By ALISON COMEY
Strapped for cash, we’re rethinking our “toss it out” mentality about items – big and small
If you grew up with parents who survived the Great Depression of the 1930s, as I did, hand-me-downs were as much a part of your childhood as the family washer with missing knobs and the old refrigerator. Purchases were made only when they could be paid for; the Sunday roast reappeared until nothing was left but gristle.
Baby boomers moved out with furniture saved for such an occasion: mismatched, and frankly beat-up but still serviceable, along with random dishes and utensils and dented pots and pans that would never have been discarded.
We then filled our wallets with credit cards and loaded them with charges for accoutrements of the lifestyle we aspired to—remember the “Me Decade?”
And, still smarting from embarrassment about not getting the authentic Frye boots we wanted, to the best of our ability and sometimes beyond, we furnished our children with what all the other kids had or desired. They then became creatures of constantly evolving technology, amassing piles of outmoded gaming and music systems, cellphones, and computers.
After the onset of the Great Recession of 2007, even those of us lucky enough to have our income stream uninterrupted began embracing economies like grocery coupons, layaway, dollar stores, and thrift shops that we’d previously dismissed and revived a practice that would make my parents proud: saving money.
Our newfound frugality is now focused on making possessions last longer. Fortunately, there is a thriving network of local businesses dedicated to delaying planned obsolescence—or offering expert advice about when it’s wiser to replace than repair.
Appliances, of course, are always the big-ticket items.
Mr. Van Etta’s primary service area is from Sagamore to Falmouth to Barnstable and points in-between, though he does venture down-Cape. A diagnostic house call costs $69, “plus parts and labor from there.” He tries to carry as many parts on his truck as he can, although the fact that manufacturers tweak components often makes it difficult to keep inventory current and causes some parts to become unavailable for models only 10 or 15 years off the showroom floor.
Another influence on the longevity of contemporary appliances is their dependence on cutting-edge technology. “Just like with cars, the more electronics involved, the more expensive it is to fix versus anything mechanical,” he said.
And it isn’t your imagination that they don’t wear as well they used to. “Years ago, an appliance might last 15 or 20 years or more,” Van Etta said. “Now, 10 years is a good lifespan. Cost, plus the age of the appliance, will always dictate whether I recommend repair or replacement.”
“Five or six years ago,” he said, “when money was flowing and people were refinancing their homes for extra cash, they were more willing to throw a perfectly good appliance away. Now, it’s a different story, and they prefer to make a $125 repair to a washer instead of paying $500 for a new one, just to get another year or two out of it.”
Other costly elements of modern life are televisions.
Tom’s TV Service in Buzzards Bay (www.tomstv.net) is owned by Tom Vespers and also manned by fellow factory-authorized master electronics technician Don Dostie. They have performed warranty and out-of-warranty service on the leading brands since 1970, and also sell new televisions at prices competitive with the discount chains.
The first advice Mr. Vespers offered is that, when purchasing, “major brands are better. Cheap sets are really pretty disposable. The most common failures now involve circuitry, as opposed to when you could just put in a new tube. As a rule, you don’t want to spend more than 70 percent or 80 percent of replacement cost on a repair, and that will never be worth it on a $200 set.”
For warranty work, Tom’s TV can get any part needed (if it isn’t already on hand) within two days, bringing the turnaround of getting your set back to between two and four days. Unwarranteed televisions cost $50 for in-shop diagnostics, the expense of which will be applied toward your repair, performed at an hourly rate of $60. A house call base cost is $88. “We try to figure out your problem with you before we go out, so we’ll have the right part when we get there,” Mr. Vespers said. “Sometimes we can even talk you through trouble on the phone remotely, at no charge.”
Although “we’ll try to fix anything, if you want,” Vespers offered, “parts become difficult to get for any TV older than 10 or 12 years—about the lifespan of modern sets, versus 20 years in the past. Remember the old Zenith slogan, ‘The quality goes in before the name goes on’? They really don’t make them like they used to.”
Harmony Hut Repair in Falmouth (www.harmonyhuthifi.com) has been a Cape Cod institution since 1972, the locus of owner Frank Murphy’s passion for technology and music. Here’s a place you’ll probably never hear the word “obsolete”; Murphy never stopped repairing turntables and his is now “the only shop between here and Amherst,” where you can buy needles. His staff works on video game players, VCRs, stereo receivers and speakers, car radios and cassette players, and disc jockey equipment as well as laptop and desktop computers, monitors, towers, and flat-screen TVs, both in and out of warranty.
Another specialty is the sale and maintenance of musical instruments (they service the Falmouth School System’s band inventory) and accessories—guitar strings, reeds, et cetera. Harmony Hut also stocks a treasure trove of video games for systems “going back to Atari” as well as many strategy manuals.
Mr. Murphy is part preservationist, all pragmatist. “I just lowered my price on reconditioned laptops to stay in line with the cost of a new one,” he said. “You have to move with the market.” He sells the latest computers and TVs at a price that is comparable to his neighbor, Wal-Mart, with whom he has a surprisingly amicable relationship. “You want something I don’t have, I’ll send you to them, and vice-versa.” He drives to pick up his stock to keep his profit intact and gives generous coupon discounts on his in-home computer tune-ups, so his customers have no reason to look elsewhere.
