Clean and Reuse

Had to know when you wash windows it rains and it makes me get why we live in a disposable society.  Went to clean my cellular shades, they are a bit moldy, dusty and just plan dirty. Not an easy proposition. (Pictures don't do it justice.)  Warm water, soft brush, mild detergent, and elbow grease and although cleaner not completely clean, it would be easier and more expensive to replace, but they will do for now.  

The temptation to just toss and order new ones is strong. I definitely can see why people do not bother to make do and reuse, if time is limited, which mine is not, it is a lot of work, four shades cleaned and rehung took nearly two hours. That is just one room. If you work outside the home this is hardly the way you'd want to spend your time off and if you do not why would you want to spend your life energy this way.  Multiply that by all of the things that are hard to get clean, hard water marks on faucets, tight spots in window frames, shoes and other clothes with stains, grungy linoleum, etc. and we have dirty stuff that only gets worse so we buy new which is clean and shiny. It is generally not as good of quality when replaced and it causes us to work at jobs we don't like to pay bills. What a mess we are in as a group.

Who was it who said that we lead lives of quiet desperation, they have it partly right when you consider that we buy things we do not need to replace things we don't have time to fix or clean and have to work to pay for it all.

An alternative is to clean and fix as we go, so that it is not a big job, but a small one. One step at a time before it all becomes too big and we just toss and replace.  Now, there is always room to replace, our tastes change and we want to update our style, but what I'm talking about is saving time and money by not letting things get out of hand so we get overwhelmed.

The Amish I believe have the right philosophy do what you are doing, do it well and present while doing it. They believe we have choices and chose to do what needs to be done. By being present to our surroundings, instead of I will fix it later or clean it thoroughly when I have time, they believe in stopping and fixing it now, clean it now and do it right. I bet in the long run it does not take as much time or energy as it does to wait until the small projects become big ones.