The Compact: group vows not to buy anything new but food, underwear, and medicine in 2006 The SF Chronicle has an article about a group of people who have made a promise not to buy any new stuff. https://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... H7DH71.DTL
Take a look at where their JOBS come from, and you'll see that they feed from the same trough as everyone else. Cynical Sue
the compact group vows not to buy anything new but food Very admirable target! It really would help to have the support of a group to do something like this. I must admit I do buy new shoes, (particularly important in avoiding foot problems), new guitar strings are a must and I do insist of new toilet paper!! I also use new soap and shampoo. Getting something second hand and making good use of it feels indefinitely better than getting something new. My husband has just changed jobs and is doing rubbish removal. We can't believe what some people call rubbish. We are now getting all sorts of things that are very useful for others if not for us and most things can find their way into a new home instead of the tip. Actually I heard about some people who just bought a hotel. the money to buy it came about as the fellow worked at a tip and sold other people's rubbish, enough to buy a hotel!!
G'day all, Thanks for bringing this group to our attention, murray. I'm with mariet: it literally hurts me when I have to buy new, and the local tip shops, op shops, and garage sales are my favorite haunts. All the little things add up. To reuse an item is to save even the energy that is required to recycle an item. Keep up the good work everyone. Tip and op shoppers of the world unite! Cheerio, Mark. (wow, it's past my bedtime. sweet dreams everyone!)
the compact group vows not to buy anything new but food Speaking of saving resources and energy, I was at a local supermarket that appears to be doing its bit as far as buying Australian produce etc. However I noticed that all the milk bar one came from Brisbane! This is Ballarat! There was one brand of milk from Bendigo but we do have a local brand. Most shops have a feedback system or at least with very little pressure can be encouraged to have one. It goes hand in hand with an effective quality assurance system/ accreditation so at least looks good for the company. It's a great idea to ask for the REALLY local brands so at least we aren't wasting resources to move all this stuff around needlessly. Every bit counts.
This is a great piont you raise Mariet. We try to buy Austalian made and produced as often as we can (which is 99.9% of the time) but if there is a local alternative than we will seek it out. I too urge all of you to seek out your local producers and support them where you can. Cheers, Fran.
The compact group vows not to buy anything new but food Hi Fran, it's hard when you have to choose between supporting organic, and supporting local. For example we have a local goat's cheese producer and an organic one say 1 1/2 hours away. Which do you buy? I recently found that a local producer of olive oil do 4 litre tins for only about $1.50 more per litre than the imported cold pressed oils. It feels really good to make that choice even though it costs more, it's negligable really. I find it hard not to buy new when it comes to cd's by struggling musicians and instrument makers. It's good to support these people too! Cheers, Marie
I'm a little spoilt for choice where I live - I have local, organic, ethical food and products fairly close by. But I suppose it comes down to what is the most important to you as an individual. We have a couple of local egg producers, but we go a little out of our way to buy from a fellow that has small flocks of true free range chooks. The ethics is the most important side for Glenn and I in the organic/local/ethical triangle. Perhaps telling your local goat cheese producer that you would buy from them if they had an organic product may be all the push they need to head in that direction. Cds and books are my weakness. While most books are pre-read from a local secondhand bookstore our cds are all new. We save our pennies until we have three hundred dollars or so and then go to a small privately owned store and go a little crazy :lol: Cheers, Fran.
I just wanted to add that I agree with Fran's suggestion to let your local producers and stockists know what you want. I run a local store myself and I love getting that kind of feedback. Here where I live, I asked for organic garlic and potatoes to be stocked at our local green grocer's. He not only stocked them from the following week onwards, he added the full range of fresh organic produce to his store lines. And they've proved to be very popular and are now stock standard. and on the subject of which to choose when you have a choice, I would go with the product that supports my values and if I had to go a little further to do that, I would.
Most of what I have been buying new is related to setting up a system here which will reduce our over all day to day use. I have been buying books new, but all of those are related to knowledge about simple living and reducing what we have to buy in. I do spend quite a bit on the gardens, tree stock, seed stock, edgeing grasses, mulch, gloves and gardening tools. All my music is free to download off the internet on legal websites, I don't listen to main stream music, I do have an old collection of records and cds which I never listen too. We have trouble finding local organic anything, so my thinking is, if we can't get it i'll grow it. but until we get to a better point in our food production we have to buy some non organic food. I think this compact group is a great idea as people like ourselves can feed ideas to those who are learning and new to these ideals.
the compact group vows not to buy anything new but food I am liking this forum very much and it is good to share these ideas. I have to work very hard at home to keep the buying thing under control. My darling husband keeps forgetting to take bags shopping and after coming home with those awful plastic :evil: things and getting the frown he started bringing home the reusable bags but was buying new ones every time he went shopping :shock: Even to get wine he would come back with a special bag (reusable) and we have about 6 of those now!! The other day he came with another gift for me (so sweet) but it was one of those fold up plastic garden bags!!!! I have so many buckets I use for weeding etc, he just doesn't get it. Does anyone have a bright idea :idea: and is it possible to have a bright idea and be kind at the same time??? The preferable outcome on this one is to bring about change and not nag. Marie