Happy No New Stuff Year - The support thread for those flying in the face of consumerism!

[WewishyouaBUMPERLICIOUS]

My husband and I have set ourselves a challenge of not buying any new stuff for 6 months. Obvious exceptions are food, cleaning products and toiletries. Also outside of the rules are items that it would be detrimental to buy second hand for my 6mo baby, i.e. cot mattress, dummies etc.

I posted about this a couple of months ago, and have also noticed some posts on the style and beauty threads proposing the same thing. So this is the thread for those who want to join this challenge in some way, whether it be just buying no new clothes, buying nothing new at all, buying nothing at all, buying only second hand etc. Our motivation are different, for some it will be saving money (me), for others it may be flying in the face of rampant consumerism (me) and for others is may be trying to mitigate their impact upon the environment and in protest against the poorly treated workers producing the dirt cheap goods we come to expect today (also me!).

This thread could be invaluable support, with links to various recycling websites, tips on altering your clothes to liven up your wardrobe, advice to stop yourself frittering money on non-fat lattes and a pain au chocolate each day on the way to work and support to tell you "no you don't need a new lipstick - here's how to make your own!"

So come one come all: I dare you to set yourself this challenge and not buy anything new for as long as possible!

DH and I wrote each other poems for V day, and he bought me some daffodils as well. We have spent more than £200 less in Feb than we did in Jan - not that we have saved it, we have paid off a debt though. The eco mindset is spreading to other areas of my life as well too - somehow when I am careful not to consume in excess, I also find it easier to remember to save water, bring my cardboard boxes to sainsbury's etc.

glad that i'm not the only one!

loving this thread : )

feeling very good today- i walked down to the farmers market- keep missing it its only on once a month- got some yummy looking veggies and stopped in a charity shop on the way home and bought myself a "new" tablecloth, much needed lol i'm still using my christmassy one lol

Uh oh! Half term last week and I fell off the wagon! Bought ds a souvenier soft toy wolf after a few days away although he did give me half the money from his pocket money...which I have a lot of trouble getting him to spend usually. Also bought dh some chocs for valentines as ds and I were away having a mini-break. However, still nothing for myself although I did catch myself looking at pencil cases (!) in Paperchase. Still motivated to 'not buy' despite this.
£200 is a lot of money Astrophe - you must feel proud to have paid off the debt too.

Message withdrawn

I'm hanging in here, doing really well not buying clothes, or any "bits", but still buying big things, but being very careful what I buy, I'm certainly more conscious what I purchase, and dont spend much time shopping.

Well Valentines day passed us by - but then it was dh's birthday - haven't actually got him a present but that's cos we're talking about geting a bike seat for dd so we need to make a time to go out together with the bike. But we did go out for a curry, and we did an extravagent food shop and had family round for lunch - which is all lovely but the budget looks a bit blown this month! A couple of things seem to be working for us though like having our own spending accounts with a certain amount transferred from the current account each month, and putting all our spending into a spreadsheet (!) to see what's what. Our downfall seems to be food - especially 'quickly grabbing something to eat' when we're in town - must stop that, we only live 10 mins walk from town centre!!
Hey ho - I seem to be stuck in this rut of just worrying about saving money...I'd like a bit more of a positive perspective.
OK have decided that tomorrow I need to go into town with a very specific shopping list of things we need - but I am just going to scour the charity shops and see if I can find those things or equivalent to them there - wish me luck! That would feel positive at least.
Sorry huge post!!

hi all

purplejenny that's what we do with our accounts. how did your charity shop shopping go?

i got a nice taste of what it is like to shop locally today. i went to get a prescription in the local pharmacy rather than boots (where i would usually go while in town - but rarely go into town any more) and the pharmacist was lovely, asked how i was feel, cooed over dd. and then i went to a craft shop where i have started going to get a small piece of elastic for a handbag i have made (my new hobby made from a charity shop dress - i will post a pick at some point!), anyway the lady gave me the elastic for free instead of making me buy a whole metre when I only needed a couple of inches. lovely!

pruney thanks for the link, i did use the video to teach myself to purl, it was great. glad your people tree box was good. what else did you get?

Message withdrawn

bought psp game for ds couldn't resist. just felt like a treat, because he tries so hard at school and is doing so well. my kids never get anything unless it's xmas/birthday.

I'm looking at it as a £30 gain on the week, because i did some market research in the week and got £50 for it, still though, I'm trying to justify something we didn't need but something we wanted.

