Cultural propoganda against things like thrift and reuse has been going on for a while. We are encouraged to consume, consume, consume instead of reusing and foraging. The person giving you a hard time has bought into the consumer propoganda. You do you and keep doing good for your family and the planet.

My ex-wife, both when we were together, and even more so after we split up, obtained much of her furniture and decore from roadside trash piles and free yard displays. Repourposed school lockers, old wash tubs, she was very creative in that way. Even had her friends keeping an eye out for useable curbside treasures. Good for you! Myself, I just tend to keep things way beyond their intended use, mostly by treating them gently! If it goes into my trash, it’s dead!

I am increasingly aware of the impact we have on our environment. We create so much trash, pollution, etc and I would much rather give things to someone who will use them than have them go into landfills. Good for you!

no that seems a good outlook to have on life plus your spending time with the younglings and teaching them skills i used to love going with my grandpa to the dump and bringing back things to repurpose

What asshole told you that? I'm guessing American, since for the most part, we think shiny and new is always best. Yep, I'm an American trashing Americans! Re-use! Repurpose! I repurpose all kinds of discarded clothing for my custom aprons...look how cute!

My last husband used to work at a landfill company in Houston, TX. You would not believe some of the stuff he would bring home. For example:

1)For several years my daughter and son was clothed by the new clothes he would bring home. We were told that stores would rather trash them than give them to thrift stores. Adult clothes however were shredded.

2)An entire Playboy collection in almost new condition

3)Two classic sports magazines with Mickey Mantle on the cover (one was I believe a Sports Illustrated with him as a rookie)

4)Like new classic toys

5)Gently used Persian rugs. They may have been fake, but they weren't that polythread crap.

My grandfather would go dumpster diving in the Pasadena, TX dumpsters for scrap wood. Personally, reusing things is a lot better than just throwing them away.

All of my cheesy art is made from what others considered trash. If it isn't rotten or mostly reclaimed by the earth, it still has life in it.

As I see it , this is not a question at all. I am a long time, proud scavenger ! I've been known to haunt dumpsters, home trash piles, and deserted houses. I have acquired perfectly usable (or repairable) furniture, lamps, tools, odds and ends - and even food .

Not only do I see reusing as smart, I believe if more people did it, there would be so much less waste in the world.

Your kids are lucky to have wise guidance !

For those of you that want to help keep things out of landfills - here's a site to swap stuff - all for free :
www.freecycle.com , then join your local group to post , or request items !

Reuse, reduce, recycle. Love your mother (planet earth) she is all we have. There is no Planet B. I love to reuse. I compost, I have a worm box, I recycle everything I can. Screw the naysayers, you're doing a good thing!

Good for you. I've been a minimalist since before it was a thing, and I have few things but keep them a long time. Little need or desire for more, but when I do, I consider used.

I am into it

I totally agree with you. I grew up in the post WWII austerity of the north of England where a common saying not to be ashamed of was "where there's muck there's brass".
Where I used to live someone started on a 5 acre site next to the local tip, a recycling site called "Junkastic Park". There you could buy spare parts for old washing machines, hair dryers, beds, concrete mixers, toilet bowls and sinks, bathtubs, wood, tiles, ... One time I even saw the mounting bearing for a 6 inch naval warship gun turret machined out of solid stainless steel. No one at the auction of navy surplus wanted it so the auctioneer gave it away to say himself carriage and tip dumping fees.
Sadly some snowflake determined that it was too dangerous for people to be clambering over old fridges and washing machines disassembling them for the pump or tub or whatever. Too risky for local council, insurance company et al to continue. So it was forced to close. Besides which the employees at the local tip were complaining that they couldn't steal and sell the better stuff down at the pub!

I think it's important to salvage resources if possible.

I’m not proud. We even go dumpster diving!

I think it's great you're teaching your kids not to just throw everything away. Yeah, dumpster diving might be a bit much....but thrift stores and garage sales, go for it! Way better than having them expect to have lots and lots of "things"

"Vintage" stores are a big trend right now, almost everything has value to someone. Its good you are teaching your kids to be resourceful.

I do that with complete buildings people no longer want. Anyone willing to do some carpentry for a few months can get a free house for themselves. Blow up this picture. Notice I just cut the nails holding one wall to another. Laid the walls down on a trailer and pulled them home.

I reuse as much as possible before I toss or even have a yard sale. Old curtains might turn into cut pieces used for dust cloths or wiping chores. I've even used them as pretty table coverings. No one notices they're curtains. I reuse grocery bags. I haven't purchased trashbags in years. I reuse glass jars for storage; spices, coffee, bacon grease. I don't throw away plastic food containers. They make great Tupperware . I reuse dish sponges on floors and bathrooms before finally tossing.
Wooden clothes pins have turned into chip and frozen bag clips. You can paint them if you want. And of course clothes and shoes I don't wear anymore are donated to thrift stores. These are all small and virtually effortless ways to contribute your part in reducing waste.

I'm an artist, so even if something doesn't have a super practical use it can sometimes be turned into something beautiful

Absolutley reuse, repair, conserve. I keep things forever and do everything I can to prolong the life of things I use.

The social taboo of being resourceful needs to go. Our planet is covered in disposable everything.

As Bob the builder said "Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!"

[theguardian.com]

I'm all for reusing and repairing items. Consumerism isn't healthy the way we've developed it in the US at least.

I am amazed at how wasteful and thoughtful we as a species are and have absolutely no shame in harvesting the bounty of other peoples foolishness. Amongst the most ridiculously valuable things I've been involved in scrounging are the laser head from a skin specialists dumpster, value over $500 they have a precision cut ruby in them, sold it back to the manufacturer after they contacted the skin specialist to make sure it wasn't stolen (they also gave him a lecture on the fact that these things were meant to be recycled.) The other was a number of 100 year old proceedings of the State Engineers Society with full pull out plans of major projects of the time, that had been chucked out for the quarterly council clean up, and the State Library didn't even have copies of some of them.

Have also been known to scrounge firewood, outdoor furniture, all sorts of things. Continue teaching your kids to be less wasteful rather than good little consumers. Keep up the good work!