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!

Really want to join (skint and green), but know it with be hard, hard, hard! Still, so many things can be bought second hand. Was already thinking of learning to knit with wool unravelled from a charity shop jumper (see posting on craft thread)

Also just found out how to make yarn from carrier bags (here). Not sure if I will knit with it, but I have it in a ball to use if I ever need to tie something.

Fala, I was just thinking I should join and take it month by month as I have many bad habits to lose

Ooh, psychobable, I glad I made you think

WRT shampoos etc. one of my rules is going to be only to buy the essentials which in my book is

Shampoo
Conditioner
Shower gel
Handwash
Facial moisturiser
Body lotion
deordorant

And I can only buy them when the last one is empty. Look around your bathroom and see just how many half empty bottles of shampoo, pots of moisturiser etc you have. TBH if I use up everything I've got I probably won't need to buy anything new!

Shampoo bars are a great idea psychobabble. Oh and I have the Neal's Yard recipe book for making smellies in case anyone wants to know how to make anything from scratch.

Great thread! Can I join as well?

DH, DD and I are off travelling in Europe later this year and selling the house so I need to offload as well as not buy anything new. DH is very bin-happy so I need to try to freecycle / recycle as much as possible before he takes it all down the tip.

Does anyone else feel totally oppressed at times by the amount of junk in their house? We have got about 20 towels, mostly presents from MIL, and they all seem to get dirty at once, and fester in the laundry basket waiting for me... and so many teatowels I actually have a stash of unused ones under the bed... and I am supposedly a green person! How did I end up with all this stuff?

I can't wait to flog it all off / give it away and get back to simplicity. Oh yeah, and a year in Europe will be alright

I made my last significant purchase today and it was a mooncup! So hopefully will save me buying in the long run (if I can work out how to use it)

I've been thinking about this for a while - thanks for starting the thread bumper

I too am fed up with the sheer amount of stuff that is in our house. I keep trying to clear out but someone DH is a bit of a hoarder. I've been menu planning but this has gone by the board a bit recently so want to do more of this in the new year.

Many of DS's clothes are second-hand, but am finding this harder now he's 17 months (not so much around as clothes take a lot of beating). I've lost weight in the last year so have a lot of very saggy clothes. I'm not so bothered about casual stuff but might have to get my sewing machine out to alter 'smart' work stuff - anybody got any tips for this?

My motivation is that I don't want to get sucked into thinking that DH and I both have to work full time, run two cars, get a bigger mortgage etc

Cheers Bumper.

I'm in, 'cause we're broke and about to get broker.

Can't go the whole hog, unfortunatley as have first baby coming and a non-functioning bathroom and a barely functioning kitchen. plus no crib, car seat etc etc ...

am going to chat to DH about this and see what he thinks.

ty for thread, even if i just find a halfway house involving no Boots binges, new clothes, magazines plus start meal planning, it'll at least be a start....

and ty to the poster with the mooch link. already signed up, looks great.

Oh im in..............will need some guidance though . and im a bugger with the old credit card. Someone hide it from me please!!!!!

Pass it over here stoppingattwo, I'll look after it for you...

Talked to dh yesterday, and he was all like "yeah, sounds good"
Then he and the dc's went shopping (the kids spending part of their x-mas/birthday money doesn't count imo) and he bought dd an alarm clock. She didn't need one - she is 5. I wouldn't have even minded if she bought it with her own money, as it is a "want" rather than a "need"

[grrr emotion!!!!]

For everyone who is worried about books, can I urge you to support your local library if you have one -- they can usually order in for you if they don't have what you want in stock. And if you must "own" a particular book then Amazon has most current titles available second-hand usually in pristine condition for a fraction of the new price, so you are not just saving money but saving the planet too.

MotherH I might CAT you if that's ok
I have some other stuff I'd like to ask about StA!

Oh libraries are great
Top tip, though - if you can get onto your lib catalogue online at home, then DO - you can search for and order books at home (with a PIN). If you think "Oh I'll just pop into the library and do it" then you face an hour's frustration and hair-tearing-out - in our libraries, anyway, the computers are so slow as to be unusable.

I really cut down on spending last year (there isn't much further I can go tbh ) and a weird thing happened to me. I have become almost a non-consumer. There are some things I covet, it's true, but mostly, I don't want anything. Or rather, I am not allowing myself to want anything. I went to a shopping centre with ds today to take him to the cinema, but he decided he didn't want to go (grr) so we mooched around the shops a little. My favourite shop had a half-price sale on, I had a good look, I saw loads of things I liked and would have snapped up a couple of years ago - but tbh I just didn't want them.

I'll be honest - it's a bit of a joyless way to be. I would like to look nice but that involves consuming. I no longer want to consume, so I don't feel very good about the way I look. I think I need an attitude shift somewhere.

But you ca still look nice, surely? Style isn't just about This Season's Colour or Look?

I'll be honest, I have way too many clothes, to th point where somedays I struggle to find something to wear because I have too much...
But 90 per cent of my clothes are from charity shops, friends or careful sales buying. People are always asking me ''where did you get that'' or complimenting me on my clothes.

Nice clean shiny hair doesn't need loads of expensive potions and lotion, ditto skin regime. Rest, plenty of water, exercise and a good dioet will do more for your looks than a whole truckful of expensive cosmetics in the long run.

And one of my best make up buys this year was a 99p mascara from Asda! (I had expensive ones which looked spidery and cloggy and this cheap one looked nice and natural.

fmf I have hardly any clothes left!
I have either put on weight, or things have simply worn out and I cannot afford to replace them.
Also, I tend to get very cold, which means a lot of clothes are out.
Cheap clothes seem to shrink immediately (especially up the way for some reason!) or the fabric bobbles ridiculously so I don't generally bother. I don't often find things I like in charity shops.
I have one pair of jeans atm and a couple of skirts and I can look all right but it's hardly my ideal.
Losing weight would be good (just a stone and a half, maybe two, not out of the question) because if nothing else I could wear the things that are packed away!

I am totally well-off for the rest - have a decade's worth of good make-up still going strong and got some Aveda shampoo for Christmas...and just discovered Lidl moisturiser which is surprisingly ok.

I used to make my own cosmetics as well: things like facial oils are lovely at the end of the day

ah that's difficult. Perhaps in your case, it should be about quality not quantity then? It's ok to spend some money on a fe good pieces rather than fritter away loads of money on loads of cheap, shrinking crap

Also, seriously, have you friends of a similar size? Do a clothes swap party!
( I bang on about these like a broken record because I completely rejuvenated my wardrobe after having one of these. Most of the clothes people brought round to share were new! (They'd bought them because ''they were in the sale'' and realised they didn't suit/didn't fit/srong colours etc)

Good idea.
I have stuff with the labels on from my pre-ds dinky full-time-wage days!

Oooh great thread! Will join in with gusto .

We're pretty good re. reducing excess, and certainly don't "consume" much stuff, but there are lots of areas where we can improve! We have just bought the dds new winter coats (they have had their old ones for three years so I'm not complaining!) and a couple of bowls and plates for our dinner service as I broke some the other day (these are second hand though). Both dses main presents and stockings were second-hand toys and tbh I could manage without buying any of the kids any more toys for a year as we have plenty of stuff now. Clothes is a bit of an issue - the dds are ok as I can get most of their stuff from charity shops or ebay, ds1 (2.5) is a little more difficult to clothe, especially trousers! However ebay is my friend and I get lots from there. I kept all his stuff for ds2, plus a couple of people have offered me their ds's offcasts, so we should be fine. Clothes for me and dh - we buy so little and I can't really see how we can reduce it. However I do like to make my own stuff - I have a skirt made out of four of dh's old shirts, and a friend gave me her old green silk curtains which I plan to make a skirt and a jacket from (and trousers ... in fact I could do a Sound of Music jobby as I've got so much material!!).

Food is the thing though, isn't it? Both reducing air miles (Lidls is good for stocking local produce, at least where we are), and making sure everything is used. We've got lots of little tupperware boxes which we keep leftovers in, and regularly (ie daily) go through the fridge to see what's in there. Leftovers often end up in a soup of some sort, particularly veg! If apples go soft before they are eaten, I peel, chop and freeze them for apple sauce/pie etc (did that this morning!).

I also second the thing about the library - if you are in the Highlands by any chance then here is the link! Also check out Library Elf - it will remind you when your books are due back and tell you when your reservations are in. I'm lucky as I work in our local library therefore am in and out several times a week. Dh is a great reader and reads about 5 or 6 books a week so it's invaluable.

OK I have had my last online retail splurge for a year -- if all goes to plan. It was from ethical superstore and was a few late Christmas presents for family so I don't feel too bad about it. Have managed to resist all the sale catalogues which have come in the post in the last few days, and from now onwards won't even bother to open them. Wishing all mumsnetters an eco-friendly ethical new year!

yes am thinking this one through

I think I am not so much interested in Not Consuming as working out exactly what it is that I want to consume.

I am also very happy to spend extra on stuff that is more ethically produced, has lower food miles, etc. This is partly why I am so glad to see this thread-have seen them before and it always seems to be "oh you can get 400 eggs and a poor bastard of a chicken for £1 at Tescopoly". Which is not what I want. I buy local organic stuff and cut back elsewhere.

Another issue is that I have spent my life so FAR being skint. Despite having nearly 3 kids and not working, I am actually closer to having no debt than every before in 12 years of adult life (note student loan doesn't count). So I don't have a bunch of stuff to fall back on.

I am suprising myself here, I am approaching this from a far more philosophical stance than is usual for me .

oh and there is an issue for me with crafty stuff-I am concerned at where a lot of it comes from. Eg a lot of yarn is mainly or partly acrylics, shipped from far far away, or there are issues like those with bamboo. So making my own is not necessarily a preferable choice for me to buying secondhand.

Please excuse my excessive ruminating, I will get there in the end

oh and sod it, am not cutting out starbucks. Its a work expense as far as I am concerned . Actually, it is warm, the staff are far, far more tolerant of my wild kids than any of the prissy locally run coffee shops, with their small chairs, and tbh, we go there either to sit and read, or I get dd off to sleep and then do schooly type stuff with ds (home educated) . Its still WAY cheaper than a nursery, anyway-we can make a small hot chocolate between us last 2 1/2 hours , and they never say anything. And they give us coffee grinds...God it really does keep me sane, how sad is that?