100 More Reasons To Be a Non-Consumer!
by Katy on February 7, 2025 · 21 comments
In addition to this blog, I also run a companion Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group, which is currently hovering around 79,000 members. New prospective members have to answer a simple question, which helps to weed out the ever present spammers. The answers are always interesting, so I’ve started saving them to share in blog posts.
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Educating yourself is always a good thing.
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I enjoy Katy’s blog. I don’t buy new. thrifty to the max!
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I want to learn how I can enhance my current efforts as a conscious consumer with a frugal focus.
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Save.
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I want to be a better steward of my money.
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I am trying to get out of the cycle of consumerism.
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I’m drowning in stuff! It’s suffocating me!
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More frugal tips.
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Enjoy the blog for many years.
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I want to save money.
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I’m a social worker …with a social worker salary…nuff said lol.
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I read the Year of Less. I am trying to live this way.
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Appreciate ideas to stay motivated, inspired to refrain from non-essential buying.
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I am semi retired and need to find a way to save money.
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I am a widow and live alone. This type of making ends meet appeals to me.
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Trying to retire. Need to save money and be more consumer conscious.
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Tired of contributing to big corporations.
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For inspiration to reduce my negative impact on our planet.
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I live remotely and have sort of a forced non-consumption life which I increasingly embrace. I love the simplicity, the frugality, and the peace of this life, and want to be on this journey with others who are like-minded.
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To be frugal, zero waste.
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Trying to be more frugal.
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It only makes sense!
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To get ideas on how to support sustainability.
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I am retired trying to survive this inflation.
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I’d like to learn unique ways to spend less and have more.
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Save money.
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I read your blog!
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Learn to spend less in 2025.
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I have gone into early retirement due to macular degeneration and need to save as much as possible.
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I would like to live a more mindful and minimalist life.
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Retired and needing to build an emergency fund. Also have way too much stuff. Also I don’t want my 3 sons to have to worry about my stuff when Jesus calls me home.
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Looking to save money this year!!
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I just have too much stuff and feel bad about it.
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To be with like minded people.
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To spare our environment. I believe less is more and can be applied to many parts of our lives.
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I used to live frugally but recently, I have been buying stuff. I need to go on a money diet!
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Save money.
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I want to learn how to be frugal. I know there are a lot of ideas out there. Some I can do. Some I can’t.
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We want to without and use what we have.
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I’m trying to make fewer purchases and generally consume less in 2025.
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I have always been frugal and am a huge advocate of using up and/or repairing items in my possession. I am also a huge recycler and recycle probably 90% of my trash.
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Ideas on how to save money.
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I’d like to be more thoughtful about the things I own. I’m good with my hands and enjoy fixing and refinishing furniture.
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I’m always looking for ways to live more with less!
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Want to stop spending needlessly!
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I don’t want to give big corporations any more money. I’m looking for new ways to live a more frugal life.
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Save money.
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Going thru a divorce, will rely on 1 income.
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I like great ideas on saving and i have a friend who mentioned she likes the page and ideas.
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I like to live simply.
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I’ve read your blog on your website for a while. Decided to join the FB group.
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I’m always looking for ways to save money!
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Learn frugal tips.
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Wanting to learn more ways to save, make repairs and repurpose.
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Heading into retirement.
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Recently disabled. I need to step up my decent thrift game to an extreme thrift game in order to survive. ASAP
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I’m interested in saving and reusing stuff instead of buying more.
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In this day and age I need to learn how to be more frugal.
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Minimize wastefulness.
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Like to learn how to save.
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Get inspired to use the things that I have, and to not buy so many unnecessary items and things that I don’t need.
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As much as possible, I want to repair, reuse and recycle.
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I want to make more of an effort to buy less, recycle more, and reduce my carbon footprint.
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Trying to cut down on unnecessary trying to cut down on spending and learn some tips on saving.
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Learn.
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Keeping with my already non-consumer lifestyle, I look forward to other’s ideas.
