I didn't buy a lot in 2008

Well my no new stuff year is over!

I didn't post updates for Oct-Dec but it went much the same as the other months. I hardly bought anything new. I fell down a few times but nothing to be ashamed of!

It was a fun challenge for myself and I learned a few things:

1) I probably don't buy a lot of stuff to begin with. I didn't feel like my life had taken a huge departure from what it was normally like in the first place. It did stop little impulse purchases. That was nice. And I can't even remember what kind of stuff it was that I didn't buy so clearly this is not stuff that was worth my time in the first place.

2) Gently used items are the way to go-This summer I went to more Garage Sales than I probably have in my entire life. I do eBay and in the pursuit of inventory I came across more stuff than I would ever use! (I did NOT buy it all of course!) Home decor, Yankee Candles, Garden Implements, Light Fixtures, Children's Clothing. If you want it, I guarantee it's out there. And I guarantee it's cheap. (though I have yet to find a children's wicker set like Jeannine did! Although I did find a darling children's wooden Adirondack chair) I'll post some garage sale wisdom closer to the season this year. But really, if you have a problem with used items you need to consider that once it's at your house, NO ONE can tell the difference. I bought a beautiful large Terra Cotta Pot at an Auction last week. At the garden store this would be at least $30. I got it for $1!!!! It's in perfect condition. With plants, you'll think I bought it new and be jealous of me!

3) I HAVE ENOUGH. I really have enough stuff. I wanted for nothing this past year (Well maybe an electric deer fence) But I actually FOUND a ton of great deer fencing on the side of the road that I will be able to use come spring. I do have enough. You have enough.

4) Sometimes it IS nice to buy something. In Nov my aunt took me to lunch and to my favorite country type store and bought me lovely early Christmas presents. All told the outing cost her about $100. I felt like queen for a day. I had forgotten how nice it is to get something new that I wanted. I realize that I NEVER, hardly ever, splurge on myself to the tune of $1oo. I'm not thinking I need to do this a lot, but really, $100 2x a year won't kill me.

There is nothing inherently wrong with stuff. It's the overabundance of stuff that becomes a problem. I think we all need to strike the right balance of stuff within ourself that considers our needs, budgets, moral implications (whatever that is for you) and what will and will not truly make us happy.

No New Stuff-September Edition!

For those of you still paying attention to my No New Stuff Year I am happy to report my September total as:

$0
Nothing
Nada
Zip
Zilch

I don't know if it's because I've been super busy, my school takes went up $1200 or what but in September I bought nothing new! Yeah me!

No new Stuff Year August-Book Buying Birthday

It's time for my monthly roundup for my No New Stuff Year.

I received some birthday money and promptly spend some of it on books. 6 books in the month of August. I can't even tell you the last time I bought 6 books in a month. I rarely go into a bookstore like Barnes and Noble because I find it so seductive. Coffee, new clean exciting books. All kinds of possibilities. For a book lover it is an easy way to part me from my money. I prefer the library. I can usually muster up the same kind of excitement if I remember that at one time all of the books there were new and shiny. Best of all, they are FREE.

But I digress. I bought 6 new books. 2 new eBay books that I wanted for reference and the entire Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. I only bought the books as I've been chomping at the bit to read them and the waiting list at the library is LONG LONG LONG for these books. So as my summer treat I read them for my vacation. I could not put them down! If you've read them let me know because I'm dying to talk about the ending and have run across no one else who has read them!!!

Anyway, I plan to sell the set on eBay because I really don't need 4 huge books taking up space on my bookshelf and these aren't really books that I would keep and refer back to. Aside from the books, nothing new!

I'm Not Buying It! June & July Update

Nope, I haven't gone off somewhere on a spending frenzy!

I've been busy with guests, weekends away, garage sailing, my birthday-You name it. I've been too tired to blog and feeling not all that frugal anyway!

So back into the swing of it with a roundup for June and July for my NO NEW STUFF YEAR.

June

At the end of June we went on a 2 week vacation to see family. Prior to that I had purchased nothing new. The day before there was a shameful trip to the dollar store where I bought a bunch of stuff totally against my principals to pull out for my daughter every once in a while during the 1200 miles that we drove. I probably only spent $10 but it was complete crap. While on vacation, a reproduction pioneer type bowl was mine for $9. Oh yeah, in the interest of full disclosure there was an ill fated trip to Ikea (Thank god we don't have these near me, I would be in therapy.) where I dropped about $115 on various things that I probably really didn't need like lights and a canopy for my girls room, various storage things, spice jars (oh yes, thought I. I do GROW my own herbs, wherever will I put them????) All crap from China. I'm ashamed.

