Buy Nothing Challenge - August Edition

Batten down your wallets, it's that time again!

Y'all have had three whole months to wallow in your decadent, consumeristic lives and now it's time for a kick in the pants. Yes, folks, it's another edition of the Buy Nothing Challenge. If you missed out on it last time you can check out all the previous posts on how much fun (or withdrawals) everyone had.

We had over 225 people participating in April, so let's see how many we can get to sign up for the August edition. I'll be hosting the weekly Sunday Confessional again where you can attempt to justify your wanton purchases. So, just think about having to confess to the world why you couldn't contain your credit card.

Here are the rules (plus a new one), in case you forgot 'em...

• No new clothes
  
• No new gadgets
  
• No new furniture or housewares
  
• No salon services (except haircuts)
  
• No new makeup
  
• No new tools
  
• No whatever the hell else people buy
  
• No eating out (yes, this one is new!)

Once more, I'm only giving you one day to prepare so you don't run off and stockpile like crazy. You should be focusing on whether or not what you are buying is a necessity or something frivolous. Food, medications and other essentials are okay.

If you must absolutely acquire something non-edible or not essential to growing your own food, preserving or storing food for the off-season or for your survival, then you must borrow, barter, or buy it used (please note: canning equipment and supplies like sugar, pectin and jars are okay). If you end up buying something new, then spill your sins at the Sunday Confessional.

Since a lot of you are probably in buying back-to-school supplies mode, try to stick to what's on your supply list. If you have young kids who don't know any better, buy their back to school clothes at a thrift or consignment store. Feel free to torture older kids with it, too. No, really, it will be fun!

Those who participated last time took about a week to get into no-spending mode, but then were amazed out how much they saved. They were also amazed at how much they buy stuff they don't need.

If you want to sign up for the challenge, leave a comment on this post and I'll add you to the sidebar under the list of participants. For those of you who stumble upon this later, you can still join. If you want to put the graphic up on your blog, just paste the following code:

<a href="http://crunchychicken.blogspot.com/2008/07/buy-nothing-challenge-august-edition.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6rwHG_JqKj0SmCdZEDm1rxbmfFPBClVLcE0E9HucWMLzsK62fKpN2uprk_ijti0gZpU6elx7m4jgbiABgbbrJnuGrDbnFuwi60DZsU5ROfQNxaS6i9bxo0MiNIj-hRhk9nbAbi2IDvFU/s320/banner.jpg" border="0" alt="Buy Nothing Challenge - August 2008" /></a>

Remember folks, there's safety in numbers.

Voluntary simplicity

On Saturday, the New York Times ran an article, Chasing Utopia, Family Imagines No Possessions, that warmed the cockles of my heart.

It covered several families who are downshifting to a life less harried and one focusing more on self-sufficiency rather than consumerism. In essence, the families, whether they intentionally are or not, are following the basic tenets of the Voluntary Simplicity movement.

One family you may already know about. It is Matt and Sara Janssen - she writes the eco blog, Walk Slowly, Live Wildly, which I read from time to time. They have completely sold most of their worldly possessions and are travelling the country in a used veggie oil fueled motor home, teaching others how to convert their diesel vehicles into a spent fast-food grease machine. The Live Lightly Tour is quite an exciting adventure and one which I've been following closely.

Another family has sold all their possessions as well and is planning on moving from Austin, Texas to a rural area of Vermont. They are currently looking into purchasing a log cabin and hope to set up a homestead, grow their own food and homeschool their kids. In other words, the classic "back to the land" scenario.

Finally, an Annapolis, MD family moved out of their apartment with an "everything must go" party and, along with their 3-year-old son, set sail on a 44-by-24-foot catamaran. Are you listening Burbanmom? (And in case you argue that you have more than one child, I know a family who lives on a sailboat that has one kindergartner and twin 4-year-olds.)

For those of you who participated in my post last week about living out your wildest dream, you may be interested in reading this article.

Of course, this is just begging for a poll. I'm throwing in one other example, the Dervaes family in Pasadena who practice the ultimate in urban homesteading, making phenomenal use of their suburban lot to grow a tremendous amount of fruits and vegetables (6,000 pounds annually), raise bees, goats, chickens and whatnot. If you've been living under a rock and haven't heard of them yet, I urge you to check out their website.



Photo courtesy of the New York Times

Buy Nothing Challenge

First off, I have to admit that over the last 8 or so years, I've been a bit of a spendthrift. I spent far too many years as a dirt-poor college student. So once I had a reasonable salary, I didn't pay attention to what I was spending because I didn't really have to anymore. Couple that with the American mentality of purchasing as sport and I would blow through money pretty quickly.

And it's not like I had much to show for it. It's amazing how so many little things add up. Since the majority of the expenses were for books and food or eating out I didn't feel like I was being extravagant. Only my credit card bills told me otherwise.

Well, I just realized that it's been months since I spent anything substantial. Sure, I've purchased a few books (for the book club) and bought a few sweaters from the thrift store (because I was freezing), but that's about it. Oh yeah, and I got my hair cut for the first time in almost a year. But, everything except the thrift sweaters were bought using gift cards.

With the end of the Freeze Yer Buns Challenge, I don't want you going through withdrawals. So I'm challenging you, for the month of April, to buy nothing. Now, I'm not talking about food, medications or other essentials, but everything else.

This is like Buy Nothing Day. Except that it lasts all month long. Sort of a mini-Compact. A compact Compact. A sub Compact.

Anyway, this means none of the following:

• No new clothes
  
• No new gadgets
  
• No new furniture or housewares
  
• No salon services
  
• No makeup
  
• No tools
  
• No whatever the hell else people buy

Why did I only give you one day to prepare? Because I didn't want you out there binge buying in preparation for the month. I want you to really focus on whether or not what you are buying is a necessity or something frivolous.

If you must absolutely acquire something non-edible or not essential to growing your own food or for your survival, then you must borrow, barter, or buy it used. If you end up buying something new that is non-essential, I'll be hosting a weekly Sunday Confessional for you to justify your purchase. So, just think about having to confess to the world what you couldn't hold off on buying.

What do you say? Are you up for it? If you are, leave a comment and I'll add you to the sidebar under the list of participants. For those of you who stumble upon this later, you can still join. If you want to put the graphic up on your blog, just paste the following code:

<a href="http://crunchychicken.blogspot.com/2008/03/buy-nothing-challenge.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCdJxgVZ78WgUB_tu7HA9uR-uU0nbVBEqxnLe_DY6ergNXKZaIseAwG9KiLqNdixoQIqB5X02COlYn5BqVblACPe49cSdK8kANCSyUp4GZ6yWiK-KhiBNSC5s2ydNt1uaebZBsdd4MHnU/s1600-r/banner.jpg" border="0" alt="Buy Nothing Challenge - April 2008" /></a>

By the way, I'll be hosting a truly heinous challenge during the month of May, so if you are unprepared for this one, I'll be giving you plenty of warning for the next one. It's gonna be a doozy.