In the UK, during WWII, the slogan “Use it, wear it out, make it do” was very popular. Considering the circumstances at the time, like it or not, you had to go by the slogan.

These days we are doing exactly the opposite, especially when it comes to clothing. No wonder charity shops are overstocked with clothes. Mobile phones, among other things, are being changed as quick as the manufacturer adds some new functions. So the easier our new generation of children have the money the quicker they are tempted to change whatever they have. By the time they get a new replacement, what they already own not only has not been used long enough, much less been worn out, but could have been used for many more years.

We should never stop reminding our children to be less wasteful and go by the other good slogan ‘waste less, save more’.