Low waste living: when to borrow and when to buy

As someone who tries to live a low waste, less stuff lifestyle, it won’t surprise you that I’m a cheerleader for borrowing. (I’m not sure that there’s a single mantra for low waste living, but if there was, ‘use what you have’, ‘make do’ and ‘borrow don’t buy’ would probably be hot contenders.)

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of not buying stuff. And when I do need to buy stuff, I almost always look for second-hand first. (Depending what it is. I’m a fan of brand new underwear, for example.)

But generally, before I even think about buying, I ask if I can borrow it instead.

Recently, I repainted my office. I managed to borrow paint trays, a brush and rollers from one neighbour, and a stepladder from another neighbour.

(I’d already borrowed some filler and sandpaper from my brother-in-law to patch up the existing holes prior to painting.)

I also enrolled in a sewing course (it’s only been on my to-do list for ten years) and discovered that if I want to sew, I need access to an iron. Not having an iron, I borrowed one from a third neighbour.

All this borrowing got me thinking.

Is it always appropriate to borrow things rather than buy them?

When (if ever) is it better to buy things?

Who is it best to borrow things from?

If we are borrowing things, what is good borrower etiquette?

As someone who’s reduced their ‘stuff’ (and therefore used less resources) from borrowing rather than buying, as well as not spending money on stuff I didn’t really need to own, and as someone who doesn’t always get it right (my neighbour had to text me to ask for her iron back, oops), I thought I’d share my thoughts on borrowing, how to do it better, and when to know that buying might be best.

A low waste guide to borrowing stuff: 7 tips for being a better borrower

1. There’s no need to feel guilty or embarrassed about asking to borrow something.

For some of us, borrowing stuff isn’t something we feel embarrassed or guilty about. As an inherently practical person, it just seems logical to me that if I need to use a thing, and you have that thing and aren’t using it, well why wouldn’t I ask to borrow it?

But for others, it might not be something that comes naturally to us. Maybe we were brought up to think that borrowing stuff is bad, or implies that we are poor, or is somehow imposing on others.

The only way we can change our thinking around this is to take a deep breath, and start asking to borrow stuff… and see what happens.

In my experience, most people own things that they don’t use all the time, and they are perfectly happy for these things that are just sitting there to be used by others (especially people they already know).

I know that if I am able to lend things I own to others, I feel good that the item it getting extra use rather than sitting idle. Most people I borrow things from seem to feel the same.

2. It never hurts to ask.

If someone really doesn’t want to lend you something, they can say no. If they say no, accept that as the answer, don’t push it, and see if you can borrow from somewhere else.

I don’t want to impose on anyone, or for anyone to lend me something when they really don’t want to, but I have to trust that as grown-ups, people are going to tell me ‘no’ if they don’t want me to borrow something, and therefore if they lend something to me they’re happy to do so.

It’s worth remembering that a ‘no’ one time doesn’t mean a ‘no’ always. People will always be less likely to lend you brand new stuff or stuff they need to use themselves, but stuff gets old and stuff that’s in constant use gets shelved.

It will also depend what it is and how long you need it for – you’ll be far more likely to be able to borrow an iron for a few hours than a car for a fortnight. But it never hurts to ask ;)

3. Good borrower etiquette.

If you borrow something from someone, here are a few simple guidelines to making it as painless as possible.

  • When I pick an item up, I ask when the owner would like it back. If they tell me a day/date they’d like it returned by, I stick to it. When I forget to do this, the owner has to chase me up (as happened with the iron) and they might be less keen to lend stuff in future.
  • When I’m told to ‘keep it as long as I like’, I try to check in now and then to let them know that a) I still have it and b) I haven’t forgotten that it’s theirs and do they need it back yet?
  • If you borrow something that can be used up, or part of it can be used up or worn out (for example, sandpaper with a sander, kitchen ingredients or cleaning products), find out if they would like a replacement (or some money to buy a replacement). Don’t just assume though, because if it’s something that’s been sitting in a cupboard unused, they might just be pleased that it’s not going to waste and rather not get a replacement.
  • If you borrow a car and use fuel, or borrow a tool and run down the batteries, I think it’s polite to replace these.
  • If you break something that you borrow, and you are able (and can afford) to get it fixed or serviced, its polite to do that too.
  • If you damage or break something you borrow, be honest about it when you return it.

