Just because it costs to fix something, does that mean we shouldn’t fix it? Sometimes I think it’s worth paying to fix something, instead of buying another. Where I live, there are people who collect scrap metal and take it to recycling centres. An old iron would do. I’m sure kids would like to play house with it too.

Hi, sorry, I think I phrased that badly.

Of course if you can fix it, you should try to fix it - John always fiddles around with our stuff to try to repair it when it breaks, sometimes with success, other times not so much. I think at that point, you might as well try to fix it because you’re not going to break it any further - you might get it working again (at least for a little while) or it might stay broken, no loss.

Supporting local repair shops (where they still exist) is also a good thing if like me, you’re likely to get a capacitor lodged in your eye as soon as you even think about getting the soldering iron out - but the financial costs is often a snagging point there: this article is an interesting read about that side of things.

I think the key thing is to think long-term when you buy things: don’t go for the cheapest option, go for the one that will work for years and is easy to fix if something goes wrong.

-louisa

Dress it up and use it as a door stop?

bookend
door stop
paperweight

Use them to make toast :D

if you know someone that snowboards, they can use it to wax their board! (skiiers too..)

Donate it to a local school or theater to use in their plays as a prop.