How I didn't buy anything new for an entire year

Here is a great article from Yahoo Green. They not only have Craigslist and Freecyle, they have several other websites that I had not heard of. Just thought I'd share. http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/53/how-to-find-free-stuff.html

We moved into this house two years ago. With it came a used "Magic Chef" washer and dryer. It is rusting at the hinges but it still worked. The other day I went to wash some clothes and found that one of the plastic hinges to the door broke off. If this were last year, this would have been my excuse to go out and buy one of those beautiful Maytag washer and dryer sets. You know the ones that cost $1,000 plus each? The one I have dreaming about for the past 8 years? Yes that's the one. Anyhow, long story short I am not buying a new set. The washer still works. I have to be careful when I open the door, it will shut the laundry cycle off because it goes to far without the hinge. But other than that, it still washes the darn clothes. I'm going to do a little research to see if I can find a replacement hinge or some super duper glue that will hold up to my laundry four times a week. Update: My husband found some kind of special glue laying around the house and decided to...

http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/index.php/2007/01/31/borrow-barter-buy-used-espousing-the-frugal-lifestyle/

Here we are at almost three months. I can't believe how we don't have a need for new things. So far, we have only needed to buy food. I feel like my house is still full of things I don't need. I'm working on donating and selling some things on ebay.

The link has 21 steps and examples of how not to buy anything new. http://www.wikihow.com/Buy-Nothing

It's funny how I find that I have to be more creative now that I am trying not to buy anything new. The easy pick up a card at the store and something from the store is out the window . I decided to look around to find what I could do for my loved ones instead of buying something new. I am a member of ehow. I wrote an article about my findings. http://www.ehow.com/how_4758682_things-valentines-day.html It's called "How to find 10 free things to do on Valentine's Day" I'll let you know how our free Valentine's Day went. :)

It is really something how I havn't found a real need to buy anything. I don't know if it is because it is January. I don't buy much in January because I'm trying to pay bills down from December. As of yet, I still don't need anything. I still feel like I have too much. I feel like my house is cluttered with things that I no longer need. We will see how February goes. I know that we have Valentine's coming up. I'll have to think of something that doesn't require buying something new. Any ideas?