We don't have to buy stuff.

vballmom · November 24, 2008, 2:06pm

A good read for those thinking about opting out from the consumer society:

[Amazon.com:</a> Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping: Judith Levine: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Not-Buying-Year-Without-Shopping/dp/0743269365/ref=cm_sw_em_r_dp_title_featured?ie=UTF8&tag=tellafriend-20]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Not-Buying-Year-Without-Shopping/dp/0743269365/ref=cm_sw_em_r_dp_title_featured?ie=UTF8&tag=tellafriend-20)

I followed the author’s path for about a month, just to see how it might work. Turned out it wasn’t so difficult to cut back on impulse purchases. There’s a big difference between buying what we want and buying what we need.

Allmusic · November 24, 2008, 2:16pm

I’d say there is quite a bit of a difference between having “a roof over our heads” and endless consuming of goods like plasma TVs, Ipods, latest phones, gadgets, expensive purses, etc.

And I don’t buy Wall-Mart trinkets (don’t even go in there), and am a big believer in supporting local small business. I have a kid in the arts, so I sure don’t want that economy (whatever there is left of it) to go completely under either.

But I see a rather large difference between the local small business person, entrepreneur, artisan or musician, and a big box store selling the latest generation of electronics. At some point, perhaps we do need to ask ourselves whether the old phone, camera, computer, etc we have works plenty well enough, since even the disposal of all this old stuff is becoming problematic.

emeraldkity4 · November 24, 2008, 3:14pm

I do and try and buy local- however- I don’t go out of my way to buy local, if what they are selling is over priced- plasticy crap that has too much packaging and will break or be discarded in a month.
My money is too dear, to be selling out $10, for $2 worth of value.

I’d rather see a society with better infrastructure

that is where our dollars should have gone- instead of to " economic stimulus checks"

I don’t really buy " stuff".
However- I have been buying plants & tools & " bones".
I have planted lots of native plants that are edible- service berries, huckelberries, salal, currants, gooseberries, & lots more that are easy to grow here, all kinds of herbs- pears, blueberries, cranberries…
The really fun thing about plants is that I can make more by propagation, either by dividing them- or by layering, stakes or seed. Then I can sell or give them away if I don’t have any more room.
I am not a domestic type person, but I will make things like herbal salves or dry flowers & I am planning to grow enough so I can sell some at the saturday market.

It is a fine line between acquiring stuff that can be used again and piling up junk.
Someone who has got it, please talk to my husband.

I completely took up all of our sod ( motivated because it always looked bad)- and replaced with garden beds, pathways and no mow ground cover.
However- we have two gas powered lawn mowers, two or three weed wackers- gas powered edger, and various other things that are meant to take care of lawns. Most of which were given to us by * my* grandfather years ago, only a couple still work & am I allowed to get rid of * any of them*? They all reside in the garage or the shed, while my tools are outside against the side of the house.
:mad:

I have always planned to get rid of my stuff and join the Peace Corps ( except ya know, the people I know that have come back from the Peace Corp have * houses* full of stuff.
I like my electronics- my camera- my computer, my ipod, my PDA that I have loaded up with books.

But did you see the kitchen Mark Bittman cooks in?
I feel better about mine- it is bigger- but it has 4 doorways in the middle of the house & somebody is always walking through it. Mark may not have that problem- but I can fit a table in my kitchen- so I am well set. )
[Mark</a> Bittmans Bad Kitchen - Well Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/mark-bittmans-bad-kitchen/]Mark”>Mark Bittman's Bad Kitchen - The New York Times)

cptofthehouse · November 24, 2008, 3:26pm

I like stuff. Cheap stuff, fortunately and unfortunately. I get a kick out of shopping at the dollar shops, flea markets, garage sales, second hand stores and Christmas Tree Shops. I also like looking through the bargain bins and final sales racks. Don’t buy much in the way of furniture or clothes but I do buy a lot of “stuff”.

