My 2020 new year’s resolution was to ‘buy nothing new’.
That has meant:
• Reusing and re-purposing what we already have (for example making a quilt from old clothes, making fancy dress costumes from charity shop clothes)
• Fixing to extend the life of items (a LOT of mending socks!)
• Buying second hand (using websites like depop for clothes, ebay for birthday presents, gumtree for household items and charity shops)
• Using networks to source second hand (for example reaching out to facebook parent groups to find second-hand school uniform)
• Making gifts (for example baking cakes for birthdays, sewing bunting from material off-cuts)
• Giving ‘experiences’ (for example vouchers for the icecream shop and cinema)
• Swapping with friends (toys and books)
• Borrowing (from the library and friends)
It hasn’t gone perfectly – of course I’ve had to buy a few things brand new, but I now explore all alternative options when previously I would have automatically bought new.

I will be continuing ALL of these activities during EWWR – especially wearing my second hand clothes with pride and I’ve just started on my second quilt made from fabric remnants. I don’t want to be responsible for creating any additional waste during EWWR.