A Year Buying Nothing New

On Nov. 10, 2014, it hit me: I could probably live out the rest of my life without buying anything new. It would be difficult, but it would be possible (with some exceptions, I’m sure). I like saving money. Even more, I like averting waste…reducing my footprint on the ecosystem. I decided going “all used” would be worth a try. A year’s try. I mentally committed to the experiment within an hour of the notion popping into my head. With that kind of diligent consideration, there’s no telling what the year will bring. I’ve always been frugal. Almost never buy anything at full price. Almost never buy anything at a mall (except for a major wardrobe restocking every 6 or 7 years at end-of-season sales when I’m getting at least 75% off). The key to saving money is planning. For instance, the sweater I put on today was brand new (hopefully the pic of it will post). But, I bought it over a year ago at an end-of-season clearance. It was originally $19.99. I paid $4.99. It’s 100% cotton. It’s also a men’s sweater. I find lots of good deals in the men’s department. Colors or styles that are too feminine for men tend to go for drastically reduced prices, often even in season. (Got 2 lovely CASHMERE men's sweaters for under $10 each once.) My favorite winter jacket is a fabulously comfy down men’s jacket that retailed for well over $100 and I got it for under $20…probably because it is bright yellow. But, the bright yellow doesn’t bother me. Likely "helps" that I'm a big mama and bigger men tend to shy away from colors, etc. I hate to brag, but with my excellent clothes-shopping skills, it’s going to be difficult for me to save any more money on clothes by going used. But, there are other types of merchandise I can save on, right? I guess I’ll soon find out. There will be a few things I won’t be able (or willing) to buy used: things like toilet paper (I’m not going to risk clogging my plumbing with newspaper or whatever), food (though, I do grow some of my own), cleaning supplies (I doubt I’ll find a reliable source of used cleaning products, but I’ll look)…I’m sure I’ll come across other categories. I’ll let you know what they are when I find them. These first several posts aren't going to be in real time. I started going used and writing about it a few weeks before I got around to setting up the blog...but all should be caught-up and real time by the new year. Wish me luck.