Buy Nothing New Month

Well, it seems that I am keeping up with the times people, because what did I see on KAK (Kerri-Anne Kennerley to you non-Australians) this morning, but none other than this new concept called 'Buy Nothing New Month'.

For the month of October, there is a campaign being run to buy nothing new - the aim of this campaign is to encourage people to think about their purchases and promote conscientious and sustainable buying. Whilst I've taken it one step further to not buy anything new for myself, this campaign is encouraging buying secondhand, swapping items, recycling things, and so on.  You can read about why you should not buy anything new here

I really like this idea. Whilst it may not be good for the economy, it might teach people to shop more responsibly and to also learn to live with only the essentials. So often these days we as consumers are pummeled with advertising about what we must have and what we need - we often take things for granted these days - the simple things in life are often the best.

I know this is an extreme example, but when I read The Diary of Anne Frank, she lived with only the bare minimum and came to cherish the small things during her time cooped up inside the annex. It made me realise how lucky we are these days, that we have access to anything we want, we don't have to live on rations and we can shop online and have things delivered to our door.

I have pledged to Buy Nothing New during the month of October. You can too here