Reply #100: I get most of our clothes from thrift stores and garage sales [View All]

and most of our household goods too. And the stuff I get is way better quality than the disposable made in China Walmart junk.

When I heard about this group of people who decided that with a few exceptions, they wouldn't buy anything new for a whole year I was thinking I should join them... but then realized that I basically live like that anyhow.

Nearly every day is "buy nothing" day.

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SAN FRANCISCO -- In the living room, the group gathers to share inspirational stories about the joy of finding just the right previously owned shower curtain. To the uninitiated, these people appear almost normal, at least in a San Francisco kind of way. But upon closer inspection, you see it: Nothing in this house, nothing on their bodies, none of their products -- nothing is new. Everything is used.

For these people, recycling wasn't enough. Composting wasn't a challenge anymore. No, they wanted much more of much less.

Attention holiday shoppers! These people haven't bought anything new in 352 days -- and counting. These 10 friends vowed last year not to purchase a single new thing in 2006 -- except food, the bare necessities for health and safety (toilet paper, brake fluid) and, thankfully, underwear, and maybe socks (they're still debating whether new socks are okay).

Everything else they bought secondhand. They bartered or borrowed. Recycled. Re-gifted. Reused. Where? Thrift stores and swap meets, friends and Dumpsters, and the Internet, from Craigslist to the Freecycle Network, which includes 3,843 communities and 2.8 million members giving away stuff to one another.

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http://www.sfenvironment.com/articles_pr/2006/article/121806.htm