Could you stand not buying anything new for 1 year?
By lovelyprune
@lovelyprune (266)
Philippines
January 4, 2007 11:58pm CST
This was on the news. A group of friends made a pact not to buy anything new for one year, with the exception of toiletries, groceries and anything under the category of health and safety. but all other stuff -- books, clothes, shoes, ipods, dvds, laptops...-- are strictly off limits.
4 people like this
19 responses
@freesoul (3021)
• Egypt
4 Feb 07
I think this is very hard although some people do it out of the lack of money.. there's a lot of things that we "want" but don't really "need" and a lot of people do actually enjoy "shopping" I can't understand how many people look at it as a happy.. for me it's not, it's just a task that we need to do, i enjoy "having" some things but "buying" them is not enjoyable in itself..
@lovelyprune (266)
• Philippines
5 Feb 07
there's no prize it's not a contest. i guess for the people who did this, the satisfaction of having helped our environment in a real way was the reward.
1 person likes this
@754937286506548667 (815)
• Italy
2 Feb 07
impossible today and in this society not buy anithing, we live in a time of commerce businnes capitalism!!!
@lovelyprune (266)
• Philippines
5 Jan 07
True. Actually the practice made them realize that there are actually a lot of things in our lives that we do not need to buy. they go what they need through bartering, borrowing, etc. they even shared the uncanny experience of having things that they need being provided to them by coincidence -- eg something they need turned out to be something that a friend wanted to give away.
@lovelyprune (266)
• Philippines
6 Jan 07
it was just a pact made by a group of friends over dinner or something. i think it was their reaction to the extreme consumerism in our culture today. i suppose if we all make a conscious effort to make the most of what we have and not buy what we don't really need, there'll be a lot less trash in the world.
1 person likes this
@stailgate (2363)
• United States
2 Feb 07
that would be really really hard, and would safe you allot by the end of the year. So did they actually do it? or is this pact still going on?
2 people like this
@lovelyprune (266)
• Philippines
2 Feb 07
yup, they actually went through it. the article was about their realizations from the experience. a lot of them found it such a positive experience that they decided to try continuing the practice.
1 person likes this
@elaine_sweet (79)
• Philippines
5 Feb 07
maybe..If im that focused to save up...Im planning to buy myself a new laptop..But I think one year of savings isnt enough for a new laptop for me...
@cassidy22 (2974)
• United States
5 Feb 07
For me, this would be very easy. I'm not very materialistic and don't really care about clothes and things. I can sew up worn clothing, re-read old books, don't really need most of the electronics I have already, so why buy more. So, yeah, I could do it.
1 person likes this
@ginny36 (266)
• United States
2 Feb 07
I think the thing I would find most difficult to not buy for a one-year period is books. Sure, there's the library, and borrowing/trading with friends, but I'm a bookaholic! I love buying new books and reading them, then having them on my shelf to pull out and re-read.
I'm one of those people who actually hates to shop, at least in anyplace other than a bookstore. So I think I could deal with the rest.
@mixey62 (305)
• United States
5 Feb 07
I admire these people's efforts, but I don't think I would ever be able to do that myself. I love shopping too much. I guess I shouldn't do it as often as I do (heck- people could go a whole year and I can't even go a week? How pathetic am I?). My goal this year is to cut back dramatically and to try to save a bigger percentage of my income. I'll let you know how that works out- I'm not as optimistic as I should be.
@lovelyprune (266)
• Philippines
5 Feb 07
it's hard to restrain ourselves with the constant bombardment of media feeding us with long lists of "must haves" which when you really think about are things that we can do without. good luck, hope reaching your goal wouldn't be as hard as you think it is :-)
@XxAngelxX (2830)
• Canada
5 Feb 07
LOL, that would be a great experiment to try out. I don't know that I could manage it. Although I don't normally buy a lot of new things, I like to reward myself every now and again. It's very seldom I buy any large ticket items, but every now and then it's nice to get some new clothes. It would be interesting to know the results of their pact.
1 person likes this
@tigErbabE (99)
• Philippines
5 Feb 07
I think i was able to do that before-when i was still studying and depending on my parents with everything. Now, I'm not sure if i can still do that, because i love books and i try to check on booksales from time to time. But maybe with great will power - I too can do it.
1 person likes this
