Buy Nothing New for 12 Whole Months

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Buy Nothing New for 12 Whole Months
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Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 2:05 pm Post subject: Buy Nothing New for 12 Whole Months

Could you do it?

How much preparation would you need? Or could you start right now?

How would you work out what your 'essential exceptions' were? And would you have to wear them in a plastic bag around your neck?

Would this make an interesting Downsizer Challenge for the hard-liners amongst us?

Interesting blog here: https://sfcompact.blogspot.com/

"About 50 teachers, engineers, executives and other professionals in the Bay Area (San Francisco, California) have made a vow to not buy anything new in 2006 -- except food, health and safety items and underwear.

"We're people for whom recycling is no longer enough," said one of the members of the fledgling movement, John Perry, who works in marketing at a high-tech company. "We're trying to get off the first-market consumerism grid, because consumer culture is destroying the world."

https://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/13/BAGH3H7DH71.DTL

Fee

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 15925
Location: Earth

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 2:22 pm Post subject:
Ooh, interesting. An excellent idea, not sure I could do it though Oh, and birthday presents, I guess I'd be forced to make more things, probably not a bad thing. I'd end up buying things through the business to get round it

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 44405
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 2:42 pm Post subject:
in a wood near a beach or river easy but here in babylon i might find it harder .i seem to need some things new ,blank disks ,paper ,books and um lost that one after a moments thought . buy nowt would be interesting to try .

Andy B

Joined: 12 Jan 2005
Posts: 3920
Location: Brum

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 2:52 pm Post subject:
Do you get too cheat and do a very big shop first?

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 3:01 pm Post subject:
exceptions - books, car parts, fuel, oil etc.

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 3:30 pm Post subject:

There will always be exceptions. Things like paying for repairs to appliances, utilities bills, haircuts (although you might be able to get a haircut via your LETS scheme?)

For me, exceptions would have to be:

Petrol

Food and stuff for the animals
REPLACEMENTS for broken drums/instruments (i.e no new bits of kit)

TV, phone and internet connection etc etc

There is another thread somewhere (at least one, probably more) where people talk about things they could not give up. I might go have a look at that.

How about trying it as a Downsizer Challenge for a month?

moongoddess

Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 673

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 3:33 pm Post subject:

for some strange reason, the 'underwear' part makes me laugh. I think I would prioritise a pair of Birkenstocks over a pair of knickers

I'd love to say yet to this challenge, but suddenly I'm feeling very 21st century consumerist. I'm going to follow this thread closely though and see what i can learn from it and what inspiration I have to cut down my expenditure on 'unecessary' items.
I think I am pretty frugal, but I expect i am not if I take a good honest look................

Great topic and very thought provoking - thanks!

mg x

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18421

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 3:39 pm Post subject:
A month would be relatively easy, I think, and an interesting challenge in case it turns out to be not quite so easy . My exceptions would be : Foodstuffs Fuel (petrol/kerosene) and over 12 months : soap, toothbrush, toothpaste vegetable seeds / fruit bushes & trees I assume secondhand stuff is OK to buy ?

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 3:44 pm Post subject:

Yes Gil, second-hand is OK; in fact, it is positively encouraged.

I know that most of us Downsizers are already more than half way there where not buying stuff is concerned, but I am curious to see just how far down the road I can go.

I went to the cash and carry this morning but other than that I have spent nothing. I need a hook-and-eye catch for the chicken run. Instead of automatically going into B & Q, I have advertised politely on Freecycle for one.

Soap - can you get some for barter? How about having a go at making your own (see Downsizer Soap-Making Challenge thread).

Seeds and fruitbushes - yes, I think that is ok. But I would still try and get as many as poss through barter or swapsies. That is the kind of thing that turns up at LETS meetings quite often.

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 3:46 pm Post subject:
A great challenge Lozzie, I'd be up for that. I'd have to exclude children's birthday pressies probably, unless I got very inspired (two of them in September) Don't think I've bought any new underwear in the last year

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 3:52 pm Post subject:

I'd be up for a one month challenge. Maybe if we started in September to give people with back to school stuff to buy a chance to plan for that and get it out of the way? As an added challenge, how about every time you identify something you would previously have bought, note down the price and you can see just how much you havent spent at the end?

Not sure I'm up to a whole year yet, but would be interesting to see how hard or easy a month was. Dont tend to buy much anyway but I'm sure there are little things I havent thought of that will surprise me

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 3:56 pm Post subject:

sally_in_wales wrote:

Not sure I'm up to a whole year yet, but would be interesting to see how hard or easy a month was.

Don't think I could do a whole year yet either. I think the hardest thing will be to get the rest of the family on board.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 3:58 pm Post subject:

Penny wrote:

sally_in_wales wrote:

Not sure I'm up to a whole year yet, but would be interesting to see how hard or easy a month was.

Don't think I could do a whole year yet either. I think the hardest thing will be to get the rest of the family on board.

Bribe them with a proper family day out using teh money identified as not spent on day to day fripperies?

Katieowl

Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 4317
Location: West Wales

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 4:03 pm Post subject:

Gosh - how my bank manager would love me

I wish I could, I'm pretty sure I could do a month maybe even two.
I have been trying to have my own personal "Buy nothing days" strung together for as long as possible for a while now, and I must admit I am getting better....I have an compulsive draw to the book section in the charity shop though, but I have a good unread supply laid in LOL!

I told my OH that I was considering the possibility of an entirely re-cycled Christmas (apart from the dinner of course!) Wonder if it could be done?

I think the other caveat would have to be OTC medication, and kids shoes (my DS is an adult mens size 13/14!) which always seem to be the things that catch me out!

Regards

Kate

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 06 4:05 pm Post subject:

sally_in_wales wrote:

Penny wrote:

sally_in_wales wrote:

Not sure I'm up to a whole year yet, but would be interesting to see how hard or easy a month was.

Don't think I could do a whole year yet either. I think the hardest thing will be to get the rest of the family on board.

Bribe them with a proper family day out using teh money identified as not spent on day to day fripperies?

Might be worth a try

Although I'm racking my brain to think of any frippery things I've bought recently

Got some scales so I could weigh myself on my diet, but I could have got those second hand possibly with a bit of hunting around.

I suppose it's not so much the money saving, as the waste saving that appeals to me - using up something that would otherwise have been chucked, or gone to waste.

What may be good is a wanted thread during the challenge, so that if people need a specific item (such as bathroom scales) they can put up an ad, and see if anyone fairly local has the item surplus to requirements?

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