Rescuing Used Items

Yesterday I went into St Vincent de Paul, which is like a Salvation Army used store. I like to pop in there a couple of times a month at least, just to have a look around at what might be available at an amazingly cheap price. This practice allows me to be frugal, and also allows me to support the notion of keeping perfectly good item from making their way into the overcrowded landfill site. Far too many people in our society throw out perfectly good items just because they want the latest-and-greatest model.

When I saw this coffee maker I grabbed it right away, because I'd been looking for a small-sized coffee maker to augment my Aeropress. I did not want a full-sized machine in part because we do not have much space, and in part because smaller machines make better coffee because the longer the grounds are in contact with the hot water, the lower quality the coffee. It was not until I got home that I realised it was almost the exact same colour of red as our coffee grinder, to boot!

A few other gems I picked up yesterday include a 600ml stainless steel cone-shaped measuring cup for a buck, a brand new large-sized stainless steel tea ball for 69 cents, and hardcovered ledger/notebook for a buck 50! I've taken advantage of some really great finds at StVdeP over the years. One of the more notable ones was the Paderno fying pan I nabbed for 4 bucks! It was the mate to the one I already had, which goes for 30 or 40 bucks new. And in fact the used one I picked up was in better shape than the one I'd already had!

In general we try to buy things used because it is so much better for the environment. We prevent all the packaging from going to the landfill (and as we have written about, recycling really is not that much better than throwing something away), and we prevent the pollution and consumption of natural resources caused by the manufacture of the new item. And we break the consumerist cycle.