Vacuum cleaners operate on electric motors, so they’re easily repaired by skilled hands. Cape Cod Vacuum Mart (www.capecodvac.com), operated by the Boffoli family for over 40 years, has branches in Falmouth, Hyannis, Yarmouth and Orleans. In addition to selling vacuums, they work on shampooers, steam cleaners and carpet extractors, and carry accessories, including bags you can’t find elsewhere, belts, filters, and freshener cartridges, as well as stocking hardwood floor cleaner and “universal” vacuum attachments for the usual diameter of interfaces.
Household adornments don’t have to cost as much as more utilitarian furnishings to be valuable to you, and Charles Mazzone understands that.
My Clock Shop in Sandwich (www.myclockshop.com) is his labor of love. He’s been repairing and restoring antique, vintage and modern clocks for the past 20 years. After retirement, he expanded his hobby into this “by appointment” business in 2007.
Mr. Mazzone’s website explains his affinity for clocks and details what an actual repair or overhaul involves:
“We see everything from 18th-century heirlooms to battery-operated quartz clocks; typically, the clock has little intrinsic value, so the question arises: is it worth repairing? If a customer is asking me based on the notion of selling it, more than 99 percent of the time, the answer is no. But even though the best I can offer is a good faith, estimate repair cost—you never know what you’ll find—along with a guarantee of the work, the lowest quality piece is often most important to the person who owns it.”
Falmouth Lampshades, Lamp Repair, and Restoration in West Falmouth (sometimes called Europa, for the name of its building) is owned by Nick and Nancy Zeytoonian.
Craftsman Nick performs the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of lamps and candelabra fixtures in his workshop. “I might advise that a repair will cost more than the worth of a lamp, but I’ll never turn down the work, and everyone gets the same level of service.” He also creates commissioned pieces, such as a lamp made for a man from an airplane piston that “saved his life,” one fashioned from an artillery shell from the World War I battlefield at Verdun, and a recent restoration of a piece created from a Civil War rifle manufactured in 1850. Repair prices are related to the particular lamp and range of work requested. “Anything can be made into a lamp,” he said. “A favorite vase is a popular starting point. “But,” he enthused, “the shade really makes it complete, and that’s Nancy’s domain. She’ll try different sizes, shapes, and textures—things you would never think of—and find the exact right one to make it really stand out.”
Falmouth Lampshades stocks an array of shades, most of which are manufactured in the US, and are made of linens, silks, fine paper, and parchment, in some nautical prints but mostly solid neutrals (“sandy colors”). The smallest shades start at $15, and the price increases according to size and material. They also sell parts such as harps and unique finials, and carry the Wildwood line of fine lamps.
You can also update wooden furniture without replacing it. Bird’s Furniture Restoration in East Falmouth, a family business since 1970, can perform “repair through full restoration” that’s safe for glues and veneers, using organic chemical compounds instead of “dip and strip” water-based techniques. “We can do whatever you want—stripping, refinishing, painting, matching and patching of veneer. If you’re local, we’ll come out and look, give you an estimate—our shop rate is $75 and hour—and transport the piece for you,” owner Larry Mathews said.
“The quality of things today is not the same as 100 or even 25 years ago. Apples for apples, you can buy a $35 chair, but that’s just what it’s worth. What I tell people is to go looking to see what it costs to replace what they own, and, nine out of 10 times, you’ll see it’s more economical to restore.”
Your leather goods deserve preservation, too. Falmouth Shoe and Leather Repair (www.capecodshoerepair.com), operated by artisan cobbler Victor Hadewar and his wife, Samira, performs everything from a simple half-sole on your favorite sandals, stretching new shoes, or cleaning and polishing boots to the restoration of handbags, luggage, golf shoes and bags, jackets, saddles and tack, and they can even repair torn boat canvas, expensive hockey padding, and outdoor furniture. They also make and refurbish custom orthotics.
It’s a family affair; Victor’s 86-year-old father still works in the Centerville shop, and there’s a location in Orleans, too. “It’s a fading craft,” Samira lamented. “No one wants to work with their hands anymore. But Victor has been doing this work since he was 14 years old, and we’ve put five children through college with it. He can make your leather look brand-new.”
Beyond great dry cleaning, Capeway Cleaners (www.capewaycleaners.com) offers other services.
Headquartered in Buzzards Bay, with seven other locations throughout Falmouth, Mashpee, Sandwich, and Cedarville, Capeway, owned by Rick and Cheryll Pidgeon of Bourne, also offers a host of other services, including alterations. School uniforms are frequently brought in for tailoring, to keep up with growing kids without breaking the bank, and they specialize in military uniform cleaning, creasing and patch alterations and additions and offer all uniformed personnel (including police and fire employees) a 10 percent discount on uniform cleaning. They restore and preserve heirloom clothing and offer water-repellant treatment on raincoats, jackets, and even ties, an excellent way to keep expensive neckwear looking new for the spill-prone.
Capeway also cleans and repairs leather, suede, and fur. They perform complete detailing of Ugg boots, golf and other sport shoes and sneakers, as well as more basic shoe repairs. One of their more intriguing services is feather pillow revitalization, which involves removing the ticking (and allergen-laden residues inside), cleaning and deodorizing feathers with an ultraviolet process, and blowing the feathers back into new ticking, restoring your beloved pillows for between $13 and $18 apiece.
Finally, don’t forget your costly outdoor tools. Ray Oliver of AAA Lawn Mower Service and Small Engine Repair in Falmouth, said, “It’s just like car maintenance: if you buy a good piece of equipment and perform yearly tune-ups, it will keep performing for you.” A lawn mower tune-up costs $50, a fraction of the cost to replace it. He also works on chain saws, other motorized lawn and garden equipment, and generators.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” is a corny old adage, but it’s also true.