This isn’t to say that we should only lend things to people who can afford to fix them if they break. We have to make our own judgments about what we lend, who we lend to and how we think they’ll treat our stuff. Most stuff doesn’t break, and most people treat stuff with respect.

I’d rather be out of pocket having to fix a couple of things I’d loaned out in my lifetime, than never lend stuff to people who need it because there’s a small risk I’ll lose a few dollars.

4. Situations when it’s better to borrow.

Everyone has different needs and circumstances, but for me, these are situations when I borrow rather than buy:

  • When I’d like try something out before actually buying it (I did this before buying a dehydrator, and a push mower);
  • When I need something for a one-time use (I’ve borrowed a spirit level, a mallet, a sink plunger, paint rollers);
  • When I have the need to use something occasionally, for example every few months (I’ve borrowed a parcel trolley for moving pots),
  • When every single person I know owns one already (borrowing a drill fits into this for me);
  • When I don’t have the space to store it if I owned it (I tend to borrow ladders – which I don’t need very often – for this reason);
  • When I can’t afford to buy the thing I want to use (does hiring a camper van count as this?!).

5. Situations when it’s better to buy.

For me, buying something rather than borrowing it is about much more than whether I can afford to buy the item. Most things I borrow tend to be low-cost, because it’s not just about the money.

In my mind it’s as much about not wasting resources (not buying something I’ll only use once that somebody else already owns), and practical considerations (I live in a city suburb where I have a good network of people to borrow from, plus on a particularly neighbourly street, in a country where a lot of people have too much stuff, and my home is relatively small) that influence my choice.

Here’s a list of when I prefer to buy:

  • When it’s something I’m going to use all the time;
  • When it’s something I need to use often enough that borrowing it will be a hassle;
  • When it’s something I need easy access to – when I need it I need it, and I don’t have time or it’s not convenient to faff about trying to borrow it;
  • When it’s something that I’ll need to use more than one time, and that is tricky to borrow or hard-to-find;
  • When it’s something that benefits from having one owner (say a tool with settings that need adjusting for each user, or something that doesn’t transport well).

6. Borrowing can take many forms.

We can borrow informally from family and friends, and we can borrow formally from libraries (including state-run libraries and community-run toy libraries or libraries of things).

We can even hire stuff – yes we have to pay, but it’s a fraction of what it might cost us to buy the item, and we don’t have to worry about where we will store it afterwards, or deal with ongoing cleaning and/or maintenance.

Being a part of the Buy Nothing project, where you join a single group in the neighbourhood where you live and can gift, receive, lend and/or borrow stuff, no strings attached, is a great way to meet others in your neighbourhood and build those networks.

I’ve borrowed and lent many things via our local group, as have many others.

Often they are not people I know (at least, not at first), but people I might have met in the past, and/or we might have mutual friends, so it’s not totally random.

7. Try to give as much as you receive.

The final thing I’d say about borrowing, is that it’s not about “getting the most amount of stuff for free”, and the more you can give back, the better the system works and the better you feel. That said, we all have points in our lives when we are more in need.

You might not be able to give anything back now, or directly to the people who’ve lent you things. But in the future you’ll probably have an opportunity to give something back to someone. When the time comes, try to be as generous as you are able to be.

Giving doesn’t always have to be “stuff”, either. It can be the gift of skills, or the gift of time. In our local Buy Nothing group we’ve had a member offer up doing odd jobs for people, another offering to do pick-ups of large items with his vehicle, and people volunteering for dog walking.

Sharing is a good thing. It reduces demand for new resources, connects us with our neighbours and friends and limits the clutter in our homes. And borrowing is a necessary part of sharing. Next time you need something, before you head to the store, ask yourself, is it possible to borrow it instead?

Now I’d love to hear from you! How do you feel about borrowing? Are you fearless in your requests, or do you feel uneasy about asking others to borrow stuff? Are there any amazing ‘Libraries of Things’ where you live? What’s the best or most random thing you’ve ever borrowed? Anything else to add? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Seven ways I’m retrofitting my house for energy efficiency in a changing climate

Where I live, it’s getting hotter. This summer we’ve just seen a record-breaking heatwave of six days above 40°C. There’s been a few other records broken, too. Including, the highest number of days over 40°C between December and February – and we are not yet even through January.

Every year we seem to be* (*we are) breaking records.

