The End of the 2011 Challenge

We are officially done with our "Year of Buying Nothing New"
So how'd we do..........

1. It wasn't as hard as we thought.
We found out that most of the things we wanted we could find used. We were worried about Christmas...but Mark asked the boys to make their lists early ( in September) and he enjoyed the challenge of finding books and even video games used ( the big score was Skyrum for Ben)

2. We messed up a couple of times..but not as many times as we thought we would.

-At the beginning of the year, we got carried away and bought Ian's T-shirts.
-I bought some flowers for the garden( the boys felt that qualified as new)
-Mark bought a little rug to go by the cat's litter box ( he couldn't stand the mess)
-Mark bought Nate 3 soccer jerseys that were overstock from last year ( so not really used) Other than that we can't think of any big mistakes.

We did buy the boys shoes and underwear ( so we did make use of the exceptions)

3. Did we save time/money?
In general yes to both. We saved time because there was no point in even going into most stores...which is the same reason we saved money.

However..when we did need to purchase something it took longer...either because we had to research to see if we could find it used...or we had to stop in at a resale shop a couple of times to see if we could find what we wanted.

What did we learn-
-It is easier to buy used than we thought. Even new books and video games ( of concern to the boys) become available very quickly.
- If you let people know you need something..they go out of their way to help. People have things laying around their house that they don't need (that's how I got a new used iron)
-There were multiple times we thought we needed something...and we got over it. Time passed and realized we were doing fine with out it.

So what's next...we are struggling with what our goal(s) should be for 2012...let us know if you have an idea!

Our New Year's Resolution 1.1.11

We have talked about this for over a year (hat tip to Sarah Apple who first shared the idea) and this year we are ready...to make a one year commitment to

Buy Nothing New for One Year

Our Reasons to try this
*We have everything we need
*Research shows that having more does not make you happier ( in fact it seems to be quite the opposite)
*We don’t want to add to landfill
*We want to be more aware and intentional about how we spend our money
*We want to simplify our lives

I knew we were not the first to take this pledge but I was surprised to find out how many people we are joining. One google search connected me to

The Compact

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

We are allowing some exceptions (which seem in line with others who have "signed" the Compact)
-Food
-Consumables (like toilet paper, light bulbs)
-Health/safety products ( toothpaste, soap, medicine)
-Underwear/sox
-For the boys: shoes and if we can not find resale jeans, OK to buy new)

Full disclosure: we did have some last minute purchases. These were things that we had on our "To buy" list for most of last year.

Our last minute purchases
-Two lamps for the living room ( we have looked for used for over a year)
-Curtains for the living room ( our last ones being chewed by pet rats- don't ask)
-A water conserving shower head
-A new fire/smoke alarm
-A lamp for my drawing table downstairs
-Three cake pans which I have not been able to find at Goodwill ( I love to bake!)

And so we begin...........