Thursday, May 25, 2017

The War On Waste - Part 2

Tuesday night was the second episode of this 3-part series on how wasteful we are as a nation.

However, the greatest thing about this show on the ABC is that they're not sugar-coating anything. The journalist has been telling us exactly what's been going on, who's avoiding him, which emails are saying what and who's giving him mixed messages in those emails too. 

We are being told that we are a wasteful, throwaway society, unable to fix things, refusing to accept old things or second-hand things. And yet, when I had to change my living room around - and update it to what I wanted it to be - I found that getting somebody (anybody!) interested in my 30 year old sofa-bed was impossible. 

Not a single charity wanted it. Life Line complained about the 20cm tear in the arm. Vinnies did the same (and yet they never saw it, they just said no over the phone). And I refuse to go anywhere near the Salvos because they sent out a guy who had just gotten out of prison to pick my last donation - and he left me with half my furniture and was rude as hell to me.

So, today, Dad and I took the sofa-bed to the Browns Plains 'Smart' Tip to see if the store over there would take it off my hands.

But no... they heard about the tiny tear in the arm and they said it would go to landfill.

Now, I'm watching that show 'War On Waste' and we are being accused of being wasteful. And this is one thing I'm not. I have second-hand furniture, second-hand clothing, second-hand books, second-hand vinyls and second-hand kitchenware... and yet, a dump store wouldn't take my second-hand sofa-bed. 

Before you all ask me - no, there's nothing wrong with the bed. It's fine. It's been used all of 3 times in the 15 years it's been with me; and that tiny tear in the arm? Well, that's been that size since I bought it at Springwood when I first moved into my place. Before that, the people we bought it off - through 'The Trading Post' - had had it for another 10 or 15 years before me. 

Why is it that after I've done all the right things to get rid of my sofa-bed, it ends up in the very place I didn't want to end up? 

I tried selling it on Gumtree - but nobody wanted it.

I tried giving it away through friends and family - but nobody wanted it.

I tried giving it away on Facebook sites - but nobody wanted it there either. And the person who did, unfortunately had unexpected health issues and couldn't pick it up.

I tried donating it - and none of the 3 big charities wanted it because of the 20cm tear!

I took it to the Browns Plains 'Smart' Tip - and they said no because of the 20cm tear! And told me to dump it!

This is getting beyond a joke! How long will it take until we realise that a tiny tear in the arm of a lounge or a chair won't destroy the ego of the next person who gets it.

It didn't destroy my ego when I bought the lounge. I needed a lounge - so I bought it with the tear. So whoopie, it had a tear! that tear didn't get any bigger over the past 15 years... this is why I got a cover for it, so it wouldn't. 

So, before you go on Gumtree or any of the charities (who are really fussy as all shit about what you're going to donate - honestly they are), just take all your furniture to the dump and throw it away. It's just not worth it, people. I know that sounds depressing - and it is - but really, if I couldn't sell a 30 year old sofa-bed with a tiny tear in the arm, how are we going to get rid of any of the clutter in our houses without adding to landfill? 

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

The War On Waste

Last night, on the ABC television, I watched an hour of television which really educated and saddened me. It was a documentary which showed me how much food we are wasting in Australia - and yet, the government is blaming us, the consumer, for this problem, when it's got nothing to do with us.

It starts at the farmers. They pull in more food than we can eat - that's enough food to feed over twice our population - and yet they are forced to throw away over 40 tonnes of it every day because it doesn't look right, it's too long, it's too short, it's too thick, it's too thin... sounds like I'm describing something disgusting, right? Well, I'm not. I'm describing bananas. Our farmers are throwing away so many bananas where there's nothing wrong with them except their size and yet, they're wasted because the big shopping centres think we don't want to eat them.
But this is to their strict standards of how food should look; making us fussy customers - which in turn makes the farmers waste so much on their farms. Putting it in ordinary terms: the farmers throw out about 40% of what they pull in every day - something they could be donating to food banks, sending to people who can't afford to eat and making sure we all eat.

