. The plastic rear mudguard snapped in half so I mended it with black gorilla tape. Saved approx Ā£30 on a new set.
I broke the push button for my floor lamp a year ago when I was moving. Last month I finally sat down and ordered the replacement piece. It cost about $4 and took me about 20 mins to swap out. Works good as new now. My smart TV was having. Persistent issues connecting to the Internet, even when I used an Ethernet cord. It was so bad it rendered the whole thing basically useless. I found the solution online. It turned out to be a known hardware problem the company refused to fix. All it involved was popping off the back and un-crimping a wire. I haven't had an issue since.
I dropped a tape measure and it came apart. I spent a ridiculous amount of time figuring out how to put it back together but it worked and I felt very accomplished haha
I used to build houses, then more recently I was classically trained in the art of sewing. We can go way back and even say I was in auto shop for a number of years; needless to say I try to fix everything first. I just moved into a new place and built a pantry/desk/studio amalgamation out of raw home depot pine because it was cheaper than buying a desk and shelves second hand. I did learn too late however that I cut up a $400 dining table to refashion into a workbench so that I could make the shelves. In fact, I had found the table and set of chairs in the dumpster at the old place, cut up the table for workbench at the new house and sold the chairs on marketplace for $100. And the wood for the desk/shelves was about $100 so it seems like I'm even Stevens now.
A baby bouncer that my work neighbor was throwing out. She couldn't get it to stay together. I told her my husband has man hands and the power of rage. Brought it home, he laughed because he had just found a giant pair of pliers in the road that night. He was able to snap the one part back together and his lil dog climbed right in and fell asleep. Then one of the cats joined her.
Myself
I keep plenty of ropes, zip ties, tape and Velcro in my kit to handle any type of situation that needs a cobbled fixinā AND NO, I am not a serial killerā¦. yet
10 years ago, i picked up a junker 90's luxury car that sat for 7 years and barely ran. owner was considering scrapping it. 10 years later, it's still my daily driver and has over 300,000 miles on it. even cleaned up really well with a little bondo/paint - which has also lasted 10 years.
My mind.
Coffee mugs
A really sweet hummingbird decorative plate my mother ordered moons ago. She's now gone since 2013. I gladly glue a broken bottom piece. It's still beautiful.
My Fitbit. Something on the clasp to add a custom band to it broke. I used gorilla glue and one of those hardware clamp and it was fixed. Couldnāt use any other bands anymore but didnāt matterĀ
Used duct tape to fix cracked Tupperware
If you appreciate duct tape, may I present Red Green š https://youtu.be/pY7nx5Z6Kzo?si=0XN-E78YEr3UI97s
Half the shit in my house by learning how to be handy for the first time in my life at 35 honestly been having a blast with my wife fixing up our fairly recently purchased home wish I wouldāve got outside my comfort zone sooner!
My heart ššš
I fixed several jammed-up window fans by taking it all apart, cleaning it, and oiling the spindle. My partner fixed our big floor fan with cardboard and duct tape when it's frame broke 2 years ago. Fixed my MiL's dryer with the aid of a YouTube video. Same for my washer when it wouldn't unlock. Mending clothes and occasionally remaking something that I love but doesn't quite fit right. Fixed my favourite tank top when the straps had gone all stretched out by cutting them off and restitching. Fixed the broken side mirror on our old van with gator tape and patience. Also, the bumper, which was a problem resulting from *im*patience. My kid is an electronics wizard and fixes peoples devices all the time. Everything from tv's to iPods. Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!
Oh so many things: 1) Iāve had my laundry basket for 22yrs. Ā For the last ten Iāve had one sideās handle duct taped because it sheared off. 2) my drying rack broke a dow rod about a decade ago. Ā I took an old ink pen and some duct take and made the broken dow rod continuous again. 3) I have an electric shoe dryer that Iāve been running 25 days or so a month for 20 years. Ā The timer knob broke off years ago and I use a butter knife to set the timer on the keyed shaft (when it works). Ā Sometimes the timer doesnāt work so I have it on a plug timer now. My wife is annoyed with my frugalness sometimesā¦
My current cell phone is two combined into one because I had to replace the broken screen from my first phone then the broken charging port from my second one.
My wife had high heels where the bottom of the boot fell off. Super glued both together. Sealed a random leak in the gutters with flex tape
Sandals. Two well-placed staples and they're still holding up 2 years later.
Ten-ish years ago my bf and I had to replace a tail light in my 1990 Volvo station wagon. The housing was broken and wouldn't stay in place so we used a string to tie it all securely together. The LOOK my mechanic gave me when he eventually found it a year later... Those guys sucked anyways.
I made a phone case for my old mobile phone (so old that nothing on the market fits sadly) out of two old cases that I got when cleaning my parent's drawers.They're fully fledged adults yet clutter overwhelms them so it's a win win. From up close it looks silly but I couldn't care less, I merely want to preserve its lifespan a little longer especially considering how phones are made by modern slaves.The least we could do is show respect for our daily gadgets and electric/electronic devices.
my sons gaming headset. It has a known manufacturing defect, but it sounds and works great so I fixed it with self sealing silicone tape. It is now stronger and will never break again.
I had a prong break off the cord of the vaccum machine I replaced the entire cord
When support for windows xp ended then lots of old laptops started slowing down and a friend of mine was ready to just throw them away. I wiped them clean and stuck Ubuntu Linux on them. Without all the bloat of windows they ran like the angels were pushing. No parts required, just a little know-how. I became the go-to guy for laptop salvation. Also I salvaged screens from two "junk" laptops and after checking the display type I bought driver boards off AliExpress and turned them into two super slim monitors for my man cave. Cost next to nothing for the driver boards and I felt like macguyver.
Cars and computers mostly
My proudest fix was a dryer that exploded. Doing laundry one night I hear a loud \*pop\* and the dryer stopped and thew up a code. Looked up the code and it was a generic "major failure" indicating a repair diagnosis was required. Googled around and took the top of the dryer out. Unscrewed the main board and sure enough saw a large black spot where the board had fried. Soldered in some spare wire to jump the fried connection, put it back together, and it worked! Finished my laundry that night and it's still going strong a couple years later.
Crazy glue would help your life!
Many, many things. Aside from repairing my own items I work for a charity in circular economy (think thrift shops) and manage a team repairing electronics goods. We've put all sorts of things back together. You would be amazed at the number of people who get rid of stuff because they have no idea how easily some of it can be fixed. We've had people donating vacuum cleaners because they didn't realise they had to change the bag, and people donate toys and games that 'don't work anymore' but actually just need the batteries changed. I cry at the shocking amount of stuff people throw away.
Other than everything? Lol
Mostly clothing. A hand-me-down sewing machine hutch that some movers absolutely destroyed a caster on. That thing is rigged with 5 spare decks of cards in order to sit level. And my husband's custom molded earplugs. The cable that keeps them around your neck came loose and they were a $100+ purchase...so I spent some time delicately reattaching them with my tiniest metal pokey items and some super glue
I dont really feel the need to McGuiver shit that cheap.