Here’s a question that’s been I’ve been wondering about for a while: at what point is it better to buy something new than keep repairing something old?

On this site, we’re all about reducing & repairing – not buying things new for the sake of it or because they’re a bit scuffed & dirty – but with many things, you reach a point of diminishing returns and it feels like you’re throwing good money/time/resources after bad: at some point you have to make a decision to replace it. I suspect the precise point where that occurs depends very much on the item but I wondered what you think about when you’re deciding whether to repair or replace.

Is it a question of your skills? the item’s repairability? availability/affordability of new parts? its not-just-financial value? Other factors?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Not one of our usual “how can I recycle/reduce/make this?” type questions but I’m hoping some of you might be able to give me some advice.

About once a week, some ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS jokers leave comments on the site, attempting to insult us all and bragging about how they’re more than delighted to send whatever item were discussing to landfill – and I just don’t know how to respond to them, other than assuming they’re trolls and pressing the delete key.

I personally have very clear opinions on the environment and climate change (and, well, everything to be frank ;) ) but by and large, I keep that off the site – as much as I want everyone to be a dirty hippy like me, it’s not what the site’s about. Everyone has their own motives for reducing, reusing and recycling, I just hope that the ideas on this site can help inspire people no matter why they’re doing it.

But these wacky commenters… Ok, sometimes our questions/ideas can be a bit crunchy but we’re not forcing them on people so I don’t know why they’re responding like that. Aside from it possibly being a manifestation of guilt or the like, I don’t understand how someone can get so venomous about someone else wanting to reuse a toilet roll tube to grow seedlings in.

Other recycling/green bloggers – do you get similar comments? How do you respond to them?

Does anyone come across these people in real life too, where it’s not as easy to just hit the delete button and ignore them?

June. The month that starts summer. The month when we should be dusting down our sunglasses and joyeously celebrating the fine weather with picnics on the beach. And yet here I am, in a thick winter jumper and woolly socks, flanking myself with cats to keep me warm. Our house is north-facing so windchill aside, it’s generally warmer outside than in but this is getting silly now. JUNE.

In the evenings, even with jumpers and post-dinner warmth, we get rather chilly and start contemplating the options. Usually it suffices for me to just tuck my feet under a blanket and pile on another cat, but sometimes John starts pawing about turning on the fire or the central heating.

We usually stay together in the living room in the evening so it doesn’t seem to make sense to heat the whole (small) house with the gas-powered central heating radiators but the central heating is pretty efficient and it heats the room in a fraction of the time we would need the (also gas-powered) fire to achieve the same warmth. We’re not looking for a sauna, just something to take the chill off the evenings.

Any thoughts as to which is more energy efficient?

Most of the vegetable stalls at our local farmers’ market don’t advertise themselves as organic (possibly just because they’re not Soil Association-approved organic) – but most of the labelled organic veg in the supermarket has been shipped half way from Africa if not further afield.

I suspect this is a better-for-self versus better-for-planet question but I’m not sure – since the pesticides etc on the non-organic veg are damaging the environment in countless different ways anyway.

We can’t always go to the wholefood/organic shops in the city centre that offer local, organic produce (albeit at a price) and my own organic garden veg are currently just seedlings being eaten by slugs, so what is the better alternative?

Ok, so obviously it’s far greener to use public or human-powered transport but if you have to drive, what’s better: to drive a more-energy-efficient new car (I’m thinking a standard petrol/diesel car, not an electric or hybrid one) or fix up and use an old car instead?

I suspect it’s a balance of unnecessary consumption and waste versus ongoing inefficiency – but does anyone have any details about which is the better option? Are there any other benefits to a new car than that?

Does the amount of miles you do make a difference? And what about the electric or hybrid cars – do they swing the balance in the favour of a new car, despite the resources it takes to make them?

I would love to hear what everyone thinks about this.

(Photo by cwcav, c/o sxc.hu)