Buy Nothing New Month

Inspired by a friend committing to this challenge I have decided that I shall participate in it also. I have realised I have a couple of new items to pay for on Ebay (silly little fad things that R simply must have) but after those are paid for there will be nothing new this month.

Buying nothing new doesn’t mean going without. Make a Buy Nothing New Month pledge and you can beg, buy, barter and swap for whatever you need, as long as it is pre-loved, but with the exceptions of necessities (including food, drink, medications and hygiene products) you can’t buy anything new.

Further to this I have also decided that I am going to try harder than ever this year to take the commercialism out of our Christmas. Every year I say I'm not doing that again, not spending money in the toy sales, then a month before Christmas and then a week before Christmas, it's quite absurd really! Our children end up with more toys (or "things" as they get older) than they even look at generally and there always seems to be more packaging than gifts at the end of the day. The waste is hideous; not just financially but environmentally, so much unnecessary plastic, paper and cardboard, not to mention the wire and tape and the like.

Prior to the month starting (and totally unplanned) I purchased a large amount of vegetable seeds, unusual varieties and colours of vegetables (and fruits technically.) I'm proud to say they were all from home producers rather than commercial producers and will arrive with hand made labels and packages so I feel less like I've cheated the challenge by buying them just prior to it. Honestly, I didn't plan it that way in any case! Maybe they can be counted as food and none of that matters anyway?

More about Buy Nothing New Month (BNNM) here.

Kindest Wishes,
AJ