What could you go without for a year?

What if this is all you could buy for an entire year? - The Seattle Times

*Image from apartmenttherapy.com

The Seattle Times wrote on a family who gave up purchasing any new non-essential items for a year. In times like these, that seems like a goal which would benefit us all. According to The Seattle Times, this family first did it to wean off of consumer gluttony but are now doing it to save money.

The only exceptions to their retail spending is for toiletries, food, home improvement/maintenance items, free stuff (through rebates, etc) , kid's school uniforms, and they did an occasional shopping spree.

Here are some lessons that the family reported:

"1. Buying is a habit; giving up the habit buys time... But when you swear off buying new stuff, you gain time. You can read the front page of the newspaper first, and you can go to the park instead of to the store. It may sound hokey, but I gained peace."

2. I can live with what I have.

3. Buying used doesn't necessarily mean saving money."

I think that this would be an excellent (but difficult) exercises. How about trying this for even a month? How would you fair?

Read the full article HERE