Another way food it being wasted is at the shopping centres. There's big industrial bins out the back of the places where so much food is being thrown out instead of being used in the food banks. There are people who bin-dive to survive on the food there; and they are the most unlikely people as well. 
Over 20 years ago, when I was younger and working, I used to skateboard around the back of one of the local shopping centres and bin dive to find they threw out the best things! There were magazines, bread, fruit and vegetables, bags of chips and nuts... all within date. When I was spotted by security, the shopping centre whacked a padlock on the bins. Were they in denial or did they do that for my own safety? I'll never know. But if that was happening over 20 years ago, I wonder if they're doing this still.

It's not just food being wasted either. 

There's clothes, furniture and other essentials in life which makes our lives so much more comfortable which is being wasted by being tossed in landfill. 

I recycle everything I can before I have to throw it out. Almost all my clothes are from op-shops, so are my books, vinyls and furniture. 95% of my house is filled with second-hand and op-shopped items - the acception being my bedroom where I bought myself a brand new bedroom suite with a new mattress after 20 years of sleeping on the same bed (and the springs in it started poking through into me). 
When my clothes no longer fit me I donate them if they're in good-enough shape. Or if they're falling apart, I cut them up into rags and use them to clean my paint brushes or to polish my furniture. Once those rags are no longer useful, I cut them into strips and use them to tie to garden stakes (yep, I haven't used plastic ties in over 5 years, it's gentler on the plant). And once they're threadbare, it's then I throw that out... and this all takes around 4 - 5 years to take place. 
I donate everything from shoes to hats, handbags, jeans, pajamas and socks... all washed and cleaned properly, folded up and ready for use. But the one thing I don't donate is my underwear (after all if I don't want it, who else will?). 

Now, this didn't just happen. This took time. I had to take a careful look at how much money I was spending on things, figure out where the op-shops were in my area and make sure I knew what I wanted from them, knew what I could live without in my home and know how to be just happy with my lot in life... which is something we have to learn to be again. 

And this is the problem with out society. 

We have become a society of socialites, of greedy little grommets who want more, and more, and more and never think about what it's doing to the world, our bank accounts or what it will do to the future generations that when we do look around us and realise exactly how much in debt we are, how little we really do want our things and how unhappy we actually are with 'our lot in life', it'll be far too late. 

The time to act is now. If you're looking at buying new furniture from a big place like IKEA or Freedom, instead go to a Life Line Supa-Store (where the furniture is being sold) and look at the furniture there. It'll be in lovely condition, may be a little old-fashioned but will last longer because it's built properly. Some of it may be only a few years old, while other pieces will be over 40 years old and just lovely and will last longer than the 'retro-style' that's made now because it's got that weight it needs to keep it together.

And before you all start commenting on the expense to me, let me tell you something about how I've afforded to op-shop. I'm on a pension - which only just covers my rent, my bills, getting food into my stomach and my medication and putting petrol into my car - and yet, I can put aside $40 a fortnight into a bank account to save for something I really want at any op-shop around Brisbane. All you have to do is know where to look, be picky about what you want, and enjoy yourself. You're out shopping in a store, which has a bit of everything in it, and it's for a good cause too, and all you have to do on your first few visits is look... but donating to op-shops is even better for you as you don't have to throw your unwanted clothes in the bin, somebody else will enjoy them as much as you did. And besides, there's a lot of things you'll find in an op-shop you'll never find anywhere else.  

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Are They Charities?

Years ago, when you gave something to a charity, they took it from you, no questions, no problems. It didn't matter what was wrong with the item, the charities took it off your hands and if they couldn't use it, they threw it away. 

That was then.

Now, I have tried to give to a number of charities and they've acted as though I've given them something covered in cat hair and fleas. I have been trying to sell and get rid of my 15+ year old sofa-bed. First I put it up on gumtree and had a good price on it. It was there for 3 weeks, had 90 views and made to page 10 without a single person asking me anything about it before I deleted it. If it didn't sell there, I didn't see the point in lowering the price and trying again.

Then, I tried friends and family. A lot of them have never see this piece of furniture up close. But none of them wanted it. 