July

I think I'm pretty clean here. I did buy new (real) Crocs for my daughter. Oh yes, I also purchased a handmade (by a homeschooling woman in CA) Pioneer dress for my girlie for Laura Ingalls Wilder Day at the museum this weekend (she will also wear it for Halloween and to visit when I'm a pioneer! And Soap. FIVE Handmade bars of wonderful soap from Etsy. Technically this is ON THE LIST of stuff I'm allowing myself to buy but technically, we were not out of soap either. I bought it as a birthday present for myself! I'm so hooked on this stuff!

So I'm halfway through this year and I'll tell you, this really isn't that hard. (when you cheat!) But really, I think I'm doing pretty well. I am realizing I probably don't buy that much stuff that I don't "need" to begin with. So perhaps I've set a really easy goal for myself. I have also been having a lot of fun garage sailing this year so anything I bought second-hand I don't need to tell you about!

No New Stuff Year-May Edition, I Am Victorious!!!

Time for the May roundup of my No New Stuff Year.

I am thrilled to report I purchased only 2 items new for the entire month of May:
-1 Tomato cage yesterday ($2.19)
-2 copper elbow joints for a mini trellis I made ($1-Yes Michael I realize you probably DO have these in your basement)

$3.19! That's it! And those really count as garden items and I will use those year after year! Aside from that I didn't buy ANYTHING NEW!!!

Now, that isn't to say I didn't buy anything. I did buy A LOT of plants for the garden. A lot!

And now that the garage sale season is in full swing, I have been having fun and spending (a little) money on second hand items. Items of note:
2 yogurt makers for $1.50 each
1 Enamel Covered Cast Iron Casserole. $1 (We've decided not to use Teflon coated pans and love enamel covered cast iron (Al la Le Creuset). This was a find!
A new set of pottery barn towels for $1.60 at an estate sale (truthfully people at an estate sale are not looking for towels so that is why they were so cheap)
2 Big bedroom mirrors with with wonderful frames. One $4 and one was $5

It's important to note (for me anyway!) that you can get carried away with garage sale items. I did not decide not to buy new items for financial reasons alone so I need to remind myself that more stuff is not always a great deal even if it is cheap!

No New Stuff Year April Edition!

Ok, a quick round up of items purchased during April of the no new stuff year.

2 Garden Urns (I have no excuse here. I WANTED them.)
1 Pair of Sexy Sandals (Well I did need shoes)
1 Bottle of Pink Nail Polish to complement sexy sandals (I'm calling this a need. My toes are tired of winter, tired of shoes, tired of looking dull and lifeless. They look cute today!)

I also bought a few clothing items that I did need.

Gifts have long been something I've tried to be clutter free about unless it was something I know the person wants or needs. For Jeannine's birthday last week I gave her a basket of strawberry plants and some depression glass plates that I thought looked like strawberry shortcake plates. They were totally up her alley. My grandma turned 84 Monday and I gave her a basket of Hollyhock plants with the promise that I will come and install her new hollyhock garden next week.

Note that both of those people are gardeners so the idea of live plants is something they were happy about!

Oh I almost forgot. I bought these garlic clips for the deer in my garden this year. I was kind of disappointed when they came because I thought they were refillable with garlic oil after each season but they are actually disposable.....I wonder if they work? I'll keep you posted on that one as I don't think I know anyone with as many deer in the backyard as I have. If they work for me then they will work for you!

You may recall, that as of the 1st of this year I pledged that I wasn't buying anything new (with a few exceptions Anyway, it's April so I though I would give a little progress update! Mind you, I'm not talking about the stuff I alluded to that I would still buy new, although there was not that much.

In February, we went to Florida. I recall a jar of play dough and some Kids Cutlery made by Dixi, which was a complete waste of plastic. Other than that I'm clean! All I bought myself were those crappy $145 shoes. Ok I probably didn't need those, per say.....

March was a bit more complicated. A new all in one printer/copier/fax machine for my business. The old printer died. I tried looking on Craig's list nothing that would be suitable (or so I told myself!) I got a great deal on a new one. I'm feeling ok about that.

