For a few days now I’ve talking to little Pop about getting the ‘rules‘ down in writing for ‘buy nothing new’. I wanted to be able to visualize how different our consumption habits would be. I want to have a journey of living a modern life as chemically free as possible. As I said in my last post our house feels so cluttered with stuff that it is effecting how we live. I am always worrying about the mess and lack motivation to actually clean because as soon as you clean one room and move onto anouther the first room is messed up again. I find it embarrassing having people around and at time feel isolated. I have come to realise de-cluttering and not buying anything new will help us live a simpler life and no longer be slaves to our ‘stuff’. The side benefits are, we will save some money (always good) and reduce our environmental foot print. We haven’t joined a cult or become environmental warriors and we don’t think we are better or smarter than anyone else. It is a great time to slow things down and really look at what we buy and what we really need.
So here are the rules which I quickly scribbled in my note book whilst following little pop around the bathroom as she readied for Uni.
What can be purchased new:
- Food – which we plan on purchasing from local farmers.
- Medication
- Safety and security equipment – we have some dodgy door handles that may give up any time soon. Our external doors all have same key deadlocks so it would be difficult to replace with second hand.
- Printer Ink and paper.
- Ingredients for home made cleaners
- Toilet paper
- Underwear
- Fabric
- Pens
- Petrol and car maintenance equipment
Of course we will always try our best to buy things second hand or borrowed where possible but if absolutely necessary and we can see no alternative way around it these are the items we have deemed permissible to buy new.
What can’t be bought new:
- household goods
- dog & cat toys
- clothing
- furniture
- bedding & linen
- books, magazines & newspapers
- DVDs & CDs
- cleaning products
- cards
- candles
- Wii & Xbox games
- Bottled water
New habits
- Washing machine and Dryer only used for FULL load
- Dryer only used at times that things cant be dried in cloths horse
- Power points turned off when not in use.
- Wash up when you have enough dishes to use a sink full of water
- Buying local thinking global 🙂 – Little Pop loves that motto.
Our list can be added to and along the way will let you know of adjustments we make. I am really looking forward to that moment I have a dilemma about buy new or not, lets see how innovative we can be.
‘clean natural, eat in season, donate, up-cycle, recycle and live life chemical free.‘
Big Pop
Thriftypop 