The Trifecta of Non-Consumerism

by Katy on September 13, 2011 · 12 comments

Sheets on the clothesline, an in-process piece of project furniture and a garbage picked patio umbrella. Kind of the trifecta of Non-Consumerism. Ahh . . . .

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }

Megg September 13, 2011 at 8:15 am

Yesterday I drove past a set of patio chairs (but no table 🙁 ) on the curb! I almost stopped but I was running late AND had my little car and I don’t think I could have fit them 🙁 I’m so sad thinking about it now!

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Katy September 13, 2011 at 8:26 am

Yup. We all have those coulda, shoulda, woulda items. Comfort yourself knowing that maybe someone in need was able to bring them home.

Katy

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Megg September 13, 2011 at 11:13 am

True! I will think of it that way instead 🙂

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Rebecca September 13, 2011 at 9:17 am

I have had so many of these! Here is my latest:

1- I have about 200 green tomatoes on my patio trying to ripen, my plants died and I am attempting to save them so I can can one more batch of sauce.

2- My border of rocks around our flowerbeds is still unfinished after 4 years, I am not paying for ROCKS, so I collect them when I find a good size and add it to the border, I have about 10 ft left.

3- 80% of my kitchen cabinets are empty because we started refinishing them and had enough empty space elsewhere in the house to store the dishes. Then our son’s health issues flared up and everything got put on hold. That was 3 months ago, and I don’t even miss the extra space because my simple, decluttering lifestyle has freed up more than enough storage space in our home.

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Shannon Breen September 13, 2011 at 1:36 pm

Does that mean I can stop calling the overflowing drying rack on my screened porch “a mess” and label it “non-consumerism” instead?

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Katy September 13, 2011 at 5:45 pm

Yes. It is a “Non-Consumer work in progress.” 😉

Katy

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Linda September 13, 2011 at 4:29 pm

I’m impressed, very nicely done.

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Practical Parsimony September 13, 2011 at 9:07 pm

That is a very nice trash-picked umbrella. It looks as though you have a metal base for it. How did you come by that?

My biggest non-consumer project that is midway is the heating of the grill to burn off my dozen iron skillets. I did that. Then, I left them in the grill to rust. Actually, they started rusting as soon as they were cool enough to handle. Most of these are found ones and are going to be sold. I need to sand them down, one each day, and coat them with oil. Next is a bench I need to paint. And, there is a bookcase on the back porch that I was going to paint and bring inside the use. Now, it is such an asset on the porch that I will just paint it and leave it outside on the porch.

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Katy September 13, 2011 at 10:00 pm

After my whole elaborate plan to make a stand, it turned out that my mother had a stand for a umbrella that had been ruined.

I still need to find the right size set screw, but otherwise, we’re pretty much set!

Katy

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Kristie September 13, 2011 at 9:55 pm

At the risk of being stalkerish, did you find your umbrella in SE at the corner of SE 32nd & Taylor? The day you first posted about your fab find I saw a man & woman rescuing a patio umbrella from the curb as I walked my girls to school. I was curious if it was you! 🙂

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Katy September 13, 2011 at 9:59 pm

Yes, that was me. Too funny!

Katy

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Laura's Last Ditch--Vintage Kitchenwares September 14, 2011 at 4:54 am

Love it! We have a clothesline, trash-picked patio umbrella (WITH trash-picked base), trash-picked bench and lawn chairs, garden taking up 2/3 of the yard, and what I call a frugal swimming pool–an outdoor shower made from a Mountain Dew barrel, salvaged PVC pipe, and a watering can head. Our yard looks pretty strange (in a good way, of course) . We do not have a piece of furniture in progress, though I wish my husband would take our Salvation Army dresser out to the back yard and start on it.

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