The climate is changing. And even if we stop global warming in its tracks, the changes that have happened are here to stay, at least in our lifetimes. Zero net zero emissions isn’t going to reverse anything, just slow change down.

Yes, we can write to politicians and march and protest, and we can boycott and change our habits.

But we also need to adapt.

You might have heard talk about “climate resilience”, which is the ability to prepare for and recover from climate-related events such as extreme weather.

Climate resilience needs to happen at all levels, from international treaties to national policy, to local government laws and neighbourhoods and communities working together.

And on a micro level, we need to adapt to become more resilient, too. (Although what that looks like will be different for all of us.)

Retrofitting a 1970s house for energy efficiency (heating and cooling)

I don’t have the option to move to a different climate, and I don’t have the funds to build a Grand Designs style solar passive house. (Not that I’d want to, and anyways, new houses might be energy efficient but building them has a big carbon footprint.)

But I own where I live (well technically the bank does, until I repay the mortgage) which means I can make modifications that make my home more energy-efficient and more comfortable to live in.

The changes I’m talking about here are to the building itself, but if you’re a renter, don’t despair. You could ask your landlord if they’d consider making some improvements. If they say no, it’s worth keeping these in mind for your next move so you know what to look out for. Importantly, there are still modifications possible for renters too – I’ll talk about these in another post.

How houses lose and gain heat

Put simply, this is where an average home with no insulation gains/loses heat:

  • Ceiling: 25 – 35%
  • Floor: 10 – 20%
  • Air leaks and draughts: 5 – 15%
  • Walls: 10 – 20% loss in winter; 15 – 25% gain in summer
  • Windows: 10 – 20% loss in winter; 25 – 35% gain in summer

(Source: yourhome.gov.au )

West Australian houses are particularly leaky. They have little insulation, there are gaps in the door and window frames, they are rarely double or triple-glazed, and are not oriented or designed in a way that suits the climate. Which means they are freezing cold in winter and boiling in summer.

They tend not to have a central heating or cooling system either either. Many houses install split-systems, but usually where its easiest to install rather than where it would be most effective.

Plus, when a house is leaky, you’re paying to heat or cool air that just leaves as soon as it can. Which makes running them inefficient and expensive.

Retrofitting a 1970s house: where I started

This is my home, as I bought it in 2019 (these are the real estate photos – the lawn is long gone!). The house faces north-west. In Perth, the hottest part of the the day is the afternoon (when the sun is to the west), and any windows and walls on the west side will get the hottest.

My house is a duplex (semi-detached) which means the western side is mostly insulated by the other dwelling – and this was a deliberate choice on my part. The one window I have on the north-west side is next to the front door, and is shaded by the garage and other house.

The less windows on the western side, the better.

The three on the south-west side (pictured above) are the kitchen window, which is protected by the patio roof, and the bathroom and toilet windows, which are both small (the less glass, the better).

All of the windows were single-glazed, and the brown frames are aluminium, which is a terrible material for window frames as it conducts heat. The metal gets hot in summer and cold in winter, and allows the heat to enter or leave.

You can’t tell from the picture, but the glass pane of the toilet window was only 3/4. Meaning, there was a gap of a few inches along the top with no glass at all. It’s fairly common in older houses here. This made the toilet freezing in winter and boiling in summer. In fact, that whole half of the house was pretty unbearable on the hottest and coldest days.

You can just make out in the first picture an old metal evaporative air conditioner on the roof. It had been disconnected from the electricity, but the ducting from the roof to the three rooms (living room and two bedrooms) remained.

In hot weather you could stand underneath the vents and feel the heat funnelling in from outside.

And in winter, the heat disappeared through these vents in the ceiling.

1. Installing solar panels

The very first thing I did when I moved in was install solar panels. And I mean literally: I got the keys on the Friday, and I was getting quotes on Monday morning. One month after I moved in, there were solar panels on the roof.

I’ve talked about installing solar before, so I won’t go into it again in detail, but I now have a 3kW system that faces north-west. My roof is too small for anything bigger, but I don’t really need anything bigger.

Although it’s not strictly retrofitting, I knew that my old house would be leaky (leaking heat) and I wanted solar as soon as possible, so I felt less guilty about using the air con and heating.

