Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without

Have you heard the phrase: “Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without”? It’s a good mantra – along with “reduce, reuse, recycle” – to help you reduce your impact on the environment.

The Library and the Foundation can inspire you and give you resources to inspire you to live a greener life!

Use it up

  • If you aren’t going to read a book until it falls apart: donate it to the Foundation and Friends and we will resell it to both raise money for the library and to also get it to someone who will get a few more reads out of it.
  • Recology is coming to the library on March 27 to give a class on how to best recycle in Santa Clara. Recycling is a great way to pass along anything that someone can get more use out of, albeit in a different physical form.

Wear it out

Make do

The library has all kinds of non-book items you can check out to see if you really want/need your own! Things like:

  • the tool lending library, which includes a caulking gun, a stud finder, and more
  • FitBits, to see if having a device counting your exercise helps
  • hiking poles, part of the hiking collection, to see if they make hiking easier

The lending library is a great way to test to see if you *really* need something.

Do without

These are just a few of the ways you can live a greener life – the Library can also help you plan a vegetable garden, learn to knit, or help your children learn about energy efficiency.

Get inspired!