I'm halfway to being like this already with the amount of recycling,composting, freecycling, growing my own food that I do, but this sounds like a real challenge.
Does anyone fancy giving it a go?
Chantal
I know this corner of the earth, it smiles for me...
Dear Chantal, i don't know whether i should feel embarressed about this, but reading through that article, i think i would find it very easy to stick to what they are allowed.
Infact there are a few things on the allowed list that i wouldn't even bother with.
One thing that struck me about the article, is that there is NO mention of getting anything mended!! The steam iron goes: oh dear, can't buy a replacement, luckily can use someone's spare iron...
And in the list at the end, it nowhere says that you can get things mended, nor does it suggest it as an alternative to buying a new one.
I have two bread-machines that have conked out on me, and I positively refuse to get another one, but find it very difficult to get them mended.
When I was young, we really used shops where you could get things mended, but the urge to throw away and replace seems so deeply embedded now, that even in an article like this, mending is not considered an option, and it doesn't pay anyone to set up a facility for mending things. Or have others had a better experience than me, on this?
Alison.
Alison - you're absolutely right about not being able to get things mended. When I was a kid there was always a repair shop but I think we've long since become a "throwaway" society. Last time when the elements in our toaster packed up, we took it back to the shop and asked if new ones could be fitted they just laughed at us. "Cheaper to buy a new one" they said. "Nobody repairs these things any more". But I must confess, I never darn socks! My grandmother & mother would have been horrified at my waste.
But on the topic of not buying unnecessary stuff, I feel pretty comfortable about not being into "retail therapy" but my other half would be very unhappy if he couldn't constant nip into PC World and stock up on all the latest little IT gadgets.
I've not told Tim yet but I am going to try to cut down on buying new stuff. I'm not promising not to buy anything new but I'm certainly going to think long and hard before I do. I agree that getting things mended is preferable to getting "new" stuff. If you read the blog, Lila does mention offering broken stuff on Freecycle as there's often people out there who CAN repair things. As you say, repair shops are hard to find these days.
Chantal
I know this corner of the earth, it smiles for me...
If I join in, can I get an exemption for shoes, magazines and books? Oh - and jackets. Possibly suits too. Other than those, I could probably manage for a year.
Don't think my husband would dare to point to all the many (often charity shop purchased) clothes in my wardrobe. I would only have to point him to the number of ties hanging in his cupboard !
I hate buying clothes. My wife drags me kicking and screaming into clothes shops. I still wear a Harris tweed jacket I bought about 20 years ago. I have to keep an eye on Mary though, to make sure that she dosn't give it the float test!
Unfortunately, I'm a gadget freak!
I think I must be an oddity, me, a woman, hating to buy clothes! Even when I see something I quite like, I cant' bring myself (or "can't thoil" as they say in Yorkshire) to buy it. After all, you can only wear one pair of trousers, one skirt or one dress at the time. My sister passed on a rain jacket to me about 20 years ago which I still wear regularly. She thinks I am crazy, but it's not torn, faded, frayed or whatever, so why should I throw or give it away? I read that article in the Telegraph and thought that's how we live most of the time, though we do buy lots of books and magazines, but all of the latter are passed on to other people, to family, friends and the local sheltered housing.
We do a lot of repairs ourselves in this house. We have second hand - washing machine, tumble dryer, freezer as well as car boot and charity shop buys. The washing machine is now nearly ten years old and needs a swift kick to get it started, but it's never seen a repair man, same with the dryer, and the freezer was second hand when I bought it in 1980 - still going strong. We have a hybrid Dyson, made up from three broken ones, but this also means that it is rainbow coloures and brightens up a dull job
