Don't Trash It, Fix It!

Hello again!

The other day, as I pulled my sunglasses out of my purse, I made a terrible discovery. My sunglasses had lost a screw!

:(

Now, I have had these particular glasses for a long time. I COULD have just chucked them and bought a new pair for pretty cheap. But I didn't want to. For one, I really like these sunglasses. Additionally, all that had really happened was a screw had gone missing. I knew I could easily find an eyeglass kit and replace the screw.

Fixing what we can is the ultimate middle finger to the culture of consumption. It's a way of rejecting the status quo. And it is SUCH an empowering feeling. Seriously, successfully repairing something provides a unique kind of boost.

It is also good for the Earth. Now, rather than fossil fuels being processed into plastic, a factory turning the plastic into glasses, spewing pollution into the air, and all the transportation required to facilitate this, I bought a repair kit that can be used to fix this exact problem 9 times, AND saved my favorite sunglasses from the landfill.

Here is my kit, purchased from Dollar Tree. Other sources of such kits include grocery stores, optometrist offices, and other companies with small giveaways. These little kits are good to have around. I plan to keep mine in my sewing kit.

This kit contains 3 tiny screwdrivers (1 phillips and 2 flatheads), a cute little magnifying glass, a lens cloth, 9 screws, 2 replacement nose pads, 4 stick-on comfort cushions, and 2 "plastic starters." (I have no idea what those are for. Do you?) All of that in a cute little box.

Fixing the glasses was pretty easy once I got the arm positioned such that I could place the screw. I didn't even use the magnifying glass. They are now as good as new, although all of this fixing has me thinking that I might want to touch up the chips on the frame with nail polish!

Take a look!

Thanks for stopping by. Have you fixed something recently, instead of just replacing it? Tell me your story in the comments!