No. There are several things that I will not buy used. I would not buy used shoes because they form to the feet of the person who is wearing them. The only shoes that I know to not form to each persons feet is Crocs. I will not buy used underthings. I will not buy used swimwear also. I use cloth and made my own diapers, but I do not purchase used for the same reason as undies. My thought is that they are pressed against private areas and even with frequent hot washes they might still contain germs or yeasts. As I have 4 growing children, shoes and underthings are items that get replaced with each person. Also, undies waistbands stretch with each person bodies and may not fit as well. Now, if I could find NIP items that are sealed, I might purchase them. I have given away a swimsuit to a friend that I had purchased at a bulk store that did not have fitting rooms. I tried it on at home with my undies on and the top was a bad fit. I gave it away versus returnming it because the drive would have taken 45 mintues to get $19.95 back for a taniki. Shoes with tags on would also be an option if I had ever seen any! I purchase my kids clothes in advance so that would also be a big negative for that. I can get clothes at 80-90% off and have the clothes waiting for them. Many times I can get it for less then I would be able to 2nd hand. The exception here is pants for my bigger boys. I have one who could care less about brands and one who cares very much. I get them the brand name at clearence outlets and the older gets what fits him and he likes. One wears a 32-34 in mens and the other wears a 10 in boys. I do not save them for future usage because it would create excessive clutter to store that many sizes in advance. Plus they have different body builds and shapes so that rules that out also, they get donated when they are ready to move up. So I do not buy somethings used, nor would I unless circumstance dictated the need.
Of course, if we stay in this house, and can find a way to pay $500 more per month to mortgage, we can pay it off in 10 years instead of 14.
Hmmmm......
Could I, like do I have enough stuff sitting around already that would last us a year? Yup
Do I have the willpower to stay out of Target. Nope
One year of austerity in order to gain 4 years one the mortgage wouldn't do it for me. But everyone has their own tipping point.
If you do decide to give it a try, I would love to follow your progress.
No I don't think I would want to do this. We have a system now where DH and I each get an allowance per month to spend as we please no questions asked. If he "needs" new black slacks because his are worn out or I need something that is worn out that comes out of bill money. If it's just somebody wants something new and pretty it comes out of your allowance. As others have said undies, socks and shoes you get all spanky new just for you. This works for us and nobody feels deprived and like they have to explain how much starbucks they consume but we are thinking more about how we spend our money. There is a think our bank does where we can get a daily txt msg of our balance so we see it every day and are reminded of how we want to spend or not.
And really there are so many loopholes in the nothing "new" I can't see how it would help unless you were buying nothing at all. Does it count as not new if I just bought a refurbished TV from Amazon for $1000, it's not new but it was $1000? KNIM
Not sure I can go without Satellite TV or some form of Tivo. Not everything is on Hulu that I like to watch and so far we haven't gotten a good signal on an antenna. We are going to try an attic antenna but with our trees we still may not get decent signal. But, even with network TV I would want a Tivo on at least 2 TVs.
I am rambling as I am thinking this through.
I wouldn't blog about it.....it just isn't my thing.
Dawn
I'm in the same boat about Tivo. I'd love to give up cable, but I can't give up my Tivo! Do you know if you can use Tivo with an antenna or do I have to keep cable? I haven't found an answer to that yet.
And, no, I couldn't, wouldn't go for a year without buying anything new. Sure, I could cut back my recreational shopping (and I have), but I'd never make it a whole month without buying something, let alone a year!