Bumper - charity shops were OK although I think I was a bit optimistic to set out to find 2H pencils and a bath mat!!
Have just done our garden this week and apart from a small area of turf, spent nothing - got loads of plants and cuttings from my Mum, and have re-used random broken paving slabs which were there already to make a path, also have some trellis and fence from our old house to re-use.
Missed a 'plant swap' today although my sister went. Our town is a 'Transition'town which means people are trying to set up all sorts of ways for the town to be self-sustainable (all to do with the oil running out, I think).There are different groups, transport, food / farming, and a textiles group which my sister is part of which meets in a local pub to knit

purplejennyrose that sounds like a good idea- what town are you in?

Um don't know whether it's MN protocol to say exactly where you live - it's a small market town in the west with a reputation for being rather alternative...NOT Glastonbury...

sorry was just asking purely out of interest- i promise I'm not a stalker or anything
am just interested in being self-sustainable and lookig for ideas

Sorry dylsmum didn't mean that - I s'pose just thinking it's a small place and I know people who're on MN - but hey, I'm not that interesting / controversial!! It's Stroud, near Gloucester. We are a Fairtrade town, and have lots of green / eco initiatives going on.

Stroud is famous for having a fantastic farmers market isn't it? My folks live near there, I should check it out.

Weekly Farmers Market has won several awards, yes. I'm biased but I think it's a wonderful place!

Two months into the year and how are all the non-consumers doing? I've been pretty good so far apart from my slight wobble re ds's birthday party.

Managed a week's skiing holiday without having to buy a single bit of kit, although ds2 had to ski with broken goggles for second half of week.

And succumbed to pressure from ds1 at school book fair to give him £3 for a book - he had already bought a more expensive one with his own pocket money. Books are a tricky issue for me as various members of my family earn their living from writing. Still, so far I haven't bought any this year, have been swapping with friends, still have one xmas book left to read and have just compiled a list to take to the library this week.

My Brora catalogue arrived today and I did open it instead of putting it straight into the recycling bin. But I needed something to read while I ate my lunch as I've given up newspapers. It was full of lovely lovely summery things but I won't miss buying those until the weather changes.

And have had a very satisfying session planning my veg seed purchases which is one area of consumption I am allowed to continue unfettered.

oooh, sophy, are you green thumbed? Please advice me - we have a plt up the back of our garden, but are leaving the UK at the beginning of August, so need to plant some things that will grow very quickly.

I already have some seeds in a teeny green house - lettuce (doing very well), carrots, beans, spring onions (all doing nothing so far).

Have bought tomato and pepper seeds, but wonder if these will be fast enough? Shall I plant them now?

Feeling a bit jaded - I keep trying to get things from freecycle, or second hand from ebay (DS's birthday gift, bathroom step for the kids as DH stood on ours and broke it etc) and I've had no luck. The Thomas train I wanted for DS was cheaper new! (so I bought it new). I am currently umming and arhing about a fair trade boy rag doll for DS's 2nd birthday (on the weekend) - we loves his sisters dolls so much, its fair trade...but, of course, we don't need it. I shall sleep on it.

Does anyone know where I can buy fair trade children's pants for DS? Google has got me nowhere...

Astrophe I think you will be lucky to get tomatoes and peppers by beginning of August, but the other stuff should be OK.

You could also plant courgettes, radishes and chard -- all very easy to grow.

Also, early potatoes and peas. I always plant mange touts or sugar snaps as I can't be bothered with podding them.

Well, I haven't done so good this month - although nowhere near my usual frittering! Bought a book for ds (but also used the library for about 15) and bought myself a shirt from M&S for summer - hopefully though will wear it at least half og the week. Have avoided buying many things though.

Hellooooo?

Psychobabble that's great about your seeds, sounds lovely, I wish I had a garden.

I went charity shop shopping for a birthday present for my little brother (11yo) and got fed up and almost went and bought something new (I probably would have done if I hadn't got charity shop prezzies for my other brother) but fortunately in the last shop I found Simpson's Cluedo - result!

Sounds like you are doing well bumper! Cluedo was a good find.

I am doing ok. Have bought the odd thing (tights for DD, pants for me - and I did buy that fair trade rag doll for DS's birthday (he adores it , and a few gifts for non-family members, which I bought new ), but have not been arriving home from shops with a bag of unplanned purchases, and it is really adding up.

I've done some seed planting too - last years seed mostly, although I did buy a couple of packs. They are going well.

Am now trying to think about Easter gifts (have bought cookie cutters and egg moulds to make gifts), and also need to think of farewell gifts for friends when we leave the UK in August - any ideas?