This year, the ExConsumer could be you! Please post on the forum about the was you are reducing your ecological footprint in 2006! You can check out the things our "team leaders" are doing by returning to the ExConsumer main page.

The project started last year, in 2005. Here were the rules:

The Resolution: Not to buy anything new in 2005.
The Exceptions: Food, beverage, hygienic supplies, film, film processing, blank videotapes, purchases required for work (inkjet cartridges, gasoline), purchases made by proxy for others, purchases with a negligible material component (mp3 files, computer fonts), purchases made in real, unforeseeable emergencies.
Challenger Bio: Gleeful lifelong consumer. Former purchaser of magazines (Vogue, Harper's, Shape, O, Martha Stewart), impractical, expensive clothing from embarrassingly overpriced stores (Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, even the GAP). Frequent internet shopper on eBay and Amazon. Avid purchaser of gift cards, stationary and children's picture books. Intemperate consumer of unnecessary art supplies and paper products, kitchen gadgets, candles, bobbles, and other tchatchkis. Occasionally responsible for making large, extremely irrational purchases on the off-chance that owning a new, bizarre object would be a life-changing experience. Carla Blackmar is now attempting go cold-turkey off her shopping addiction, a project which is made easier by her status as an unemployed pauper. This section of the website is confessional blog detailing the experience.

 

 

 

Ex-Consumer Report/ links: