Welcome to my blog! I decided to start this so that I would be able to document my experience of buying nothing new. Some of you may have heard of this before and others may have no idea what I am talking about. Yesterday, I decided that for 1 month I will only buy what I need and to write about my experience.
There is a lot of information on the internet regarding this commitment to buying nothing new. About a year ago I read of a group in San Fransico who call themselves The Compact, http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/ who committed to buying nothing but food and items necessary for health and safety for 1 year. Around the same time I read about a woman who was in debt from student loans and she too made the commitment to buy nothing new for 1 year. Both parties took on the same commitment but for very different reasons. The group wanted to make a difference in the world around them, clear clutter and waste from their homes and to live a better life, whereas the woman was trying to financially secure herself by avoiding the purchase of things she wanted and only focus on what she needed.
I thought that this was a great thing to try and I had decided to begin that day but before I knew it I was at the mall buying things and shopping and had totally forgot about wanting to buy nothing new. Then at the beginning of February I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to listen to Kristin Skarie, the Founder and President of Teamworks, speak about her experience in buying "mostly nothing new." (I'm following her blog, mostlynothingnew.blogspot.com you ca find it on the right panel of this page!) She is a very inspirational speaker and truly amazed me with her perspective on life. She reminded me very much of my best friend from college who has such a great personality, very outgoing, excellent communicator and has a way of really making you see where she comes from and what she's about. After she spoke I went up and thanked her and told her that I thought she was very motivational. I told her of my attempt at it and that it didn't go as planned and she responded by saying that just embracing the concept and giving it a go is an accomplishment in itself and even though it may have only lasted a week that is still something to celebrate. She is absolutely right and I began to think about how I felt like I tried and I failed and that was that. But there is so much more, its not about deciding to buy nothing new for a month or a year or a week its about trying to better your life, the community you live in and world around us. I don't want to just not buy anything new I want to make a life style change and stop buying things on a whim that I end up throwing away in 6 months because it's just taking up space.
I've been thinking about this since I heard Kristin speak and I believe that I need to individualize my plan to make this attempt at Buying Nothing New successful. Over the weekend my girlfriend and I took a trip to Turning Stone Casino and Resort. We stayed in a beautiful room for the night, we gambled all night and the next morning, we ordered room service and after all that we stopped at the outlets on the way back so I could return a Christmas present. After all of that money we spent we still decided to go to the Nike Outlet and buy clothing. We got three shirts at a great price and my girlfriend bought mine for me because she's great but it really got me thinking. I had just spent a lot of money and here I was shopping some more and it wasn't because I needed a new shirt, but because I wanted one.
Once I got home and unpacked I thought about all of my receipts that I keep. I thought about about what I'm really doing with these receipts and I realized I'm not doing much with them. See, each month I add up what was spent on groceries and necessary househould items (i.e. cleaners, toliety paper, etc.) and I total up how much I spent on eating out and buying things that I wanted but did not need. Then I say ok, I am going to spend less next month. And then next month I total everything and I compare but through out the month I'm not making any changes or tracking the money I spend, I just hope that its less than last months and that is a terrible strategy!
So I decided I would try not buying anything new for 1 month. I sat down and I wrote two lists, one for things I can purchase and one for things that I cannot not buy. Things that I am allowing my self to spend money on are things necessary for survival, such as food, heat, water, medicine, toiletries, house cleaners along with things that provide safety, such as I need things for my car, like windshield washer fluid, I drive a lot for work and with the snow/salt/slush it gets hard to see and that compromises my safety as well as others driving around me! Things I cannot spend money on include clothing, accessories, house items, beer and wine, eating out for dinner basically anything that I do not need to live. Now, there are exceptions that I have written down so far that I can do and spend money on because either they are 1. for business or 2. because it's a social experience with friends or family. For example, going out to dinner with business associates is ok and so is taking my sister skiing and treating her to dinner while she is with me in Rochester for the weekend. Also, eating out for lunch is acceptable because I do travel for work and sometimes its hard to bring a lunch. One more thing is using gift cards that I have, one is for the Olive Garden so that will be ok to go out to dinner with, however I do have gift cards to Barnes and Nobles, Wal-Mart and Target and I haven't decided how to go about this. Should I permit myself to buy "new" things with my Wal-Mart and Target cards or only things like house cleaners or items like toothpaste, shampoo and etc. that can be found at either store or option 3, I wait till the month is over and go on a spree. I'm just kidding about option 3. I'm torn because I am doing this for 2 reason, 1. is I really do want to make a life style change in the way I purchase things and acquire material items that eventually get thrown out and add to our landfills and affect the environment and all of that and 2. because I want to be more responsible with my money.
After I wrote my lists, I told my girlfriend about it and she said that she doesn't think it will be a problem for me because I rarely purchase things for myself, however I buy more little things than I had realized. On a trip to Wegman's I see cute little decorations that I like or in Target I see a nice daily planner that I want or a new shirt that looks cute and this is a problem because I buy these things in the moment and I don't think about the lack of closet space I have or the fact that I already have enough Christmas decorations. And as a matter of fact, shortly after I wrote my list I was helping my girlfriend change the sheets on our bed and I said that we should go and buy new pillows for our bed. I personally think I need a new pillow for support and comfort while sleeping, but I haven't decided if that's going to be a purchase or not. For once I am actually thinking a purchase through instead of hoping in my car and going to buy whatever it is I want.
I do expect that it will be harder when I'm actually in the store and I have a desire to buy something. But I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Easy solution, stay out of stores and off roads that have stores : ), which is actually nearly impossible when you live down the road from the mall and in the center of a very large shopping district. Not to mention all of the advertisements you see on TV and hear about on the radio and drive pass on billboards, its difficult to avoid things that will impact your desire to purchase.
Well, that is what's up with this blog. From here on out I will be posting regularly on my experience and I hope to motivate others to join in and give this a try!
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