Should be learninga lesson from my MIL. “Stuff” is what has done her in at her house. TOo much stuff that has morphed into junk.

ReneeV · November 24, 2008, 4:02pm

I try to limit my “stuff” buying to things that are truly meaningful to me. I love going to flea markets, but I mostly just look. My H does question some of the things I bring home, like a mid-1800s window from China, but it is really beautiful on the wall, and like someone else mentioned, I like to think of its history and the unknown people who once lived in its original home. I collect items such as beautiful old handworked linens, hymnals and elementary school books from the late 1800s, old kitchen tools. etc.

I’m not into modern cluttery-type knick-knacks, though, and I rarely buy new clothes. I guess I’m pretty boring and conventional in my fashion choices. In fact, the turtleneck I wore to work today is one I bought in 1977! Lately I’ve realized that the bookshelves are all stuffed and it’s time to clean out and make a donation to a local used-book store, since we always seem to get books as holiday gifts. I think that’s the key - don’t keep bringing more into the house if you are not also passing things on to others.

Back to the OP, do I really need what I buy? A lot of times, the answer is no, so that question should be asked before the purchase takes place. If there is a really good reason for the purchase despite the lack of need, I might still go ahead with it.

lje62 · November 24, 2008, 5:41pm

I like stuff…all kinds of stuff from nice smelling body lotions and candles to gasp electronics sold in big corporate chain stores. I can do without all of it but really don’t want to be judged because I have an Ipod and a flat screen TV. I love my Ipod and it is my sole source of listening to music in my household.

I am not prepared to decide who can and cannot make a profit in his wonderful country we have…should it be Mom and Pop family operations or Walmart and Best Buy ? Why should it be one or the other ? I like having a choice. I can shop around for items and compare prices at either. Both have goods to sell and both employ members of our society.
Just today a man my husband knows ( as a customer ) told him that he just got a job with Wal Mart after losing his job and not being able to get hired elsewhere since last February. The job was a step down, but he was happy to get it all the same. One less person collecting unemployment.

For those who choose not to own any extravagant gadgets such as Ipods and extras more power to you and thank goodness you can make that choice.
Personal choice and preference is great.

QuantMech · November 24, 2008, 6:25pm

Did anyone else follow vballmom’s link to the Amazon link to Judith Levine’s book about a year without spending? The funniest part of it is the box “Customers who viewed this item also viewed,” which lists

Give It Up! My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less, by Mary Carlomagno
Living with Less: The Upside of Downsizing, by Mark Tabb
Wii by Nintendo

dstark, for our family, I’m afraid your thread title looks like a sentence completion question–
We don’t have to buy stuff . . . because we have so much stuff already.

barrons · November 24, 2008, 6:33pm

Allmusic–Wal-Mart is having a sale on hair shirts. Get yourself a couple and a big jug of sanctimony.

dstark · November 24, 2008, 6:43pm

“dstark, for our family, I’m afraid your thread title looks like a sentence completion question–
We don’t have to buy stuff . . . because we have so much stuff already.”

Hey… whatever works.

Remember, I said, “We don’t have to buy stuff”. I didn’t say, “You shouldn’t buy stuff”. Or, “Don’t buy stuff”. :)

Allmusic · November 24, 2008, 8:09pm

Nah Barrons. I try not to buy cheap crud imported from China, produced by little children at pennies for the hour.

It isn’t sanctimonious in the slightest to point out that Americans consume more than any other people on the planet. The fact that many people will have to scale back in their consumerism is simply a reality, brought about by the fiscal crisis. I happen to think it is a good thing, and last I checked, we were all still entitled to our opinion. <;)>

oregonianmom · November 24, 2008, 8:18pm

We have a lot of stuff (especially my H). I sometimes wish we had less stuff. I definitely feel like I don’t want to be buying more stuff anytime soon. Christmas is going to be a lot smaller, gift-wise, than it ever has been. We just don’t need more stuff, and this year we want to focus more on the reason for the season, than the gift-giving part. H is even on board with this! (Woo hoo!) That said, I’m still giving gifts, they are just less expensive gifts (but not crud made in China, either).

