HOw Long Could You Go Without Buying Something New?

[Lisa23]

Not counting food, of course. I found this on Bankrate:

Once an item is no longer new, there are several ways to make money or save money:
Reuse it- for its original purpose or a new purpose.
Give it away- to someone who can use it.
Sell it- recoup original cost while reusing.
Buy it used- reuse it and save money.

I think I could go a very long time. It's good for my pocketbook, and the planet, too. There's all kind of places to shop for used stuff, or get it for free (freecycle.org)



Any thoughts on this?

[purplefdu]

If I really needed to quite some time. My dad was always big on not buying things we didn't need (He's got jeans older than I am) so I learned early dependable things were just as good as new ones. Other than consumables I don't really buy much new. The last thing would be our new printer, but after searching for a month for used I gave up as it only cost me $20 for a brand new one with ink and a rebate for $20 compared to the $30+ people wanted used without ink. We're working on de-cluttering the house so its easier to pass up on new things as well.

[saint tim]

honestly... i think I've gone a half year. I turned my kids onto the joy of thrift store shopping. Not under the guise of wanting to save money or helping the environment but just because it is cool and fun.

I've always outfitted my kids for sports by buying either at "play it again" or via ebay/craigslist.

I haven't stepped foot in Best Buy for over a year.

[Gootsy]

Pretty sure I've gone about 4 months a few times w/o buying anything new, in the past. That's without even trying not to buy new things. If I tried, maybe 1 year?! Though that'd require a lot of effort since it'll be breaking into summer/winter which's when my spending typically goes up.

[just_kelly]

Wow what an interesting concept. I should really try it. I could use up all my makeup/bath/body products!

[jkuo13]

I was actually doing pretty well about not buying anything new until the last couple of weeks. I needed to buy some sports protective gear (head guard and cup), and I figured getting it sanitary and sized correctly was more important than trying to get it used.

[jdp]

I made it from Christmas until today. Finally hit my savings mark for the hitch I want for my vehicle so now I can scarf up freecycle/local posted giveaways of the hitch mounted bike rack I want Will also help when I move that I won't have to rent a truck, just a little trailer (if I can't borrow) and I'm using it to claim an unwanted but nearly new stove so in reality my $160 hitch is saving me, mmm $85+$40+$350? If I could have found my hitch used I would have done it. My vehicle is hard enough to find new parts for let alone used.

[rstlne]

You probably don't mean to include this either, but I buy new gasoline every week. The thing is some of the periodic things we do involve buying new items, whether we realize it or not. For example, I got some new parts for the car at the last service maintenance, which was just last month.

[wwstewart]

My laptop is a Pentium 133. I traded some HTML coding for it. My desktop was rescued from somebody's garage (trading post radio shows are awesome). I don't have an iPod, PS3, xbox, etc. My digital camera is a 2 MP Kodak with a broken SDCard door.

I don't buy stuff. Old stuff works. Sure, I'd love to buy a new laptop...which is why I try to make extra money online. Oddly, it usually gets spent on fuel and stuff.

I'd much rather find ways to get good used stuff for free.

[Thatcantberight]

I have lived overseas for many years now. The only thing I have bought in the past three years has been food.

Nothing new. Nothing old. I have made no purchases of anything except food and toiletries in all that time.

The last time I did buy anything new was three years ago during a trip to Beijing from the middle of China. While there, I used some great bargaining skills to load up on a wardrobe full of cheap, but quality clothing, socks and underwear, and several pairs of well-made shoes designed to last. I chose well, as most of the items show little wear or tear and remain fashionable. I went with the classic casual and Formal attire whose styles are timeless. No tacky T-shirts or basketball player endorsed shoes for me.

In all I spent just under 200 US for enough clothes that I have a different change of clothes for every day to last for two months. I had to take a long time to haggle like crazy with shop-keepers to get those great deals though.

Most of what I bought are probably counterfeit copies of designer labels like Hilfiger, Lauren, timberland, Eddie Bauer and so on. But they seem to last longer than some originals that I paid top price for years ago in the west.

The desktop Lenovo computer I use is just three years old. An expat who returned to America gave it to me for nothing. My dvd player was given to me in the same way, as have many other household cooking utensils and appliances.

If I need entertainment, I just download a recent movie or TV show torrent from a free site or watch it on any of the free Chinese video wevsites . Same thing for english books and mp3s.


My watch is a timex that I bought Twenty-five years ago. It keeps on ticking, so why would I want any other?


I think the key to being able not to buy anything new for a long time, is that when you do make a purchase that you know what constitutes a well made item that will last and won't need to be replace anytime soon. Being able to recognise what is made well, will meet your needs, and will stand the test of time means increased usefulnese, and longevity for the product. Applies equally to things like clothing and electronics and cars and almost anything other consumer product.

Oh, and if you want to benefit from getting gifts of free things that other people don't want or need anymore like my computer and dvd player, cultivate relationships with people...especially people you know don't want to pay shipping charges if they have to relocate somewhere else (people like Expats or people in witness protection programs are good for that).