Solar panels also help insulate the roof by covering the tiles. It’s probably less useful with metal roofs as metal conducts heat, so the whole thing will heat up, but my tiles are concrete. They absorb heat during the day when exposed to the sun, and radiate it out at night. With solar panels, the tiles under the panels are shaded and protected.

2. Installing ceiling fans

The second thing I did was install ceiling fans in the living room and two bedrooms. My previous house had ceiling fans and they are such an underrated addition to a house – the air movement makes everything feel cooler even without any cooling. And when the windows are open at night or the air con is on, it helps spread the cool air throughout the house.

It’s also a fairly cheap thing to do. I had to pay an electrician to install them, and because there weren’t fans there originally he had to install supports in the roof, but it was a straightforward job. I opted for fans with lights, and just replaced the existing light fittings with the fans/lights so I didn’t end up with holes in the ceiling.

If you don’t have high ceilings (I don’t), just make sure you choose a fan with a shorter drop, as they vary and those few cm will make a difference.

And if you choose fans with lights, make sure you can replace the globes, as some have unchangeable globes – meaning if the bulb blows you need to replace the whole unit, and you will need an electrician to replace it for you. This is both wasteful and expensive!

Ceiling fans are also incredibly cheap to run, because they don’t actually heat or cool. A ceiling fan typically costs the same to run as a single light bulb.

3. Installing double glazing

This was the big one, both in terms of cost and the difference it made to the house. It was installed one year after we moved in, so I had one summer and one winter with the existing windows before the change.

In the summer prior, with both air con units running, it was manageable at the front, and unbearably hot at the back of the house (where the hot western sun beats in the afternoon, and where the toilet window with 3/4 glass and 1/4 gap was located).

In the winter, I had to use a portable heater in the bedroom at the back (the office).

The double glazing replaced all the existing windows except the one in the kitchen (which one day I’d like to knock through into a door – it is very frustrating having to walk through the laundry and around half the building to get to the patio in front of the kitchen window).

Both the external doors (the front door and the laundry door, which was rotten) were also replaced.

There is a door onto the patio from the garage, which has also been left for now.

Whilst I’d have loved wooden frames, they don’t seem to be an option in Perth, so the frames I have are PVC. (There is no point choosing aluminium if you want energy efficiency as the frames conduct heat very well – either into or out of the house depending on what you don’t want.)

The glass is Low-E, meaning it’s coated to reduce the amount of infrared and ultraviolet light that enters and performs better than regular glass.

I was planning on triple glazing for the toilet and bathroom because they get so hot, but was talked out of it by the salesperson who said it makes more difference for noise and I wouldn’t need it.

She was right – the double glazing is enough.

With the double glazing installed, the change is amazing. Before, on a 40°C day I’d need the air con running for most of the day. Now, the cool (or in winter, the heat) doesn’t escape, so I can mostly restrict their use to when the solar panels are cranking.

4. Blocking up the ceiling vents

The double glazing stopped a lot of air leaks, which made those that were left all the more noticeable. In particular, the three ceiling vents from the disconnected evaporative cooling system were literal tunnels from the roof, and if you stood underneath them you would feel a blast of hot air coming down.

And of course in winter they let all the heat up and out into the sky.

Did I mention they were also broken, rusted and ugly?

A temporary fix would have been to put cardboard (or something more solid) inside the vents to block them up. The permanent solution was to block them with gyprock and remove the ducting.

And then repaint the ceilings.

It’s hard to measure the difference this made, but for a fairly inexpensive job it was worth it.

5. Insulating the roof space

The first winter it was so cold in the house I assumed we didn’t actually have any insulation at all. Turns out we did, but it was old (probably 50 years old), and very thin and tired.

When I first moved in, insulation was on my to-do list, but I couldn’t find anyone willing to quote. It was 18 months later when I called some pest people in because I thought we had possums in the roof, that they suggested changing the insulation because it was soiled and to deter future rodents (by using a less nest-friendly material).

It was a service they offered, so I went with them.

The main decision with insulation is the R value rating, which is a measure of the ability to resist heat flow. (You also see it referenced with double glazing and window materials.) R values for insulation range from 1.5 to 7, with the higher number being better.

In Perth, Brisbane and NSW it’s recommended to use a minimum R4.0 in the ceiling.

In Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide it’s recommended to use a minimum R6.0 in the ceiling.

The more Rs you use, the more material you use and the more expensive it is.

