A New Year Of Buying Nothing New
An experiment.
While I was deep in the black hole of holiday shopping (which quite frankly always includes looking at things for myself) I thought, “what if I didn’t buy anything new for an entire year?” I quickly shot down the idea. It’s too impulsive (lol), too hard, too unrealistic.
I spent most of the last few weeks entirely off of social media, it was glorious. But being off social media didn’t stop me from online shopping.
The mind numbing scroll of social media was replaced with another version, shopping for shit online. What exactly was I looking for? Anything and everything. Bedding, furniture, rugs, clothing, slippers, sweaters, shit to organize my shit.
After all, there’s post-Christmas sales you CAN’T MISS!
I’ve struggled to contain my own consumption over the last few years, but I’ve also found it difficult to reconcile my influence over other people’s level of consumption.
We all have free will, but anyone in the “influencing” industry that thinks they’re not contributing to the overconsumption problem is lying to themselves. The truth hurts.
I thought long and hard about how I could talk myself out of doing this, but I couldn’t come up with any legitimate reasons not to. My job and livelihood sit at the forefront of my mind, but this nagging voice in my head keeps asking me when enough is enough. The unknown is scary, but knowing that you can see the world’s textile waste from space is even scarier.
When I went to the UPS store to mail my holiday cards right before Christmas, the pile of Amazon returns overwhelming the area behind the counter was the nail in the coffin. (Here’s what happens to all those returns).
It might be easy to brush off one person’s efforts to drive less consumerism and consume less, but if there’s 6000 people subscribing to this Substack, and 5% of them decide to buy less stuff, that’s not nothing.
Without getting too into the weeds, I thought through how I would make this happen, so here’s a rundown:
Rules of Engagement
Complete transparency. I plan to buy no new clothes, but if I do buy something I will tell you (and I’d better have a damn good reason).
Things that are on the no buy list:
Clothing new or used
Shoes, Accessories
Home Decor, Furniture (more on that below)
Exceptions to the no buying list
Replacing something that’s broken/can’t be fixed (attempt to repair/mend/fix first)
The few items we could still use (a living room rug, a chair, artwork). My goal is to purchase these secondhand.
How It Will Work
Starting today, January 1, 2024 I will not be buying any new (or used) clothing items. I included used clothing in the no buy list because the whole point is to stop over-consuming. I could see using “it’s secondhand” as an excuse to just keep shopping.
What about brand partnerships and gifting?
Accepting gifting is it’s own form of consumption and I plan not to accept that either. As for brand partnerships, so far I’ve turned down every opportunity for 2024 because it was more Instagram content pushing to buy new stuff. I just couldn’t do it. I would love to find a more realistic way to work with brands showcasing normal outfits that aren’t all new and from the same brand. Either way, this Substack is not going to be used for any brand partnerships, but I’ll be transparent in how this shakes out for the blog.
What’s Next?
I'll keep you posted. I’m curious how this plays out for me, but I’m always interested to see how this impacts you, my readers. Maybe you’ll notice a change in your own consumption habits. Maybe not. There’s only one way to find out. A new year, of buying nothing new.
Love this, Jess. Had two thoughts:
One — it will be interesting if in buying significantly less, the financial stress is less painful than you're anticipating. Like, if consumption is so greatly reduced in so many aspects of your life that the amount saved takes a surprising chunk out of the "lost" income. (After all, I imagine that once you are mindful about where your resources are allocated, it's going to snowball and you'll end up applying the same type of thinking to spend categories you haven't even listed. In that vein, out of sheer curiosity because I know we both enjoy it — how are you going to approach beauty products?) No need to share the numbers with us, of course! But I have found that when I went on spending moratoriums, the money saved (and sitting in my bank account) always seemed to look/feel different than simply doing the math on how much I'd save in my head...in a (net) positive way.
Second — it's interesting to explore the relationship between mindlessness and overconsumption. Which is to say, I think the same things that are driving us both crazy about social media (the lack of presence required, the mental trap, the numbing effects) are the same things leading so many to mindlessly shop. Like many of the comments echo, we end up with all this stuff and there's a "What was I even thinking?" moment as we're unpackaging our purchases. Exactly: I suspect we WEREN'T thinking, because online shopping — and all the channels in which we do it — are specifically designed to trap us, or at the very least, tip us into mindlessness. Sometimes I wonder about the true long term impacts that phones (and the modern Internet at large) have had on our brains and their ability to feel stimulated. Or, perhaps there's a more existential question behind all this: why is it so hard to stay present in our own minds anymore? What are we escaping from?
This was exactly what I needed to read today, and I’m so excited to follow your journey. I am highly aware of how much I consume and how much of that is influenced by others. It’s a dopamine rush! But I’m starting small and just trying to get through January.