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Trying to be more intentional about what I allow into my living space so I have only things I need, use, and/or love.
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As retirees living in a rural area, we find we need to make do with what we have, as money is limited and trip to a city is 75 minutes.
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I’d like to practice frugality and ways to free ourselves from grasps of consumerism. im partnering up with a friend for a minimal spend 2025.
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Because I grew up with parents who lived through the Depression and my mom’s philosophy was, “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or go without.” I even had an aunt who taught me to save breadwrappers, cut them into strips and then use them to crochet rugs. I always loved her Wonder bread rug in front of her kitchen sink. <– I wish I could see this!
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The peace of not wanting things.
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Have always loved the premise of “Ditching it to the man” since the early 1970’s …late 1960’s.
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I have been working on minimalism having a smaller carbon foot print and saving money. This seems like it may be a good fit!
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I want to get better at saving money and learn how to use what I have instead of buying more.
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I need to save!
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I read a post and thought I’d fit right in 🙂
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I don’t want to add to all the damage consumerism does to us and Earth. Plus, I have adopted some helpful habits which I can share with the group.
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I would love to start a zero waste group in ocean county.
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Can’t find companies that align with my values anyways so I’d rather just not consume than give money to them.
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I’d like to learn as much from others as possible. Thank you!
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My husband and I keep things forever. We prefer to repair rather than replace.
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To learn different opportunities.
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To learn how to repair, mend, fix, reuse items. Under consumption.
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I am looking to simplify my life to better focus on people I love versus things I have.
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I’ve been following your blog for a long time and am thankful for the reminders that we don’t have to spend a lot to live well.
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Trying to reduce my carbon footprint.
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To learn and share ideas on living a less consumer-driven life.
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I am a non consumer.
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I have always been frugal. I drive it till the wheels fall off.
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I love to save money and I am very frugal.
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I would like to learn how others live frugally.
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I’m looking for more ways to save money and to buy less.
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To learn how to be a non-consuming citizen for the next four years.
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I am in the process of decluttering and want to maintain a minimalist lifestyle.
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I am very interested in sharing with others idea and thoughts associated with less consumerism. I have become committed to reducing my use of plastic.
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To help the planet.
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I’d like to save money.
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I was raised to be frugal. it’s in my genes.
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On a fixed income like so many others here. I have always been frugal but find that I have to cut back even more.
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Recently retired…looking to be more frugal.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
I love to read other NCs reasons for being frugal and find I can relate to so many of them. Reading these reasons also helps keep me on track with my no spend and no food waste this month.
We all come from different experiences, yet have almost the same goals.
I remember bread bag rugs! (#70). I even had one a friend of my aunt’s made, in color-coordinated bread bag colored bands of yellow, orange, clear, and some narrow strips of black for accents. It was hard-wearing, sort of squishy so comfortable to stand on, and of course could be rinsed out easily. Probably the same pattern used for crocheting oval or round rugs from cloth strips.
This was new to me.
I don’t remember the rugs, but I do remember the holiday wreaths made out of Baggies. They weren’t too attractive, as I remember.
I remember those rugs as well. Early adopters of use up, reuse, wear out, recycle.
Have you noticed an increase in people joining your facebook group?
Absolutely!
Even though I am not on your Facebook page, I will add another reason to be a non-consumer. I didn’t get any teaching gigs this spring and it’s not likely that summer work will not appear. Thus, I do not have any income for the next 7 months. I am living off the interest my brokerage account produces (which is not a huge amount). I have cut all nonessential spending. I went to the dealership to get an oil change using a Groupon I bought for 16$. Of course, they tried to sell me a new or used car. I told the salesperson; I do not have any income right now. I will keep my perfectly good 12 yr old car. That shut down the sales pitch in a New York second. (My husband is a mechanic, but he said it would cost > 16$ to buy the oil & filter.) Rock on non-consumers!
