Not Buying It by Judith Levine (2006, Hardcover)

The idea behind this book is an intriguing one; going a whole calendar year buying nothing new other than the necessities. The author and her fiance face many challenges and make great strides along the way. This book has a lot of excellent points and is a great reference for someone contemplating trying this.

That said, let me start by saying that while I admire what Ms Levine did and I now have some ideas about things I need to do, I found a whole lot of this book to be a tedious slog through her stuck-up, name dropping, yuppie, DINK, ultra-political lifestyle. I'm glad I borrowed it from the library rather than paid for it.

She is very obviously a liberal arts educated writer who lives a very political, upper-income (yes I said that, her protestations to the contrary), very social lifestyle in New York City and rural Vermont (two extremes) with no conception of how "regular, average" people live. I got very tired of everything being compared to Thoreau and Walden Pond, and to ecological footprints, and prattling endlessly about how important the arts are and how badly funded they are (agreed, but much overkill here). I also tired of talk of designer clothes and designer food and theater (play) subscriptions and on and on. Fianally, the last couple of chapters focus more on the ills of America and her dissatisfaction with the current political administration rather than insight on what is happening with her experiment and its impending end.

In the book, she deemed certain categories of things - like soap - a necessity but then when she ran out of her favorite brand she agonized over downgrading to a less expensive brand. You either need it or you don't. Her constant, repetitive analysis of the cost of something that she had already determined was necessary was very annoying. The decision was not to buy things that were not necessary. Somehow she got sidetracked into frugality or a half hearted attempt at frugality as well.

Her misguided attempts at frugality bring me to the two homes and three cars she and her fiance share between them. Yes, there is justification for them to a degree as the author explained. You can look at that from her point of view or we can argue selling off one home endlessly to eliminate a whole lot of "buying it".

Interestingly, there were no children in the mix as there are for so many of us. I suspect, that would have changed her outlook and what she spent very drastically. I don't recall if she said if there had ever been children. She does not mention them, so I assume not. She does mention somewhere about half way through being 55.

She makes the point that she found the New York Times to be a necessity. She had to have the Times to find out where all the free but "inferior quality" (her words) entertainment was to take the place of the splendid plays, shows, movies and concerts were that they were so desperately missing. I cannot fathom that life in NYC could possibly be so dull if one does not have subscriptions to all the major venues. Lets talk to some of the regular folks in Queens and the Bronx and get their views on this, shall we? Please!

Overall, an excellent concept for a book but the wrong sort to execute an experiment that would have been meaningful for the great majority of average Americans. I would be interested in reading a more mainstream accounting.

Read this but get it at the library and skip ahead any time she mentions Thoreau or politics. You'll miss nothing at all.