Year-round lessons of Buy Nothing New month

Erin Castellas and her family set themselves a challenge to buy nothing new for a whole year. Not only did they save thousands of dollars, they all learned to value what they had and understand what extreme consumption does to the planet.

Most of us would find it tough - how about one month? October is Buy Nothing New month - where you sign up and pledge to buy nothing new except essentials such as food, medicines and hygiene products (see ).

"Overall, we saved loads of money, simplified our lives, saved time and reconnected with each other," says Erin of her year of living frugally. She says they learned to buy what they needed, not what they wanted.

"It's changed our lives for the better," says Erin. "We saved so much money by sticking to the Buy Nothing New principles of thinking first 'Do I need it?', 'Can I buy it second-hand, borrow it, make it or rent it?"

Erin admits some goods were tricky to live without - batteries, toner for the printer, Tupperware, aluminium foil and sandwich bags for instance.

"I was surprised how many disposable items we'd been living with and what a waste impact our family had," she says.

She shopped regularly at Brotherhood of St Laurence for clothes, and brotherhoodbooks.org.au for books.

"For other stuff, there is so much second-hand out there - Cash Converters, or eBay," says Erin. They needed a baby capsule and a booster seat that they found for free at ziilch.com. They made presents for kids.

"Some people loved this and started asking others to bring only handmade or second-hand gifts," says Erin.

"This would be a great thing to catch on. Kids' presents are such a waste, when most have too many toys already."

Erin's tips:

• Buy experiences, not "stuff" (concert tickets, surf lessons, cooking class are okay for example).
• Don't shop! Op shop!
• For second-hand electronics and higher-priced items, try Cash Converters.
• Try brotherhoodbooks.org.au for second-hand books.
• Social media makes borrowing or buying from friends easier than ever.
• Go to Gumtree or eBay for peer-to-peer buying and openshed for peer-to-peer renting.
• Make it. Gifts, photo frames, Christmas trees, play dough - you can have a ball. YouTube teaches everything and the kids were never bored!
• Shop old stuff in your closets and garage.

If you want to donate the money you make from selling things you no longer need to go to the Australian Conservation Foundation.

A recently launched phone app called flikkit.com allows you to claim a tax deduction.

You download the app (see acfonline.org.au for the ACF's Green Spring Clean App) then photograph the item, price it and list it, then select ACF as the cause. The seller gets the tax receipt which the seller can use at tax time.

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