I'm gunna do it....

Well, I am so totally over TTC to the point where I need something else in my life as a goal to distract me from the torture. So here it is...

Today I went to Vinnies to look at bedding for DD1's single bed (which we were given, free, a lovely white 4 poster bed with matching set of drawers, seat, and bedside table :dance:).

There was good stuff there and it was so cheap compared to new stuff from Kmart etc.

So here is the challenge.

Buy absolutely nothing new for 6 months. Nothing except food and toiletries. Second hand is fine, hand me downs are fine, borrowing is fine, just not new.

It can be done, I am so sure of it, it's just easier to buy new than to hunt around second hand stores... but the extra expense I can't justify for so many things, as well as the environmental cost of producing what already exists.

Keep me accountable :o.

If we are sucessful at this, the next thing we will tackle is processed food :o.

Ive done it mostly other than shoes for the last year I will buy the occational item new but only when really cheap. I love opp shops You can do it

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Ive done it mostly other than shoes for the last year I will buy the occational item new but only when really cheap. I love opp shops You can do it

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Thanks, it's great to hear others have done it. Any tips? I really really want to do this. Last week I had a thought that I wanted to do it for my second child, get through the pregnancy and first year without buying anything new, and blog about it.

What a brilliant idea. What will you do if you need to buy a present?

I read an awesome blog about this except that the woman and her family did it for a year not 6 months. I wish I had the link for you.
Are you a member of freecycle? You might find it useful.

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What a brilliant idea. What will you do if you need to buy a present?

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Hmm some home made craft? That will be a challenge. DD1's birthday is in May, DH's birthday is in June.

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I read an awesome blog about this except that the woman and her family did it for a year not 6 months. I wish I had the link for you.
Are you a member of freecycle? You might find it useful.

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Thanks Onyx I'll check out freecycle and google some similar blogs.

i like it!

Can you buy stuff to make other stuff? e.g. I sew with alot of previously used material (curtains & bedspreads and stuff) but i still have to buy cotton thread.

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i like it!

Can you buy stuff to make other stuff? e.g. I sew with alot of previously used material (curtains & bedspreads and stuff) but i still have to buy cotton thread.

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Yep. By the way you can get fabric at second hand stores too, it's just not very common.

great idea!!!!
I've been doing something similar- setting up a new lifestyle for ourselves making sure we buy most things second hand.

The exceptions will be
*something that will make future 'upcycling' or recycling more attainable (like a sewing machine- maybe im trying to justify my 'new' purchase today)
*shoes
*bike parts

Our food journey has begun and I'm making most things from scratch, we already did, but I've started making bread and pasta as well as juices and sauces- it's our first month of single income and we're already seeing money leftover at the end of the fortnight- it's making a huge difference to our wallets but most importantly, I think it's setting up good habits for us to teach the young 'un.

Will look forward to your blog!

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great idea!!!!
I've been doing something similar- setting up a new lifestyle for ourselves making sure we buy most things second hand.

The exceptions will be
*something that will make future 'upcycling' or recycling more attainable (like a sewing machine- maybe im trying to justify my 'new' purchase today)
*shoes
*bike parts

Our food journey has begun and I'm making most things from scratch, we already did, but I've started making bread and pasta as well as juices and sauces- it's our first month of single income and we're already seeing money leftover at the end of the fortnight- it's making a huge difference to our wallets but most importantly, I think it's setting up good habits for us to teach the young 'un.

Will look forward to your blog!

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That's awesome! I really want to do the food thing as well.

How much extra time does this take you?

What about grundies?

Oh man... grundies. I dunno! Didn't think of that :o

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What about grundies?

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hahaha- yes!!! those as well! I think my list will get longer :D

Marushke, I have the time, and I enjoy the process of making everything. We pretty much made all of our sauces etc anyway- to make a tomato sauce for pasta for instance, the only extra time it takes is chopping the veggies instead of pouring it from a jar- either way you still have to 'cook' the sauce. I put a call out on FB to see who had a breadmaker in the back of their cupboard gathering dust and within 5 mins had 3 offers to take it from people's hands. With the breadmaker, it's a chuck the ingredients in and leave for 3 hrs for bread kind of affair ... easier than the 3 hours it takes for me to 'pop' in to get bread (I live rurally). I make a loaf or rolls every few days.

