Often when we need something the first thing we do without even thinking about it is go to a store and buy it. Did you ever think of buying the same item but only used?
How many things do we go out and buy then only use periodically or even just a few times then it goes in a drawer or on shelf? In days gone by I was very guilty of this myself. I would need a specific item to overcome a problem and just cruise off to the hardware store or something and buy it. Use it and then go put it in the shed where it would join the other few thousand items that I rarely if ever used.
Then me and the wife bought a new house. I had to clean out all of my old stuff and get it ready to move. Thing was that our new home didn’t have a big outbuilding on it for me to store all of my what I thought at that time were valuables in. I thought about renting a facility to store them in and compared that to the price of building a new building on the property we were buying. Not wanting to forego the extra cost of financing a new out building I posed all of this to my wife. I’ll never forget what she said. Honey why not just sell it? You never use those things but once about every 5 years or so, and they just take up space.
It hurt but I did it. I put a lot of it on Craig list, and I took a bunch to a local pawn shop and sold it.
I operate differently now. When I need a tool I might rent it from Home Depot. If it’s a small hand tool I might buy it from a my favorite local pawn shop here in Louisville which is J&M Pawn Shop on Dixie Hwy, then when I’m done sell it back to them. Or put it on Craig list and sell it.
Doing it this way cuts down on the amount of these items that need to be produced. This in turn cuts down on the energy used and pollution created in manufacturing and delivery. Also it’s a lot more cost effective for me in the long run.
It’s crazy how much stuff I buy from pawn shops now. I’ve bought cameras, laptops, tools, jewelry, a muzzle loader, tv’s and countless other items. Some very unique and hard to find. And none of these goods or items needed to be manufactured. They were already there!