24 new items in 2024

This morning I woke up and came up with a fun little challenge for 2024: I will challenge myself to a limit of buying only 24 *new* items this year: 24 because 2024, but also because I can aim to average 2 new items per month.

WHY?

1. Because I love the planet and don't want to create more garbage than necessary.

2. Because finances are tight. I started this year with $12,000 (to the cent) of debt- $9,000 still owed on an expensive foundation repair on our house from 2022, and $3,000 still owed from replacing 5 windows in our home last summer. I also owe my Savings account $11K after a decadent year of adventure (2023 rocked, no regrets, now it's time to settle down and repay the funds). We are also getting married in late September, and while we are set up to have an inexpensive wedding (eloping, and trying to stay under $5K), weddings are still weddings and they cost money. My goal is to totally eliminate both debts this year, and completely pay back my Savings.

I'm still fleshing out the idea, but here's what I'm scheming...

I don't buy a lot of new stuff to begin with. I treat minimalism as a light form of spirituality. Still, 24 items is not very much, and I think this is going to be very difficult to do.

THE OK LIST

• Groceries/food/beverages, medicines and supplements are all okay.
• Dog food, treats, chews & medicine are okay.
• Bird seed is okay (but a feeder is not).
• Very personalized health products (like Invisalign, where the thingy gets molded to my teeth) is okay
• Anything I buy secondhand (thrift, consignment), borrow or get for free from my local Buy Nothing group is okay
• Zero Waste purchases that I purchase from a bulk/zero waste shop (we love Soap Refill Station here in Waldo, Kansas City, MO) are a-okay, as long as I use a glass or metal container, or a secondhand plastic one (no new plastic containers allowed). This is how I will purchase most of my toiletries and our home cleaning supplies.
• I may buy a new item without it counting ONLY if I can fully recycle, compost, burn or dispose of every single component of it responsibly, which includes the packaging it comes in. The exception to this is plastic- it doesn't recycle well.
• An example of what's okay here: We buy toilet paper from Who Gives A Crap. It's made out of bamboo which is one of the most sustainable resources out there (because it's invasive in many places, and grows aggressively- up to 3 feet in a day- so we should be cutting down way more bamboo!). WGAC ships the toilet paper to us in a cardboard box with brown paper-based shipping tape, not the clear plastic kind (booo). Easy to burn in our fire pit, and it creates clean ashes to mix into our compost bin. Each roll is wrapped in paper, not plastic. We can usually get away with their biggest box of 48 TP rolls and make it last an entire year!
• It is alright for me to accept gifts of new items, as long as the giver is not "helping me" get around the rules of this challenge. That said, I will do all I can to guide those who wish to give gifts to ones that fit within this challenge.
• We are rebuilding our back deck this spring- I'm going to give myself/us a pass on the materials needed to do that, however I will be checking with Restore first, and then the Buy Nothing group, to see if I can score some secondhand deck screws and hardware before buying new.
• I have 3 items that I almost always need to buy new for my job (I'm a professional home organizer and the owner of Simplicana): Tape for my label maker, white duct tape and velcro ties. I will try my damndest to find those second-hand, but I doubt it will be easy. I give myself permission to buy these new without them counting toward my 24, but only if I can't find them elsewhere. If I break or lose my label maker however, I would replace it and count it in the 24. All my other office supplies (Sharpies, scissors, tools) I have lots of, and can always replace at Scraps KC, which sells secondhand supplies (many of which I bring in from my organizing sessions with clients!)

Soap Refill Station in Waldo

ITEMS THAT COUNT TOWARD THE 24 LIMIT

• New clothing, shoes and accessories
• Toiletries & cosmetics
• Physical media: Books, etc. (this should be easy, as I'm an Audible gal)
• Decor
• Household supplies, cleaners, etc. (that doesn't fit the criteria above).
• Anything that comes in plastic packaging

STUFF I'M STILL FIGURING OUT

• I'm struggling with the idea of holiday gifts. Every year my siblings and I pitch in and buy our folks a gift- this last Christmas is was a really good toaster, plus some glass food containers (with plastic lids). My fiancé Derrick picked out all the gifts for his own family, which we split the cost on- all were new items. I don't want to feel like a jerk for imposing my own challenge on others. So I need to ponder this one a bit more. I'm open to suggestions.
• Potted plants for the outdoors... Sure the plants are fine, but they tend to come in plastic pots! Oy vey. However I would be planting with the intention of drawing pollinators (echinacea and brown eyed susans and butterfly bushes and whatnot), so perhaps the good will over-do the bad? Something to ponder.

PENANCE?

What happens if I exceed the 24 item limit for the year? Well... I think for every item that goes beyond the limit, I need to go outside and pick up 100 pieces of trash. Or donate $25 to the Heartland Conservation Alliance or Cornell Ornithology Lab, both environmental/wildlife groups I love. $25 per slip up can really add up in a year when I'm really trying to save, so I think I'll avoid it if possible. What do you think? Good punishment, or should I do something different?

I will aim to post weekly, to update with purchases and acquisitions I've made- both the ok and not-ok. I promise to be very honest!

This challenge will force me to be crafty, thrifty, frugal and problem-solvey, and hopefully shed light on the fact that we can ALL benefit from searching for what's already here instead of creating more garbage in the world.