As a retired electronics engineer, I marvel at the latest gadgets and I even bought a new digital camera a few months ago. But I also like keeping old gadgets going.  Should I get a new mobile? – a common dilemma. A smartphone would provide some features I’d use, but this old Sony, held together with a rubber band, still provides me with the essentials. Replacing its battery was simple compared to an iphone, which would have to be returned to Apple for a £55 battery replacement. Continue reading →

A group of six of us from Cambridge and Impington met at Tom’s on Thursday night to talk about the challenge of living with less stuff. The discussion was quite inspiring and interesting. We are all coming from different starting points, with different parameters and different needs. I myself personally would like to go for at least one year without buying any new ‘stuff’ beyond food and toiletries. Unlike other challenges which have been undertaken there are no set rules as such. It can be seen as a very individual thing, but in reality to succeed it won’t work on an individual level alone.

One of the things to come out of the evening’s dicussion was that to succeed in the long term goal of reducing our consumption of stuff is the need to build sharing communities. People between them have lots of different things that all of us don’t possess individually. Rather than buying new things we can share them when we need to. Building a sharing community is key to the process therefore. It is something that must be built on trust and a willingness to make our things available to others. The practicalities of this need to be worked out and relationships grown and developed. I personally see that we are going to have to see a change in mindset from what is my individual property, to what becomes that of the collective to use in a way that best suits all. Continue reading →

There’s a bit of a stigma in some circles about buying things in charity shops. Personally I think they are great. For me, going into a charity shop is just like opening your presents on Xmas morning. There might be something special that you want, but when you open that door and enter the shop you’re never quite sure what you’ll find. Continue reading →

I’ve set myself some rules which I’m trialling at the moment to see if they are unrealistically strict. They are that I can buy new: underwear, gifts and small items I need to make other things e.g. thread for sewing, seeds for my allotment. Other than that I’m going to try not to buy any new stuff. And my definition of stuff is anything that isn’t rent, utilities, services e.g. insurance, MOT, food, toiletries, cleaning products and entertainment e.g. cinema or classes. So for me it’s the physical things I buy excluding food, toiletries and cleaning products. Continue reading →

Being surrounded by like-minded people, you can sometimes forget that many people in the wider world don’t consider climate change to be a major issue for them. Some experiences this last weekend have shown me personally how much of a challenge it is for me as well as others to move to a more sustainable way of living. Continue reading →

Hi. I’m not completely sure how I got here. It sounded like a good thing at the time, but now, staring twelve months into the future, I’m realising the scale of what I’ve taken on with this challenge. Reducing my consumption is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and I guess I thought it was time to ‘walk the walk’. I remember watching the film  ‘No Impact Man’ and being both inspired by their dedication but at the same time being horrified at the scale of sacrifices they made, such as having to make your own deodorant. Continue reading →

We’re getting a new car. So how does this fit with less stuff?  Well – with difficulty!

Anne & I think of ourselves as environmentalists. Our Home Energy and Transport emissions are now less than a quarter of 10 years ago. But this new car’s embodied carbon (the total emissions involved in its manufacture, delivery, etc) is massive in comparison.

Our 10 year old Peugeot 306 has been getting unreliable, with repair and service bills rising.  The clincher was an engine part falling off as Anne was going to a work meeting. Continue reading →

I gave up magazines long before the “less stuff” challenge, and we recently gave up a daily paper in favour of only buying one at the weekend, when we actually have time to read most of it.  My objection to magazines is that the distinction between “advertising features” and “articles” is virtually non-existent and you might as well just sign right up to feeling totally dissatisfied with your current life compared to the gloss and glitter on display within. The Saturday paper does come with a magazine, but now the Guardian also appears to be carrying an occasional publication called “Green”, edited by erstwhile Cambridge Green parliamentary candidate, Tony Juniper.   Continue reading →

Sorting your life's possessions is kinda like this! (This was what my partner took with him for a 4 month campaign with the Sea Shepherds)

In my past two years in the UK I’ve learned a great deal about letting go of and re-acquiring stuff, and that you really don’t need to buy most things new when you need them. First, in this blog, the letting go part. I’m originally from Canada and moved to Cambridge over two years ago. They let you take one suitcase with you on the plane (and it’s the weight of the suitcase, not the size that is the challenge!), and shipping is quite expensive so you have to limit yourself. It’s quite different from just moving house within the same city or even country, where it’s not too expensive to move things by ground. But in this case the move required a great deal of downsizing of my material posessions! Continue reading →

After several weeks of anticipation, (and, I have to admit, a couple of last minute ‘get-in-while-I-can’ purchases), the year long experiment in ‘not buying stuff’ has begun.   As Jacqueline says, there are no hard and fast rules, and the challenge will entail different things to each of us.  For me it’s about considering the environmental impact of the stuff I buy and finding lower impact alternatives  - a version of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ (reduce = do I really need it? reuse = can I borrow or rent, or buy 2nd hand?  recycle = some kind of creative alternative)  I’m planning to enjoy ‘not buying stuff’ -I don’t want it to be about privation! Continue reading →

Last night a small group of us met for the first time to discuss our idea of challenging ourselves to live for up to a year without buying new stuff. We’ve all been inspired by a showing of the short film, “The Story of Stuff“, which can be viewed online. We plan to support each other to overcome the issues that will arise in the course of this challenge, and to respect that for each of us reducing our consumption footprints will take different forms at varying levels.  For this reason, we haven’t agreed to any “rules” as such. The low consumption adventure starts here!