Something Old, Nothing New, Something Borrowed...

For my New Year's Resolution this year I have resolved to buying nothing new.  I tried this a few years ago when I was in Guatemala and my volunteer group was reading Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity.  In the book, author Ronald Sider said something like "I bet no one reading this book needs to buy new clothes for a year" and I thought "wow. yeah. I guess I don't."  I resolved then (it was November 2009) not to buy any new clothes for the rest of that year and 2010.  I did not do this 100%.  I still bought a few used clothes while in Guatemala, especially a few more sweaters and some clothing that was unique to Guatemala.  I also bought a few new things when I moved to Nashville and started an office job--black dress pants and a few other clothes for work.  But I largely stuck to it, and when I didn't I thought really long about what to buy.

This year, I am resolving to buy nothing new, excluding basic toiletries (I'm defining basic as I go along...haven't quite decided yet if makeup is "basic").  I am also allowing myself to buy new books that I need for school if I can't find them used.  The point, really, besides being on a graduate school budget in New York City, is to be more conscious of what I buy and how I spend and think about money and posessions.  I know I also want to eat out less, drink less, etc. but one thing at a time. Not buying anything new for a year seems like a do-able but big enough undertaking for now.

So here are my "rules" (recognizing that for me, not being a perfectionist and not being bound by rules is a spiritual practice, so maybe I should call them "guidelines"):

• Don't buy anything new except for basic toiletries and medicine
• If you really need something find it used or, better yet, borrow it
• Be reasonable
• When buying gifts for other people, try to buy something made locally and by an individual or small-scale company

I realize that setting this goal for myself is a reflection of the immense wealth and privilege that I have.  I hope that this New Year's resolution will help me to be grateful for that wealth and privilege and also help me learn that it is not of ultimate importance, that this will help me relax my death grip on my wealth and privilege so that I may try to live from a place of generosity and gratitude and in a way that in some small way claims that the consumeristic, materialistic, capitalist way of life is not essential or ultimate.  The danger in these endeavors is always self-satisfaction and self-righteousness without real change.  I know that my small protest of a New Year's Resolution will change nothing large-scale and that it cannot be all I do.  But it is one thing I can do this year (among others) that I hope will help me adopt a posture that will better enable me to participate in larger protests and challenges to an unjust and unsustainable way of life.