This as-told-to essay is predicated on a dialog with Ashlee Piper, a political strategist turned eco-lifestyle journalist and TV persona who’s the writer of Give a Sh*t: Do Good. Live Better. Save the Planet. and the forthcoming No New Things: A Radically Simple 30-Day Guide to Saving Money, the Planet, and Your Sanity.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Ashlee Piper
 I began doing “No New Issues” in 2013 as a private problem. I wished to stretch myself and see if I might broaden a few of my sustainable behaviors. Prior to now, I might participated in among the secondhand buy challenges which might be fashionable now, i.e., not shopping for new garments. However my goal was to see if I might purchase nothing new for one month. After all, there have been a number of caveats: I might pay my payments and purchase groceries and hygiene merchandise.
One month into the no new issues problem, I used to be having fun with the advantages a lot that I caught with it for nearly two years. I saved $36,000 in that point. I additionally paid off all of my debt — $22,000. Nonetheless, the rewards went thus far past the monetary. Along with shopping for fewer issues total, I offloaded objects I did not use anymore. My dwelling was much less cluttered; it turned a extra serene place. My closet additionally turned a friendlier place as a result of I wasn’t saving garments for an aspirational life. The psychological advantages are understated.
I might talked about the problem to my modest Instagram following on the time and was shocked to study that lots of people had been excited about doing it themselves. Individuals began sharing the problem and taking part in 30-day variations of it, and I received a variety of optimistic suggestions about the way it was altering lives. That is what impressed me to put in writing No New Issues — I wished to offer extra formal steering for folk who wished to strive the purchase nothing problem themselves.
I wrote the e-book to talk to among the most typical obstacles individuals who undertake the 30-day problem face. I ordered the e-book and sequence of day by day motion objects in a approach that felt intuitive primarily based on what I might heard individuals expertise. Though the no new issues problem does not require any provides or startup prices, it does necessitate some forethought and planning. For instance, individuals ought to think about if they’ve to purchase items that month or make different particular purchases.
After all, generally individuals do the problem, and unexpected gifting events come up — lots of people get nervous as a result of a lot of Western tradition round gifting is concentrated on registries, wishlists, shopping for individuals one thing new and spending some huge cash. It offers individuals nervousness, particularly relating to high-stakes gifting events like weddings and child showers. Nonetheless, as soon as individuals strive gifting one other approach, with secondhand objects, they notice it is a lot simpler than they thought. They’ll nonetheless give significant items that the recipient loves.
Individuals can even have problem embracing a round, community-based mentality. Within the e-book, I clarify the SUPER System, an acronym that helps individuals perceive the method. “S” is for “secondhand” buying. “U” is for “upcycling,” so repurposing objects. “P” is for “paying nothing,” or buying issues without spending a dime. “E” is for “experiences,” so prioritizing much less tangible methods of gifting or entertaining. “R” is for “renting” — primarily borrowing or sharing.
The borrowing piece has been such an enormous cornerstone of how we have sustained ourselves in group for a really very long time. It is a bit of a misplaced artwork, and it is one thing that some individuals even think about socially taboo. I converse with a variety of ladies who’re afraid of seeming like a neighborhood pariah in the event that they borrow from neighbors too steadily. Lots of people suppose the American Dream includes having considered one of every part of their storage — it is all theirs, and so they do not want anyone else’s generosity.
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The U.S. Division of Labor conducts an American Time Use Study, which is a kind of census of how numerous Individuals spend their days. It is damaged down by gender, and it discovered that ladies spend anyplace from two to 6 hours a day on procuring and shopping-related actions. That may imply cleansing the issues, shopping for the issues, making lists to purchase the issues, repairing them, and so on. It is a vital period of time every day. After all, some persons are heads of households, and that point contains searching for groceries and different necessities, however not all of it.
If most of us are sincere with ourselves, we waste a variety of time scrolling on social media, the place we see merchandise on Instagram that we do not essentially want however buy anyway. After I broke that cycle, I had much more time for all the issues I stated I did not have time for earlier than, like volunteering, prioritizing bodily health, prepping meals, speaking with buddies, studying books, and so on. I might anticipated the no new issues problem to come back with a monetary payoff, however I did not count on simply how a lot time I might achieve again. It helped me deal with what issues and add worth to my life.
Some of the sudden advantages of the problem was that I additionally turned extra creative. It’s a must to provide you with other ways to fulfill your wants, and that introduces the constraints that your mind requires to be inventive. We predict, particularly within the U.S., that having an abundance of alternative is what makes you inventive and results in ingenuity and an important life — however generally these decisions should be curtailed for max creativity. As an alternative of going to Amazon for an merchandise, I see what I’ve readily available that might serve the identical objective. It is lots like exercising a muscle.
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We went from being a society that will wash and reuse tinfoil and buy an merchandise with a variety of intention and restore it for the remainder of our lives to bona fide customers. The e-book delves into how we went from residents to customers. What was occurring within the historic zeitgeist at the moment? What occurred with business, what occurred with advertising? How did all of these come collectively to create the people who find themselves primarily continually in an over-consumption swirl?
For lots of people, it is pure to really feel nervous when contemplating a problem that may flip off the faucet on a few of our procuring impulses. Advertising is such a big a part of our tradition and conditioning. It is such a on condition that we now have to pay to take away commercials from a lot of our leisure.
However, from among the 1000’s of people that’ve participated within the no new issues problem, I’ve heard that it principally turns into a way of life. I’ve acquired unsolicited testimonials from individuals who say simply taking part in it for the week was elucidating — one lady messaged me to say she’d accomplished it for one week and was going to do it for another in order that she might save up sufficient cash to see a therapist about her procuring habit. Different individuals have accomplished it for 3 months and had been in a position to get their funds so as, manage their dwelling and actualize a goal they’d been pushing aside.
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Irrespective of how a lot time people can strive the problem for, they are going to see advantages. What’s extra, if somebody has any concern or stress round attempting the no new issues problem, that in and of itself ought to be an indication that it is time to go for it.
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