I moonlight, or rather, morninglight, at Golfsmith five days a week cleaning golf balls. The cleaning actually requires the least exertion of the entire workflow. A hard plastic machine the size of an engine block dunks top-loaded balls in soapy water, and sends them careening out of a tube and into a waiting basket. I collect the dirty balls off the driving range with a big picker attached to a golf cart. The rig wouldn’t look out of place on a farm. Yes, people do seem to try and hit me when I’m out there making my sweeps. I earn about $40 for 5 hours of work. It helps me pay my mortgage. I have no idea how anyone could live off this wage.

Music saves me from the tedium. But lately, one stereo channel is dropping out, and I only hear half of the song. Maybe just the vocals and the drum beat, or a keyboard and guitar. I’ve found that I can sort of wrap a portion of the cord around my phone and put it in my pocket, and if I do it just right, it’ll stop the problem for a while. If I get some good luck and things are working properly, I walk robotically, fearing that any bend or a stretch could upset the delicate cord situation.

I know what you’re thinking. Get new headphones, right? But I’m a stubborn, frugal person and I hate to make the same expense twice. I will die on a hill fighting against planned obsolescence and the fragility of consumer goods. I’ve revived an eight year old laptop several times in recent years, replacing parts like batteries and hard drives, upgrading RAM. When the thing finally died, I scoffed at the price of new laptops at Best Buy, and settled on a desktop PC from craigslist. It’s almost an issue of morality. As if the Universe is an accountant who will reward me for minimizing expense.

Finally, I decided that I simply could not live with the irritation of a crackling stereo channel. I’m a human being, dammit! I went to radio shack and for $4.79 I purchased a replacement 1/8″ plug. That same night, I sat down and repaired the headphones, putting an end to weeks of frustration. It took a shamefully long time for me to actualize that items are often repairable. A couple of snips and a couple of dabs with a soldering iron, and it worked! Eureka!

This brings me to the word repair, a word glaringly absent from the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” mantra. Repair is efficient. Repair is economical. Repair is anti-waste. Repair is empowering. So let us celebrate the sewing needle, the soldering iron, and the screwdriver.

Everybody—repair your stuff!