I went with R5.0. (I got a quote for 4.1 and 5.0, and the difference in price was smaller than I expected. I didn’t get a quote for R6.0, but I half wish I had.)

The installers did a great job, removing all the old stuff (and the old air con ducts), vacuuming the roof space and laying the new insulation. I have to say though, I was expecting a more noticeable difference in winter. However, it’s hard to compare as the first winter (with no double glazing or insulation) was fairly mild, and the recent winter (with double glazing and replaced insulation) was much colder and for much longer, so comparing bills isn’t especially useful.

I do wonder if I should have gone with R6.0….

Although I didn’t use the plug-in heater in the office the second year, despite the colder outside temperature, so there was definitely some benefit.

6. Painting the roof white

Both the colour and the material of a roof can affect the energy efficiency of a house.

My home had dark concrete roof tiles. Concrete absorbs heat, and the dark colour increases this. (Studies have shown that dark tiles can increase the air temperature of a roof space by 9°C compared to light tiles.) This means my roof space got very hot, particularly in the early evening as the heat is released into the house.

I can’t change the material the roof is made from (aside from the huge cost, my house is a duplex/semi-detached, so my neighbour would have to want to change her roof too).

But I can change the colour.

You can buy reflective paints for roofs, which are meant to reflect heat. My painter – who definitely had a few opinions on things – ranted that these were a big con and didn’t work and wouldn’t use them.

So I used regular external paint. I wanted to paint the roof white, but the painter suggested an off-white colour. I went with Taubmans ‘martini’, which in the brochure looked kind of beige, but on my roof appears pretty much white.

7. Installing a whirlybird

A whirlybird, also known as a turbine vent, is a cyclindrical dome that spins in the wind, which creates a vacuum that extracts warm air from the roof cavity. They don’t need a lot of wind to spin; even when it appears still outside, the whirlybird still whirls.

Because I have concrete roof tiles that absorb heat during the hot days and release it into my roof space in the evening, the house gets hotter even as the air outside cools. The whirlybird releases this heat outside. If I had a metal roof it would possibly be less effective than with tiles, as metal doesn’t hold heat in the same way.

They are best for hot climates as they also release heat from the roof space in winter. (With good insulation, hopefully the heat from the house is not escaping into the roof space, though.)

They are not expensive to buy (around $100 AUD) and are installed by just placing under the tiles, no special tools required.

When I painted my roof, the painter also installed the whirlybird for me or no extra charge.

What’s next?

There are a few improvements still to be made, when I have the time and money:

Curtains. I have blinds on most of the windows, but I want to replace them with proper curtains that will do a much better job of keeping the heat in during the winter months.

The kitchen window. This is still the original single glazed glass with an aluminium frame. Knocking through a door into the garden (and renovating the original 1970s kitchen) will be a big and expensive job, so it’s not happening any time soon. But once it’s done it will really make a difference.

The kitchen skylight. The kitchen also has an original skylight that funnels heat in from outside, and it’s placed where the afternoon sun hits for extra heat.

The floors. Something I’m still thinking about, is changing the kitchen floor from laminate to tiles. Tiles have good thermal mass, so absorb heat, whereas laminate does nothing to assist with the room temperature. Thar’s why floors in hot countries are often finished with tiles.

Kitchen benchtop. I have a laminate benchtop, but switching this to stone or concrete will add more thermal mass to the room and help absorb the extra heat.

The garage. This was semi-converted to a room by the previous owners (by which I mean, they painted the walls and laid carpet). But it still has a single glazed glass door with an inch gap at the bottom, and the original metal garage door which incinerates the space in summer (and also has an inch gap at the bottom). I’m not sure what to do with the garage yet – whether to convert it properly into a room (which would be expensive and need planning approval), or simply change all the doors. But because there is an internal door from the garage into the house, the temperature of the garage influences the temperature of the house, so it will definitely need modifying in some way.

As for the costs, and the savings? That’s another whole conversation, which I’m saving for another day sometime soon. Plus I’ll talk about what you can do if you rent or are on a tight budget that doesn’t allow for big changes like double glazing. Trust me, you still have options!

As I said at the start, adapting will look different for all of us.

Now I’d love to hear from you! Is the climate changing where you live, and have you been able to make adaptions to better ‘weather’ it? Or do you have plans to do so? Perhaps you’d like to but not sure where to start? Any tips you’d like to add to this? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!