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!

oh i have done pretty badly really, have bought too much stuff, toys for older kids, etc

we are getting back to normamilty now a bit (dd2 1 month old) and trying to get back on track

have money to spend on presents for her. have been ummming and ahhing but sod it, am going to buy for her a lovely stripey fairtrade babygro I saw in the shop down the road. no justifications.

sounds nice filly Glad you are going ok with the little one. How are the big'uns coping?

What trendy place do you live in to have a Fair Trade babygro stocking shop down the road!?

cardiff

VERY cool, ohhhh yes

lots of hippies though

Astrophe how about miniature rose bushes or similar, green and will remind people of you for a long time.

filly glad you are ok. how's the bubba and life with 3?

Well I just got my credit card bill for February. It was so small you needed a magnifying glass to read it. So that is very encouraging.

Although somewhat mitigated by the fact that my car needs a new radiator -- mucho £££££.

Hmmm, never been to cardiff - I gather its not that trendy afterall?

Good idea Bumper - I have already bought packets of Forget Me Not seeds to give as part of a gift, but hadn't got any further than that - a nice rose bush and seeds would be a nice gift for our closest 3 families.

Great news re the credit card Sophy!

I'm feeling swamped by all the s**t we have in our house. Not old stuff, new stuff we don't need/have had bought as presents/don't know what to do with.
We're on a tight budget at the mo, doing well not to but new things and am trying to plan ahead and buy a lot of ds's future clothes 2nd hand from ebay. I always feel happier when we've had a sort out and go rid of some of our stuff to charity/ebay etc
I think i'm craving a more simplistic, less materialistic life. I think I have been brought up quite materialistic and it has taken me a long time to change my ways, I used to want new things immediately and had no patience for 'shopping around' or 'waiting for the sales' and had little interest in saving my money by spending as little as possible, I just thought that was for people who didn't have enough money and had to spend less.
Recently I have realised that even if you have the money it doesn't mean you have to spend it, my mil is a serious bargain hunter and very good at saving money and making things do instead of always buying new, I have learnt a lot from her and am in awe of her.
I now get a real buzz from being 'tight' with my money for want of a better word and am currently in the process of tackling the last of our junk and sorting this house out so it only contains what we need!
Phew, that was long.... anyway what i'm trying to say is, i'm up for this
ps- I know this has probably already been discussed but one area I struggle with is presents for other people, i'm a little too generous I think, any ideas for inexpensive/not wastefull presents?

How about taking a beautiful photo of your friends or their babies or children and putting it in a lovely frame for them.

My friends came to hospital the day DS was born and took loads of lovely photos, then printed them off and put them in a little photo album. One of our best ever presents.

ooh thats a nice idea, I did do the album thing for bil when their baby was born last year, they loved it!

Hi all
still following this but have fallen off the wagon somewhat due to a trip to Ikea yesterday (!) - needed some bins and shelf brackets that we forgot when we ordered our kitchen in the autumn, also (of course!) bought various other things for storage, toys, etc etc that are lovely and useful and cheaper than anywhere else... but now feel guilty...
However, today the charity shops yielded 2 great books and 6 puzzles, and a top, for dd! And she is book and puzzle mad so that's good. But, need to get back on top of spending now!!

how does everyone get rid of your stuff?

i've got a pram, baby bags etc taking up space and can't seem to get rid of them.

will have to donate to local freecycle if i can't make any money out of them (which is a shame for me - but great for the new owner : )

Ebay if in saleable condition and postable.

Charity shop for less valuable saleable things (e.g dvds, books, kids toys).

Freecycle for the bulkier stuff.

we had a kids party last week and move about 70% of the toys upstairs (the kids just tip them out of the boxes and leave them)

now here is the thing. the kids haven't played for them, haven't asked for them, or anything. I should probably get rid of them, I know...problem is, they are mainly presents .

Also I feel mean because theey don't have many toys compared to a lot of kids. We are talking 2 toyboxes each, really (plus more bigger toys)

but our house is small

dunno what to do really

Hi all

Hi dalrymps! Welcome to the thread! There are lots of creative people around who can give ideas for making presents. Or you could even just give "consumerble" [sp] presents, plants, nice toiletries, homemade cakes. Oh, I've seen some lovely little gifts which are bags with everything you need to make cookies or cakes, with a little wooden spoon or cookie cutter. That's a nice idea, you could make a little kit.

I majorly fell off the wagon yesterday. I go back to work next week and am feeling crap enough about it compounded by the fact that my clothes are either all too big (maternity) or too small (pre-pg). I am actually on AL at the moment so i get 1 full time pay packet before going PT so I blew nearly £100 on going back to work clothes (I even went to...Primark - the shame - ethical shame though, not class snobbery IYKWIM!). But do you know what? I only feel a tiny bit guilty, compared to what I would usually feel, maybe because I have been pretty good these last few months, and even though I fell off the wagon I know my mindset has changed in general. Yes I feel better because I have some nice clothes that hide my muffin top but I know I don't need so much stuff any more.

(For the record my clothes were all bargainous - £10 pair of jeans, Wallis trousers £35 reduced to £20, a top for £20 that I used to open a store card, saved £7 and I can cancel the card, plus a pair of shoes, 2 thin jumpers, a vest and a cardi).

Oh filly, I meant to answer your question. Can you sell some at an NCT sale? What about a toy swap with some of your friends. 2 of DD's friends (well, my friend's babies) have birthdays within days of DD so I suggested that we each wrap up one of our children's presents to give to the other babies as they will get so much new stuff anyway, this way you recycle and don't add to the ever increasing pile (and the irony is DD has so many toys, she is 9 months and playing with her 2 fav things at the moment, old magazines and a cardboard box!)

Filly, how's the new LO?

Through the first quarter of the year now. Anyone else still doing the no shopping thing?

I havent posted on this thread since Jan. but am still constantly trying to reduce stuff and purchases. Ds listed a whole lot of stuff on Ebay for me last week, if it doesnt sell we will do a boot sale.
Keep going!

hang on, i posted a week ago, am sure of it!

lo is lovely, it is a novelty having a baby who sleeps!

have found solution to toys. we have put them up in the loft. they can have any given toy down but must swop with another. anything not taken down for a year goes to charity.

Still trying really hard on this one.

Havent bought any clothes this year, and never buy anything without really thinking about it. Have done lots of repairs, rather than buying replacements. But have bought things like mp3 players for running, as I couldnt find second hand ones.

I'm also getting rid of things to ebay/freecycle/charity shops as much as I can.