Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

This is what happens when you don’t shop for a year

Lizzie O'Leary Nov 28, 2014
HTML EMBED:
COPY

This is what happens when you don’t shop for a year

Lizzie O'Leary Nov 28, 2014
HTML EMBED:
COPY

What if you didn’t go shopping for an entire year? It would probably save you some money, time and space. Sarah Lazarovic went on a shopping diet and wrote a book of essays and illustrations called “A Bunch of Pretty Things I Did Not Buy.” 

Lazarovic says the only secret to not shopping is just … well, not shopping. But she does have some tips.

Sarah Lazarovic’s six rules for better shopping:

1. Buy things that will last a long time: “Aim for seven years, hope for 10.”

2. Don’t get rid of something just because you bought another thing. “That said, if you never wear something, pass it on.”

3. Don’t purchase love-at-first-sight items: “Unless it’s the thing you’ve been searching for all your life and it is flying by on a speeding train, never to be seen again. Even then, don’t buy it.”

4. Beware the door buster sale: “Never buy anything just because it’s on sale.”

5. Before buying something new, check to see if you already have it in your closet: “If they are closer than a clog’s length apart, don’t buy the new thing.”

6. So, you’re a conscious consumer?: “It may be a fair-trade, organic leg warmer, but if your legs aren’t cold, it’s still a frivolous purchase.”

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.