Anyhow, in the past two weeks we did just buy a dishwasher, airplane tickets, and a new set of tires. So we’re still supporting the economy!

anxiousmom · November 24, 2008, 8:32pm

We bought two huge bags of USDA approved organic vegetables from Costco - only to discover the words “product of CHINA” in small letters on the back. :eek: We’re going to eat them, but NEVER again. The Chinese inspector was probably bribed, and the vegetables grown down-river of a lead smelting plant, fertilized with melamine powder, watered with polluted river water, and dusted with DDT. I don’t trust anything coming out of China, including apple juice (they produce 80% of our concentrated juice… I don’t spend much money, and I stay away from everything produce in China if I can!

Columbia_Student · November 24, 2008, 9:04pm

I don’t buy stuff from Wal Mart for the very same reason. But most everything selling in USA is made in China so that is why I have not been buying much.

barrons · November 24, 2008, 11:09pm

Those cheap pennies have added up to a HUGE fast growing economy with a growing demand for may goods built here like Boeing jets, tractors, big cranes and all sorts of other stuff. I always how LOVE how you frikking liberals are all about embracing other cultures but when it comes down to it you are just only want other wine sipping liberals like yourself with an accent. I LOVE that China is spending more money in growth and less on developing weapons to take over any country they damn well please–which they probably could if they wanted. Are they a carbon-copy of France yet–no. They still have some catching up to do and they are doing it Chinese style. If you don’t like too bad. Every modern industrial country came up essentially this way. Cheap labor leads to more spendable income (even pennies is better than what the made farming and the kids helped there too) and then more free time for education and on to becoming a more modern economy. 
Every time I can buy something made just as well as anywhere else for one-half the price and save some money, I say thank you China. And thanks for sewing cheap shorts rather than army uniforms.

cptofthehouse · November 24, 2008, 11:12pm

I don’t like Walmart. DOn’t shop there unless I need something and can’t find it elsewhere.

samiamy · November 24, 2008, 11:27pm

yes we can thank China for sending us Thomas the Tank lead laden toys to lower our kids IQ’s a few more points. Lunch boxes with lead for Timmys sandwich. Kidney stones from melamine, oh but yes a thriving economy, never mind.

Never shop in Walmart never have never will.

mommusic · November 24, 2008, 11:28pm

The trouble with our buying stuff to help the economy over the past years is most people are maxed out and can’t buy stuff to bail us out now.

We’re screwed.

We are going ahead with doing our kitchen, however, and I just checked where the cabinets are made. USA. :)

musicamusica · November 25, 2008, 12:43am

Ive NEVER bought anything in a Walmart.

emeraldkity4 · November 25, 2008, 1:02am

some of you might be interested in these links
[The</a> Story of Stuff - STWR - Share The World’s Resources](<a href=“http://www.stwr.org/multinational-corporations/the-story-of-stuff.html]The”>“The more you talk about economic growth, the less you talk about sharing” | Share The World's Resources (STWR))

[Stuff</a> - Resources & Links — Sightline Institute](<a href=“http://www.sightline.org/publications/books/stuff/stuff_resources]Stuff”>http://www.sightline.org/publications/books/stuff/stuff_resources)

ya Chinas industrialization is a great thing.
[China’s</a> Growing Pains @ National Geographic Magazine](<a href=“National Geographic Magazine”>National Geographic Magazine)

[Our</a> Good Earth - National Geographic Magazine](<a href=“National Geographic Magazine”>National Geographic Magazine)

samiamy · November 25, 2008, 1:36am

I have a friend who spent time recently in China with her child and husband. When they came home the kid went off the wall, went thru tons of testing, in the end, wound up at an environmental doctor. Kid was mercury toxic.

We don't have to buy stuff.

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