In recent years people have used plastic store bags (at least when they were more abundant) to make plarn (plastic yarn) and crochet sleeping mats for homeless people. You can Google it. There are a bunch of posts but none of them stellar for explaining it.
That’s a great use for plastic. I would imagine they are easy to clean too.
I think they would be easy to clean and also light weight.
Finding new and creative ways to repair, work around , or buy used is a form of personal freedom and independence! It’s wildly satisfying:)
Everyone/everything is so grabby. Everything I do requires more money for less service and or product. I’m just to the point of I’m done. There are some things I’m required by law to give my money for/to. I hope when the teen-tecs are wiping out data they remove some of those mandatory money grabbers. As for everything else I’m watching you and you better be giving me the most bang for my buck or be gone. I’m not your huckleberry.
I’ve never been a big social media user for a variety of reasons. I do have fb and instagram accounts because I’ve found it to be the easiest way to stay connected to people/groups/causes that are meaningful to me. Lately, like many people, I’m wondering if it’s worth it. I feel like there’s increasing evidence that it isn’t good for individuals and society. And it seems like another way I’m financing things that don’t fit with my values. There are many thoughtful people here and hearing the reasoning of others often helps me clarify my own. So, I’m just wondering about your (and your readers) thinking on this?
C, (I love that you used an initial as a lot of people just call me C),
I had a really interesting conversation with my 20-something kids. Since they’re much more tech savvy than I am, I asked them how platforms like FB and Instagram were monetizing me since I never buy anything from/through them. Their take on it was that it was all about data mining and selling that information. However, they feel like it doesn’t matter what sites you use, that same thing is going to happen.
I keep waffling about canceling my accounts on both those platforms, but I find that both are still really useful. While I could just come here for Katy’s posts and the interaction of the community, I do like the group on FB. But in addition to that, our (very active) Buy Nothing group is only on FB. I’m also a member of several genealogy research groups that are only on FB. And in the past couple weeks, I’ve begun following Alt National Park Service and Rebecca Solnit on FB for excellent posts about the current Chaos.
I’ll admit I use Instagram more to either have pretty, inspiring photos of gardens or interiors as well as gardening advice. Perusing these accounts (many of them not in the US) really helps keep me sane. There are also a lot of authors and activists I follow on Instagram. So while I’d like to completely get off Meta platforms, I’ve found I’m not ready to do it. Yet.
One way you can limit Facebook’s use of your data is to disable activity tracking. If you’re interested, follow these steps: 1) Go to Facebook settings. 2) Scroll down to select “Off-Facebook Activity.” 3) Select “Clear previous activity.” 4) Select “Manage future activity” and then “Disconnect future activity.”
Thank you, MB. I managed to do this, though of course the headings on my account did not exactly match how you wrote them. I am interested to see what is different over the next few weeks to see if I miss anything!
I use Facebook to keep a sense of what family members are doing, as we do not live near them.
That is so interesting to me. I had never heard of the data mining and selling. I am only on Facebook for marketplace (which is extremely glitchy these days) and a few groups. Instagram is more of a habit than anything else. I rarely post and have little interest in what I see other than like you, gardening and decorating. I’ve seen a lot on instagram from people who use it as a selling platform stating that the algorithm is hurting them. I don’t understand that because it is a free platform and really doesn’t owe them a way to sell things. Just my 2 cents!
Tech has taken data mining to a new level. Remember the days of filling out warranty cards – which in most states you did not need to do. They’d ask all kinds of questions that had nothing to do with the product warranty such as income level. If I am not mistaken, Rand McNally (I believe) made a mint selling your information in those days.
And even with private browsing turned on, google manages to bring up a selection for your email account – so don’t believe their “options” are stopping them from being stalking creeps.
Enjoy reading this blog and the comments posted. I think living in a different way than most comes down to intentionality and stewardship. For each other and the earth. I have learned so many things about frugality and also looking at things from a different angle. So much of what we can do is creative, which in turn gives us the satisfaction of learning new things. As I grow older, I value more a community of like-minded folks, like this blog!