We plan our meals, so one way of doing it is after you've planned and shopped ( we do it weekly or fortnightly ), set aside an afternoon to cook bases, and another to make the pasta, or just add whatever additions each day/night- it works well for me. It actually saves time on trawling the supermarket aisles looking for something I want for dinner as well.

I would love to start a veggie garden so our trips into the shops are even fewer- I have to get over my fear of gardening though, in the past it's always been a horrible disaster!!!!

I wish I could shop in op shops, but they're not open when I can shop :( as I work full-time.

Good luck with it and I'm sure it can be done! Maybe you can sew undies?? Out of second hand material?

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Maybe you can sew undies?? Out of second hand material?

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I've seen a pattern to transform a tshirt into a couple of pair today!!!

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hahaha- yes!!! those as well! I think my list will get longer :D

Marushke, I have the time, and I enjoy the process of making everything. We pretty much made all of our sauces etc anyway- to make a tomato sauce for pasta for instance, the only extra time it takes is chopping the veggies instead of pouring it from a jar- either way you still have to 'cook' the sauce. I put a call out on FB to see who had a breadmaker in the back of their cupboard gathering dust and within 5 mins had 3 offers to take it from people's hands. With the breadmaker, it's a chuck the ingredients in and leave for 3 hrs for bread kind of affair ... easier than the 3 hours it takes for me to 'pop' in to get bread (I live rurally). I make a loaf or rolls every few days.

We plan our meals, so one way of doing it is after you've planned and shopped ( we do it weekly or fortnightly ), set aside an afternoon to cook bases, and another to make the pasta, or just add whatever additions each day/night- it works well for me. It actually saves time on trawling the supermarket aisles looking for something I want for dinner as well.

I would love to start a veggie garden so our trips into the shops are even fewer- I have to get over my fear of gardening though, in the past it's always been a horrible disaster!!!!

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Ahh you are getting me so excited! DH is starting his own veggie garden, he loves the idea! Starting small with pumpkin and beans, will see how we go from there. Perhaps I should try this experiment on fb too! Will let you know how I go. Thanks so much for the help.

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Yep. By the way you can get fabric at second hand stores too, it's just not very common.

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I know! that's where some of my funkiest stuff has come from. i'm always looking out for it. I don't get to indulge so much now i'm not living in Melb

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I've seen a pattern to transform a tshirt into a couple of pair today!!!

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Oh wow, I love you :lol:. Can I steal that from you? Very excited to find something to do with my time that will save money, avoid TTC obsession, and give me something better to do than farting around the internet all night.

Oh wow! What an inspiring thread! GL & if you decide to blog about it - let us know. I would love to follow it :-)

I would definitely draw the line at second hand undies! Mine are always worn to just about falling apart standard anyway ('good' day undies are recycled over to night time undies till they are thrown).

Need a blog name / title! Creative juices are not flowing...

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I read an awesome blog about this except that the woman and her family did it for a year not 6 months. I wish I had the link for you.
Are you a member of freecycle? You might find it useful.

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Is that Linda ****burn? She has a book now called Living the Good Life based on it. She is now in Tassie with her family and contributes to Organic Gardener. I would post the link, but it I think it falls under being a commercial link.

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Need a blog name / title! Creative juices are not flowing...

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Everything but the undies :p

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Everything but the undies

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hahaha- that's terrific!!!

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Everything but the undies :p

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You rock :dance:

yep love Onyx's idea.

Here you go, I am brand new to blogging so let me know if I am stuffing it up.