So, I tried out some of the mainstream charities I knew about. Life Line was the first place I thought of. They came out yesterday and took one look at it and said no. This was because it's got a small tear on one arm. After owning this second-hand sofa-bed, which came with that tear, for 15 years, I'd say it's in very good condition for something that' had 2 owners. The bed inside it is in very good condition and yet they still wouldn't touch it. 

They suggested the Salvos - and I said not them. The last time the Salvos came by here on two occasions, they wouldn't take my television because it wasn't a new one. And then the second time, the guy who came by didn't like my bedroom suite and only took the bed, leaving a solid timber bedroom suite behind for me to get rid of! 
So, they suggested Vinnies. I called up St Vincent De Paul and they asked if 'it needed mending or fixing up'. I told them about the small tear and straight away, the lady on the other end refused it. When I pushed her about them being greedy for the money end of it... asking if it's just the money they're after seeing that they're only after the good stuff, and leaving anything damaged behind instead of fixing it... she hung up on me.

So, when you do think about it, the mainstream charities aren't there to give anything to anyone who really needs it. They're there to line their pockets with our money. They won't pick up all our donations, just what they can make money with, and leave anything damaged or old with us. 

My question to those charities we hoped to rely on so much is: what the hell are we supposed to do with these things when you don't want them, when we can't sell them, when we can't give them away? Tell me where we are supposed to take them that doesn't lead to landfill.

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Ghosting

I've been out in the dating pool again... yep, it's been difficult for me to get out there and start trusting people after so long, but I'm doing it.

I'm in it for happiness, for the company of another human being... to connect with somebody else. Is that so bad? Well, I didn't think so.

And so, I connected with somebody, and we met up away from my place at first. We got along really well - had so many things in common. Both of us loved to read, home-cooked meals and enjoyed just talking about everything. We both loved retro things as well... it was great!

After three dates, I thought we were going to head out somewhere once we got into a rhythm of hanging out. But I guess it wasn't meant to happen... after all, this person just vanished into thin air on me.

This person did what is commonly called 'ghosting'. It's the gutless way of getting out of dating somebody you've grown away from. It's disappearing from a person's life completely. What you do - if you're going to be the complete arsehole about this - is unfriend them stop all communications; but do it gradually. Tell the person trying to keep the lines of communications open some useless detail about your life that has nothing to do with what's going on with your dating life - like what I received: 'I'm doing a deep oil treatment'. Exactly what that's got to do with anything I'm not sure. I asked if I had done anything wrong, and I got that as a last message. For a week, I had absolutely zero clue that I was being dumped by some gutless person who was ghosting on me.
Then the next thing you do is unfriend that person you were dating from Facebook... but do it at a time of the day you know they won't be on there for a while, so they won't notice for about week that you're gone from there, not until they don't see your posts and haven't seen your name up on their Friends list for a while. It took me about a week or so to figure out this person had ghosted on me, because one of my friends on Facebook told me about it; then I started Googling and found out it's a real thing.

Exactly how gutless do you have to be to not want to sit down and talk to somebody about where you see - or don't see - the relationship going. No matter how hard it is, you have to actually face reality and do this at some point in your life and not run away from people, disappearing from their lives, when things get too hard or heavy, or when the relationship isn't going where you were thinking it might be.

I was brought up to have the heart-to-heart with people and let them know what I'm thinking - in person - and respect them enough to keep them in the loop of knowing my life isn't going in the same direction as theirs. But when someone is being an arsehole and does this to me, I wonder exactly how much they really respect me... how they were brought up and wonder who they've done this before? I mean, surely I'm not the only person this person has done it to, right?

And if 'ghosting' is the 'in' thing to do to people during dating, what are we showing our next generation of kids? That's it's okay to vanish from a person's life and disrespect them by not telling them there's a problem in the relationship? Is this where the world is going? Are our kids going to just dump people by 'switching off' and 'ghosting' on everyone they don't like because it's convenient and easy? If so, our world isn't going to be an easy one for them. We must teach them how to face up to people, talk and communicate properly and learn that there's consequences to their actions - and ghosting on people isn't the absolute and right solution to social problems in life. Talking it out is - and has always been - the right way of dealing with people... well, that's how I was taught by my parents.