"No New" New Year

I've made it my New Year's resolution to not buy new things in the coming year. Join me on this adventure and learn more about my plan in this video. #nonewnewyear

[@donnaclark2683]

Beautiful!

[@waterloobicycleworks]

Thank you for doing this!

[@unearthedrelics]

Thanks for commenting - its been an interesting challenge but so far I've been finding ways to avoiding buying new stuff. I'd love to get to the point where I could do a "no buy" (anything) year...but I don't know if I could do it - I like hunting for secondhand treasures too much!!

[@stormyswann6177]

Fantastic idea. Retail therapy is my mental health savior

[@unearthedrelics]

Thanks - Retail therapy is key for me too. I have so much fun searching for vintage treasures and rescuing them! I love the fact that with vintage shopping/thrifting there's none of the guilt that comes along with buying new things. I'm keeping old things out of landfills, rather than driving demand for new items to be created...and that always seems like its doing more help than harm. Hope you get to have some good retail therapy sessions in the year to come!!

[@stephaniewyeth3920]

I could never do a "no buy year" either. That is so not possible for me. But you might be onto something with the "no new" new year. I might be able to do that. Who am I kidding? No, I do not think I could do that either! But I will be rooting for you!

[@unearthedrelics]

I'm nearly two months down and have only had minimal temptations to buy-new - and thankfully I've been able to resit so far ;) The real upside of making this rule for myself for this year is that it has been a fun motivator to try different kinds of things like auctions and new vintage shops. Thanks for watching - and, as always, for your kind comments. And apologies for being delayed in my response!

[@waterloobicycleworks]

It gets easier as you do more delving into “fast” fashion and furniture. Things that are made so cheaply and with actual slave labor…not meant to last. “Consumed” by Aja Barber is a good read. Gittemarie and Shelbizlee are good channels to follow. Once you start learning about what is happening to our planet in part because of our consumerism, it is hard to not think twice about “needs”.

[@unearthedrelics]

@@waterloobicycleworks Thank you for the book recommendations. There are lots of amazing videos that point out the problems with fast fashion and our hyper-consumerism. I recently heard that there are some people who denounce excessive thrifted consumerism as well...but if you've ever been to a goodwill outlet you quickly realize that there are an abundance of secondhand goods to binge on ...we just need more seekers/consumers of those goods to help keep things from being headed to the landfill as a result of the vast quantity of stuff being dealt with.