Easter-I didn't buy that much but I recall an Easter basket, some plastic eggs and yellow plastic grass that served no purpose but to mess my house and get thrown away quickly (that grass was a really bad purchase!) I didn't buy a new Easter outfit for my girl actually-It was like 20 degrees and snowy-She wore a cute brown and pink dress she already had! She's not in therapy.
We are saving the eggs and the basket for another year. I also bought some COMPLETE crap that I said I would buy as a fund raiser for my daughter's school. Mostly bad food and giftwrap. (note to self-Take the fund raising buyout next year!)

I bought some gifts those months and tried to make them the consumable type. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not.

There is probably some more but I think I'm doing ok. Part of it is I think I already was not buying much new anyway.

Gardening season is right around the corner so the real temptation is yet to come!

Janurary Tally-No New Stuff Year

Well how did I do with my first month of my No-New-Stuff Year??? Lets see!

$.3.29 on sewing needles
$26.59 on some items to complete a project which I will show later this week if I can swing over to my Brother's to pick up the staple gun I need!

All in all, not so bad. Nothing that I didn't plan to buy and nothing too harmful to our world and my pocketbook. Also, with the project supplies I purchased I am getting something unused out of the basement and making it useful and beautiful! (I know, you are just dying of suspense over there!)

I did buy new dance clothes/shoes for my daughter. I said I would not bring my family along for the ride and could buy shoes and clothes and since this was her first time in class I wanted to have the things she needed. I will mention I only bought her one of everything she needs and we didn't get anything else this month. (Her Daddy bought her some princess gloves and a wand at Target that I am sure are straight from China-But it's his conscience, not mine! ;0) )

The VCR Broke!

Oh Man!!

I don't exactly know why I'm posting this because I haven't come up with a beautiful and frugal solution to this yet!

Our VCR broke.

It's been on it's last legs for some time now. Sometimes the sound was messed up we would have to bang on it to make it work. (No, we are not THAT poor) But I was not about to buy a new one when that one still worke. I've had this one for over 10 years. It bit the dust tonight.

What now? I'm not buying anything new.

We need a VCR. My husband is a teacher and often tapes stuff for school. Plus I have a ton of library $1 DVDs that my daughter likes to watch. And I'm NOT paying $12 a month for the privilege of taping via a DVR. I think last year I taped LOST twice.

SO...... What now? My husband said he would buy the VCR. Hmmmmmm.... That seems like cheating. And by getting a new VCR then I'm creating 2 electronic devices that will go into a landfill someday. And I looked at the Target website. The cheapest one was $60. Not too terribly expensive but still not something I want to shell out this week..... They did have some DVD/VCR combos and our DVD player isn't that great but I don't think I can stand throwing out 2 electronics this week. (although it would kind of streamline things.)

I emailed a few people on Craigslist this evening so we'll see what that turns up. Stay tuned! Will we cave and get a new VCR or will I pull some frugal magic out of my hat!

Temptation!

Ok, don't worry, I'm not going to post each time I don't buy something.

Yesterday, Jan 7th my willpower was tested! Last fall when I bought a lot of apples I called everyone I know to try and borrow one of these! No one had one. Wegman's had one but it was $25 and I didn't even spend that much on the apples.

Yesterday, while at Wegman's, they were 1/2 price! $12.50!!! I wanted it. BAD. I picked up it, turned it over (made in Taiwan) and left it on the shelf. I mean it's only the 7th.... Of January......

And as I recall, since I had one of those apple slicer things, that it really wasn't all that difficult to peel the apples for pies and apple bread. A lot of the time I used them, I left the peel on which is better for you anyway. Since I don't think I'm going to mass produce apple pies I think I really don't need this gizmo anyway. Sometimes when you really think of what you need, you realize you don't need anything at all.

My God I Already Bought Something!!!

My God, what is it, Jan 3rd and already I've bought something new.

It was needles for my sewing machine. (and I did mention I was going to buy those...) I'm making my mother-in-law a purse for her birthday and I knew I broke the last one a few weeks ago. I was also in the same plaza as Jo-Ann's today and thought it silly to have to drive back out to buy a darn needle just because I didn't want to buy something "new" so soon.

So I spent $3.29 on 4 needles. Read all of the backs of the packages. There were 3 kinds. 1 Made in China and 2 made in India (Who knows, is India any better than China?) I chose Singer needles from India.

It was 11:30am. I was meeting a friend for lunch across the parking lot at 11:35 am. I thought briefly about going after lunch but I figured giving myself so little time to buy the needles would eliminate any desire to look at stuff! I walked QUICKLY past all of the sale holiday merchandise. I was like a horse with blinders on making my way to the sewing needles. I ignored the sale fabric and pretended there was no yarn at all in the store.

