Old is the New New this October, with Salvos Stores’ first ever Buy Nothing New Month. Get on board for more money in your pockets, time on your hands and a lighter carbon footprint.
Instead of a short‐term, throwaway attitude to ‘stuff’, Salvos Stores Buy Nothing New Month extends the life cycle of goods, maximises the embedded cost and resources in the stuff we buy and gives an introduction to the re‐cycled, free‐ cycled, upcycled , secondhand, ‘swishing’ and sustainable alternatives that are better for you, your wallet and the planet.
Salvos Stores Sustainability Manager, Donald Munro says, “Buy Nothing New is about seeing the value in existing stuff and reflects a growing movement of people switching off from shopping and tuning into life.”
But Buying Nothing New doesn’t mean going without. Make a Buy Nothing New pledge and you can beg, buy, barter and swap for whatever you need, as long as it is pre‐loved, but with the exceptions of necessities (including food, drink, medications and hygiene products) you can’t buy anything new.
Salvos Stores Buy Nothing New Month also shows going green doesn’t have to be expensive, but that by adapting our attitudes and approach, can be a money saving path to socially responsible consumption.
According to Affluenza author and Buy Nothing New Month supporter Clive Hamilton, “Consumption today often involves buying things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like! Buy Nothing New Month is about spending our time and money more thoughtfully.”
In October, selected Salvos Stores featuring plasma screens sponsored by Radio Rentals/Rentlo will show the viral phenomenon ‘The Story of Stuff’, an animation on the lifecycle and impact of the goods we buy.
Shane Wakelin, Clive Hamilton (Affluenza, Requiem for A Species) Sarah Wilson (Sunday Life columnist & LifeStyle YOU presenter), Chrissie Swan, Gorgi Coghlan (The Circle), James Tobin (Cleo Batchelor of the Year, Ch 7 Sunrise), Monique Wright(Ch7 Sunrise), Damian Walshe Howling and Caroline Craig (Underbelly) are on board. Are you?
This October, think about where stuff comes from, where it’s going, its embedded costs and what are the alternatives. Get into Salvos Stores, markets, swap parties and online second‐hand selling sites to experience the joys of a life less wasteful. Plus there’s a prize for the most creative Buy Nothing New pledge. Logon to www.nothingnew.com.au when the site goes live on September 1st for entry details.
Glossary
| Swishing | Swapping clothes shoes or accessories with friends or acquaintances. It’s ethical, eco‐fabulous, social and fun. Marie Claire magazine on swishing “Welcome to the future of fashion.” |
| Up‐Cycling |
Converting waste materials or use less products in to new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value. |
| Re‐Cycling | Processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials while reducing the consumption of fresh raw materials |
| Free‐Cycling | Process of giving away rather than throwing away unwanted items to others instead of disposing of them in landfills. Check out freecycle.com |
| *’LOHAS’ | Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. ‘Lohasian’ describes people whose purchases are driven by values and attitudes about their health, the health and wellbeing of the community and the health and sustainability of the environment. |
Top Tips to Buying Nothing New
| Get into Salvos Stores | Save money, reduce your waste and carbon footprint. Check out your local Salvos Stores at www.salvosstores.com.au |
| Rent | Check out Radio Rentals for their hot range of rentals and update as needed. It’s cheaper and you lower your footprint by renting rather than buying. |
| Check IN at Checkout | Ask is it worth the time and the money to pay for it? If you don’t buy it, what can you do with the extra time and money, is there a more valuable way to spend it? |
| Don’t shop. Swap | Hold your own ‘swapshop’. Everyone brings five things cluttering their home and watch as one man’s trash becomes another man’s treasure! |
| Repair, don’t replace. | Got holes? Patch them with a gorgeous fabric and get a one off designer item. |
| Get Fit or Get A Hobby: | Don’t go shopping to alleviate boredom. Get a hobby and get out of the shopping strip. |
| Get the merry‐go‐round | Get into the old economy. Reuse and recycle, make stuff, alter stuff, buy used, donate quality old stuff, get free stuff, borrow, barter and trade. Have fun with it. |
Buyers Checklist
Before handing over your hard earned cash, ask yourself:
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Is the product really necessary?
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What is its lifecycle and embodied energy?
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What are the alternatives?
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Where did it come from? How did it get here?
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What is its environmental and social impact?
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Who benefits from the purchase? What will it do for me?
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What is in it? Who made it?
Top Tips for Salvos Stores Shopping
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Best buys are gifts, clothes, homewares, kitchenware, books, toys and furniture.
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Don’t shop Mondays. Stock gets wiped out over the weekend. Those in the know go Tuesday or Thursday
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Watch your gift budget dive!Buy homewares like vases and frames, and store them for when you need a last minute gift.
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Keep an open mind. Imagine the item out of the store and in a different setting.
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Get over ‘second hand phobia’. Restaurants and hotels serve you from secondhand cutlery and secondhand sheets!
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‘Up the hip ante’ of dresses by cutting short and sewing on mismatched patches and buttons.
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Look out for jeans; you’ll get great brands, dirt cheap. Cut them into shorts or remake into skirts. It’s easy, cheap and they’re already worn in for you!
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A quick test if jeans fit: Wrap the waist around your neck and the ends should touch. If you can’t fit the length of your fist to your elbow inside the waistband, the jeans are too small.
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Every store differs if you don’t find what you need, try another. And new stock comes in everyday.
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Ignore sizes. Second‐hand clothes may have shrunk, or designers may have changed their sizings so your frame of reference could be off. Try before you buy.
Love it! Will be spreading the word for sure!
We CAN make a difference!
This is a GREAT idea! Extend this to Coles and Woolworths–Australia’s criminal duopoly–and shop only at local fruit & veggie stores, local butchers, local bakers. I sponsor two novice Buddhist monks in Laos, and every penny I save will go directly to them. It’s high time that us ordinary working Australians got organized to Just Say No to the rip-off, greedy corporations stealing every penny they can squeeze from our families. We CAN make a difference, and we WILL make a difference!