Everything but the undies

Even my mum got 2nd hand stuff for christmass and bday pressies for my girls it was great cloths and a little pram from an opp shop that I found. I even find cloths with the labels still on and am giving somthing to my SIL (lol) who hates the places for her DDs 1st bday with the labels so she wont even know

looks great darlin! will be great to see pics of your progress and second hand finds!!

google "free pattern underwear" and see what you find.

i know if you google "noonnee wilga" you will get a site that has very cheap patterns for you to sew children's undies and trainers. so that is money for the pattern.

when i was pregnant with bilby, i went to the monthly Salvo's shop Dollar Day EVERY month that i wasn't down with MS, and accumulated clothes from 0000 to 2, baby blankets and other sundries. Our first year was pretty rough, so that made me very glad i shopped in advance. I love dyeing, so bought things that i knew i could dye, give it a Gigi touch. (anything cotton or natural fibres). There was another monthly church fete, that i made sure i went to EVERY time i could, got lots of great stuff there, esp the 50 cent bin. Plus i was given two garbage bags full of baby to two type clothing from someone i hardly knew. Plus the "you've had a baby" type gifts. Bilby's nappies were a mix of new and 2nd hand - but i learnt quickly to ask for photos of the inners, before buying.

i did'nt find breastfeeding clothing 2nd hand, easy to find, and certainly not maternity bras - i think they get worn to death, then thrown out.

I have found undies (brand new with tags) in opshops - some of the "brand name" opshops also sell brand new discontinued lines. Some opshops are not so cheap too, more of a money making stream, than a "helping out the battlers" type shop. i have seen antique butter dishes for $80 in an opshop! definately not what i'm shopping for! opshops are so corporate now.

It's called compacting.

I have done it, started after we got married, did it for one year. And now we more or less live that way, but the odd new thing sneaks its way in. The awesome thing though is that the new stuff only comes in when we have really given it serious thought and exhausted all other options.

The curse of it? I walk into a chain store like Just Jeans and wonder how anyone ever chooses clothes. After so long trying on everything I like in my size in op shops, and buying what looks good on, the concept of going into a shop, looking at anything I like and finding my size instantly seems really dull. The thrill of the chase is gone.

Great resources abound in this fine city of ours. Reverse Garbage in West End is brilliant for fabric, buttons, bits and pieces. Brilliant stuff for making jewellery etc if you get your creative brain on. There are some massive op shops - Salvos at Red Hill and Lifeline at Beenleigh. Both usually have fabric cuts, and I have found needles, thread and even velcro. And the freecycle list is really good. It has pretty much furnished DD's room :D

We're not really gifting people. Christmas last year people got home made mango chutney and home brewed beer, as well as a mix CD. We also go for gift cards sometimes, or, if it's just something little, lots of op shops have people's unwanted gifts, or empty notepads that you can jazz up.

The point of op shops is not to help out the battlers by selling cheap stuff - it's to make money for their charities buy selling stuff they get for free. Unfortunately too many people out there treat them as a waste disposal service, which costs them heaps of money and drives prices up. It's a rare person in this society who buys as much from the op shop as they give away, so they are doing an incredible community service.

Would love to take you on a tour of my favourite second hand haunts!

Oooh I'd love a tour! I'm actually really excited about this. :D

I have a few things on my to-do list now. Find a really big store and have an idea of what kind of stuff I can get where. I need to go where to go so I don't flake when I am short on time. Also, find out ways of not purchasing expensive cleaning stuff (how do I use vinegar and bicarb, and soap flakes?).

Thankfully someone is lending me a sewing machine so I can buy from salvos/vinnies etc and trim/reshape/mend.

So excited :D. And very grateful that others are helping out with advice.

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Hmm some home made craft? That will be a challenge. DD1's birthday is in May, DH's birthday is in June.

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I love getting home made gifts. I bet you can find stuff for your DD at an op shop. I just took a whole lot of stuff to my local op shop and was so surprised at what they had in there.

You have really got me thinking about this too now. I think that when the time comes that you need to buy something new it will make you really appreciate and put more thought into what you are getting specially if it is a gift for someone.

Ooooh I love op shops they're awesome!!