Buy Nothing & Live Better: How to Overcome Urges to Shop for More
This month, I am challenging myself and you, yes you, to buy nothing.
I always try hard to minimize my purchases. In fact, I still wear some clothes that I wore in middle school, and I’m 32! I do struggle with a compulsion to buy books and craft supplies, though. So, this will certainly be a challenge.
Understanding why we should buy less, why we are driven to buy more, and how to reduce the compulsion to buy more is worthwhile.
Why to Stop Buying New Items
1. Materialistic values are extrinsic
According to researcher Dr. Tim Kasser (2016), “Meta-analytic results document that to the extent people prioritize materialistic aims, they report higher levels of compulsive consumption, lower personal well-being, more physical health problems, and more ecologically destructive attitudes and behaviors.”
He is basically saying there is a connection between valuing material possessions, feeling compelled to buy more, unhappiness, poor health, and poor stewardship of the planet. Materialism causes us to focus on extrinsic values and ignore our important intrinsic values.
2. Clutter is stressful
UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives of Families conducted studies showing a direct link between clutter and the stress hormone, cortisol. This is especially evident in women.
According to Nathan Resnick, having less clutter can also help fight depression, improve focus, and improve air quality.
3. You can probably borrow, reuse, repair, or repurpose
If you’re determined not to buy new objects, you will see that more than enough objects already exist. For example, you can try borrowing your neighbor’s drill, washing and reusing your take-out containers, repairing torn dog toys, or repurposing a cracked mug as a pencil holder. I encourage you to get creative!
Not only will this reduce your need to buy new, but also it will reduce your need to create additional waste. Check out this blog post on the Six Rs of Sustainability.
4. Buying new items supports extractive industries and has a carbon footprint
All physical objects are made from raw materials that are extracted from the environment. Depending on the object, this may come from drilling for oil, mining minerals, logging forests, etc. Creating new products is inherently environmentally destructive.
Further, more energy is used in the extraction process, the manufacturing of the product, and the transportation of both the raw materials and the final product. If this energy is derived from fossil fuels, it contributes to the carbon in the atmosphere (and, if you extrapolate, the climate crisis).
5. More demand leads to more production and waste
Objects that you purchase will always have an end to their useful “life.” If the item is then recyclable, it will take valuable resources to transform it into a new usable item. If the item is not recyclable or compostable, eventually, it will become waste.
As waste, it has one of three destinies. It may contribute to expanding landfills. Alternatively, we may incinerate it, causing worse air pollution. If it escapes our waste management systems, it becomes litter, which pollutes the land and water. This pollution degrades the environment and its ability to support diverse ecological systems.
6. You can live well with less.
By buying less, you will prove to yourself that you can live with less and that living with less will likely improve the quality of your life. I know it is hard to believe, so show yourself by practicing this month.
7. Save Money
Buying less means that you can save more money. This way, you can spend your money in alignment with your intrinsic values. Perhaps, for example, you want to support your favorite blogger this month! (Venmo @Jacquelyn-Bonavia)
Why is it so hard to stop purchasing new items?
In his research, Dr. Tim Kasser outlines why we are materialistic:
1. Status
An accumulation of material goods is perceived to be a symbol of higher status. We compare ourselves to our neighbors, and if we consume less, we understand ourselves to be socio-economically inferior — to have a lower social standing. You are driven to buy more because, as the old idiom says, you are trying to “keep up with the Joneses.”
2. Messaging
People are increasingly being referred to as consumers, and we are internalizing this identity.
We are also bombarded with messages with materialistic values. The most obvious examples are advertisements and commercials, which are directly trying to convince us that we need to buy products. We are also influenced by watching movies and television that emphasize material possessions or our parents’ or peers’ attitudes and behaviors.
3. Security
We are evolutionarily wired to want material things because we have relied on tools for survival throughout human history. When we feel threatened, insecure, or worried about our ability to satisfy our needs, this deep evolutionary drive kicks in and convinces us to buy things even if that is not presently a viable solution for our concern.
What if I need to buy something during the month?
We all need some items to help us live well. You may find that at some point in the month, there is something you really do need to purchase. That’s okay; we are only human. Here is what you can do to minimize adverse environmental impacts:
1. Buy used
Buying secondhand items reduces the demand for the extraction of “natural resources” and the manufacturing of new objects. It also prevents items from being sent to a landfill or incinerator while they are still useful.
2. Buy local
Buying local objects reduces their carbon footprint, which is created by their transportation over long distances. Buying local has the added benefit of supporting your local economy and creating stronger communities.
3. Buy ethical
If you cannot buy the object that you need secondhand or locally, try to support an ethical small business. For example, ensure that you support companies with fair working conditions and that prioritize using recycled and safe materials. (Beware of greenwashing!)
Tips to Buy Less
In his research, Tim Kasser outlines the top three ways to decrease materialism:
1. Values
Mindfully align your actions with your intrinsic, self-transcendent values. If your true values encompass you, you will not be distracted by materialistic, extrinsic values. For example, you may care more about being a good steward of the environment than “keeping up with the Joneses.”
2. Messaging
By limiting your exposure to materialistic messaging, you will feel less compelled to buy more. To achieve this, you may, for example, want to try installing ad-blockers on your computer.
3. Security
Consciously create a stronger sense of personal security. The more secure you feel the less likely the evolutionary drive to accumulate more will kick in.
Efforts to decrease materialism should be successful to the extent that they activate and encourage intrinsic and self-transcendent values/goals, reduce exposure (or the effects of exposure) to societal models of materialistic values, and/or increase a sense of felt security and safety.
Tim Kasser, Materialistic Values and Goals
Learn More
Note: The links to books are affiliate links. If you purchase an item through these links, I will receive a commission at no extra cost to you. It will help keep the site running!
Dr. Tim Kasser’s Research on Materialism
- Kasser, Tim. 2016. Materialistic Values and Goals. Annual Review of Psychology 67:489-514. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033344#_i28
- Hyper-Capitalism: The Modern Economy, Its Values, and How to Change Them (2018): https://amzn.to/3aODd60
- The High Price of Materialism (2002): https://amzn.to/2PapKwY
UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives of Families
- Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century: 32 Families Open Their Doors (2012) by Jeanne E. Arnold, Anthony P. Graesch, Enzo Ragazzini, and Elinor Ochs: https://amzn.to/2NSwuPn
January #WildSustainabilityChallenge
Buy nothing new during January.
Exceptions: food, medicine, accessibility equipment (e.g., crutches, glasses, hearing aids), books I linked to in this article, and other necessary items.
You can do it! Let us know how the challenge is going in the comments below, Facebook, or Instagram! Tag me @wildsustainability and use the hashtag #WildSustainabilityChallenge.
Expect to get a new eco-challenge each month in 2021! Hopefully, by the end of the year, we will all develop at least twelve sustainable habits to help our planet regenerate.
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