Could you not buy a new item for one year?
 

This group of ten people did.

https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/...ing_sabbatical

Makes me kind of want to give it a shot.

I don't think we need to go hog wild. Consumables, as well as some items like tools are nice with warranties. Everything else is way cheaper used... I've bought some tools, and two CDs new this year. Everything else has been used.

I joined the group and i'm waiting on the approval e-mail. gonna see what the exceptions are.

Thats easy when you don't have much money ;)

I already do that to a fault, but not to an obsession. I buy very few new things if there's a way to make the old one work. Failing that, I try to get things used. I repair and nurse things along well beyond anyone I know. I also pass things onto others that are still servicible but no longer of interest to me.

I didn't think of joining a group just to keep on doing that, but I'm glad there are more venues out there for trading things among like minded skin flints. :D

https://groups.yahoo.com/group/thecompact/

I joined the group 2 weeks ago mainly to learn more. I would say see if you can go for a month then try doing it for a year.

I already buy WAY less then the average person american. But I make WAY less then the average american. haha.

I already have my own ways of recycling.

https://www.jonnyboulton.co.uk/images...625_medium.JPG

Funny that the article mentions dumpster diving, train hopping, and sleeping in abandoned buildings, given that I've done them.

I got my big screen tv out of a dumpster, brought it home and the power supply was broken , so I put it in storage.
About a month later I found another similar model with a blown out tuner section, so i swapped parts.
Now I have a free big tv that works perfectly. :D

PS , and now I have a dumpster pc (that just needed a hard drive) that I now use for a server.

Lots of office buildings throwing out perfectly good computers. It makes me angry, especially since often times, the dumpsters are padlocked to keep people from digging the contents out and saving them from the landfill!