Van over at Thrift Core has challenged her readers to go without retail shopping for a year. It's been a few years since I tried this type of challenge. I have read recent books and blogs chronicling other people's various level of success of being a non-consumer and, although I have a few gripes on some of the books, I love reading the success stories. It is a challenge I really need to try again with my recent economy worries and the fact I need to save money/pay off some debts.So, I accept her challenge and will begin producing a weekly report on my progress.
My exceptions to the 2011 Buy Nothing New challenge are as follows (but even these have an exception to the exception; I will try to substitute, find cheap or free or make my own whenever possible):
*Food and/or medical needs
*Cleaning supplies
*Vehicle needs (e.g. window wipers, etc.)
*Hygiene products (I'll include underwear here, but we are really set right now)
*Household items needed to get house on market (see exception to the exception)
*Gifts (again, see exception to the exception, but I will have more on this on a later post)
*Limit our eating out and bar patronage (I will try to be thrifty with coupons and "Kids Eat Free" nights)
I will try to be better at the curb-side shopping or using Craig's List. I plan to be more exceptional at using coupons for food/pet food/household items. I do not want to give up thrift shopping, but I am going to limit is to two days a month (at most and I will make up "passes" for myself to use. If I happen to use them all in months 1-4 then I am done for the year). I will carry my thrift wish list and try to stick with it. Last, if I slip and buy new, I will try to get it from smaller shops (this is part of my gift exception).
I am looking forward to the challenge and will begin my posts on the topic starting next Wednesday!
