04 October 2013

Buy Nothing New Month

I'm sure you are all aware by now that October is Buy Nothing New month. I've mentioned it in this month's Cheapskates Journal and on the Cheapskates website.

The month where you can shop, just not for brand new items. When you do your shopping, deliberately looked for used, second-hand, recycled, re-purposed, pre-loved (or whatever else  you want to call them) items.

You'll not only be saving money but you'll be stopping a lot of stuff going to landfill. Even better though is you'll be a living example of just how easy it is to live without buying new all the time. You will be a prime example of how to shop for a sustainable lifestyle.

Now there are three things you can buy new, for safety's sake:

    1. Food
    2. Medicines
    3. Petrol/diesel/gas or whatever fuel your vehicle uses.
   
As you wander aimlessly around the shopping centres use your phone to capture the things you look at, the things you want to buy. That new jacket - take a picture of it. The pretty Christmas dishes - take a picture. New bed linen - take a picture. You get the idea - if you think you are going to buy it, take a picture.

Then head to your local op shop. Wander around. Look on all the shelves and in all the corners. Check out the window. Go through the boxes and baskets. Sort through the racks. And keep your phone handy because you want to be able to check the photo when you find the jacket or platter or bed linen.

If the item matches or is so similar it doesn't make any difference, and the price is right then you've found a bargain, gained what you wanted and stayed true to Buy Nothing New month.

You're not limited to op shops (although they are a great resource for buy nothing new) but what about garage sales? Trash'n'treasure markets? Car boot sales? Fetes with white elephant stalls? Freecycyle? Friends and family? Gumtree? eBay?

The options for buying not new things is limited only by your imagination. Before you buy anything this month, first ask yourself if you really need it and secondly ask yourself if it has to be bought new.

You can find out more about Buy Nothing New month here

This year Buy Nothing New month has teamed with the Australian Conservation Foundation for Green Spring Clean. It's the easiest spring cleaning you'll ever do - simply list the stuff you don't want, don't use or don't need. The proceeds from any sales go to ACF and you get a very handy tax receipt for your donation! Win-win!  You can find out all about Green Spring Clean here



Follow on Bloglovin

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment...I just love hearing from you!

Just a couple of things:

Please don't use your comments to advertise your business or goods for sale, any such comments will be removed.

And please include your name, ANONYMOUS POSTS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED AND WILL BE RECORDED AS SPAM.