Happy No New Stuff Year!!!

For the New Year I'm jumping off the consumer bandwagon!

For a while now I've been thinking about the implications of all this stuff in my life. Stuff is cheap (Ok stuff like food and gas are not cheap) but by and large, stuff is cheap. I can buy a sweater now for roughly the same amount that I did in the 80's. I bought my husband a pair of slippers before Christmas for $7 at Old Navy. How much does a $7 pair of slippers cost to make in order to make any money for the store $0.70? Probably. If I take this slipper question to a logical conclusion, HOW does something get made so cheaply???-The answer, is something I probably don't want to look too closely at. Also, the whole "Made in China" thing has really made me take a good hard look at what I'm buying.

On top of that, lust for stuff costs money and time. I say I don't need anything else and yet, somehow, going into Target makes me feel differently. I don't like that.

I already have a lot of stuff (too much stuff) and this is the year that I'm going to get it all under control.

I've been thinking about doings something like "the Compact which you may or may not have about on the Internet. The basis of which is :

The Compact has several aims (more or less prioritized below):

• To go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of disposable consumer culture and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step that, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact.
• To reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er).
• To simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

We've agreed to follow two principles (see exceptions etc. on our blog).

#1 Don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)
#2 Borrow, barter, or buy used.

This intrigues me. I always say I have ENOUGH STUFF to last me for years and I probably do. Do I??? This is the year to see. This is my year of NO NEW STUFF! Yes, that means that I'm buying nothing new for myself.

I'm going to mention a few exceptions to this proclamation though:

1) I won't bring my family along for the ride if they don't want to. I won't make my husband try and find a hose at a garage sale if ours bursts and we need a new one (Although I will try and find him one myself!) If he needs a hose he can get one. (and trust me, I won't make my husband need a new purse halfway through the year!) He's pretty on board though so at least he isn't looking at me like I've grown another head.
2) I draw the line at shoes and undies. Those can and will be bought new.
3) Same with some new clothes. I will buy them if I need them, but only when I need them and only what I need. (I don't need 5 pair of black sandals!) I'm not opposed to 2nd hand clothes and my daughter and I both have them. But if I need a shirt, I'm gonna buy a shirt.
4) Gifts.I'm not going to give my mom a used bathrobe for a present if she needs one although I will try and give clutter free gifts whenever possible.
5) Plants-These are food for my table and soul. I will try and buy most from seed, locally at plant sales for garden clubs and the such and by begging for freebies from my friend's gardens. I can't say I won't buy some outright though as I have a special garden project I am planning for spring.

What I will do:
1) Only buy what I NEED and can see an immediate use for (even 2nd hand items can get out of control if you don't watch it!)
2) Will try and buy local food when possible.
3) I will purchase personal hygiene items (but use up what I have before buying new)
4) NO new craft stuff. I have a BUNCH of projects I need to finish from knitting to furniture re-finishing. If a project needs something like paint or a sewing needle to finish them, then I'm not going to stress over that, I'll buy it if I have no other option. (I think it's better to spend $10 on some paint to finish something that's been sitting in the basement for a year!
5) Paint-I'm making an exception for this one as I want to paint a few of the rooms in the house this year and I want to use some authentic antique colors that I can only buy. This doesn't create clutter though!
6) Less consumables like paper plates, napkins, flatware, etc... I have a dishwasher already!

This also has some business implications for me as well.

1) For the past year I have been selling new and also antique/vintage items. Obviously, now the business with be just antiques. 2) Also, I get free boxes from the post office (but they are new) I will try and recycle boxes that other things have come in before using or ordering any more free boxes. (but I know at some points I will need to use new boxes)
2) I already use mostly recycled packing materials and will continue to do so.
3) I use tape and labels. I don't see how I could use second-hand products of this nature, so this will still be new stuff.

Perhaps I'm being buoyed by the fact that I got everything I need on my Christmas list (it wasn't that long!) . I see a few drawbacks as right now there are a few things I do want like a new faucet and light fixtures but I have some financial goals that I want to meet first anyway-I can think about those things later (or ask for them for my Birthday or Next Christmas.)

I'm not doing this to be a mayrter or in judgment of anyone else. It just feels right to me right now. You can watch the journey here as I will be giving updates and keeping tracking of what I do spend. I will, of course, still be Living Beautifully, Frugally.