Customer Reviews

Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping

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I bought this book after hearing a discussion with the author on public radio on March 8, 2006. If it is still up on the NPR site, I would strongly advise listening to a partial or full transcript of that show. It will help you make a decision to buy this book and whether it meets your needs [...]

In the interview, the author not only discusses her experiences, refusing to buy her usual daily latte, to make do with an old, used truck and to (ouch!) even give up her book buying habit. In short, if it wasn't absolutely necessary, it wasn't a purchase. She also discusses larger political views about consumerism in our culture and this, perhaps, is what is upsetting so many readers. She speaks of achieving balance, of deciding whether an ephemeral object is more important than devoting one's time and money towards larger pursuits, such as improving the school system or contributing to safer parks and neighborhoods or...whatever.

I think that maybe some readers were disappointed because they wanted a "how to" book rather than an exploration of consumerism and one woman's very individual experience. The book provides food for thought, a beginning step in a process rather than an absolute program. Those looking for absolutes should get a "how to" book.

This wasn't an easy process for Ms. Levine. Like so many of us, she had deeply entrenched habits and some seemingly minor daily purchases that were nearly automatic. Changing habits was far more difficult than she could have foreseen.

The author speaks of "unexpected longings" which she felt, longings that could be so easily focused or symbolized by objects or purchases. A new handbag may be simply a practical way to carry one's money and some tissues or it can carry meanings far beyond the obvious, including the desire to be seen as a person with "taste", buying nice items and avoiding the cheap, the apparently tacky.

Certain brands may smack of taste, style and reflect an image. They affect our very identify and sense of self...that's a LOT of emotional baggage to put on a specific object and yet, without those extra layers of meaning, how many expensive consumer items would actually sell?

Shopaholics should definitely buy this book. It may not cause them to completely revise their habits but they may well become more conscious of their motivations.

I will admit up front that I LOVED the book. It was more than an exploration of consumerism but of certain assumptions about "the better life" and what items constitute our viewpoints about ourself and reflect our values. Why do we surround ourselves with the possessions we have? Why do we buy the homes we do? Why do we spend far more than we really need to?

Yes, as some critics here have pointed out, the author has a political agenda and, yes, it is admittedly on the liberal side. If that bothers you, do not buy this book. This book is about making you THINK about your values, what motivates you to shop and buy what you do. It will help you reconsider both your conscious and subconscious motivations for doing so.

However, if you are looking for a HOW TO book, a guide to getting you out of debt or a program for saving money, don't expect this book to provide that structure. It isn't about that. It is simply one woman's experience (and experiment) with trying to do without for a year, as much as possible. It touches upon greater political and social issues and how our choices affect the world, not just our personal lives.

Let me begin by saying that, in the main, I am on Ms. Levine's side of the political aisle. I certainly think of myself as a liberal and a feminist.

That being said, this book was not a cogent call to arms for likeminded activists, a reasoned diatribe against consumerism, or even a mildly entertaining look at how Americans live (and buy) in the early part of this century.

Instead the book is a poorly written, self-indulgent, and condescending look at "doing without". While the author and her partner enjoy the benefits of two homes, three cars, and a plethora of options not possible to the working class, Ms. Levine is nevertheless ballsy enough to embark on a book about doing without. I think one of the moments that best summed up this entire failed experiment was when the author mentioned how often her friends are shocked to hear she is doing without films.

In the real America, when we "decide" to do without, we make decisions about whether to let our prescription drugs lapse or buy food for the family, whether to make an ER trip because we couldn't afford to go to a primary care physician, and whether to pay the heat, electric, or water bills this month. I know I don't get to decide that the New York Times and $55 haircuts are necessities. Let's talk about real decisions. I don't begrudge the author her $1,000/year diabetic cat, or even her non-processed organic foods (another option many of us simply can't afford), but I most certainly resent that Judith Levine holds up this year of her life as anything more than a cute and patronizing indulgence of her own whims.

As my husband pointed out when I was discussing the book with him, "They aren't buying anything, but they can't even cut their own hair? They have a forty-acre place in Vermont and can't even grow SOME of their own food?"

I don't know that I picked up this book (from the library) expecting a book that would teach me how not to buy, or solve the big problems of the world. But I think I should get more than this book had to offer. Like some of the "g*dawful" free entertainments the author substituted for her usual round of paid theatre and film performances, I expect more than this book has to offer. Even when I don't pay for it.

I'm glad I _didn't_ buy this (I got it from the library). I was amazed, first of all, at how awkwardly-written and poorly-organized it is considering the author is a professional editor. It's repetitive. She does not seem to have any clear idea of where she's going with this experiment (well, she's trying to spend less, but the tone of the book is that she's white-knuckling it through the year until she can shop again). She has minimal insight and seems to have missed the point of her own book. She goes off on long, pointless tangents about politics and something about a cell-phone tower. I guess that was in her original journal but it's unrelated to the alleged purpose of the book and feels like it should have been omitted.

This book is really basic. I mean, REALLY basic. If any of this is a revelation to anyone, then their spending habits are already so out of control that . . . I don't even know where to begin. If this is what she thinks of as "doing without", she has no idea at all what it's like to genuinely do without.

This was one of the most incredibly self-centered, shallow, books I have ever read. I was amazed that the author would describe herself as "a woman of bird-like consumer appetites" since she is far more brand-conscious than I am, and I would not apply the same label to myself. If she doesn't actually buy more than I do, she certainly pays more attention to what is out there to be bought. I don't believe for a moment that her Alain Mikli glasses or Ibex jacket (neither of which brands I have ever heard of before) are not status symbols--she bought them to achieve a certain look. The only people you impress with you Ibex, or whatever, jacket, are other shallow people who think you can buy a personality.

She is not poor. I make just over half of what she does, I don't have a husband to subsidize my lifestyle, and I am still not considered poor. I can't imagine she supports three cars and two households in the Northeast on $50k so I assume that Paul must be providing the bulk of the household income. Hmmm. Convenient.

Ms. Levine appears to have a whopping sense of entitlement and a very poor grasp of cost vs. value. She admits that she had no plans to pay back her government student loans until the credit companies caught up with her. She laments the lack of state funding for the arts but has never paid more than 25 cents' voluntary donation to the MoMA ($12 suggested). She constantly mocks free entertainment and harps on the lack of "culture" in Vermont and Bozeman, Montana, and how she lived in New York to be near high culture. She wants hand-outs, but she doesn't give back. "I'm too good for your open mic night, but I want everyone else to subsidize my top-flight tastes." Oh, yeah? Well, mock my open-mic night, but at least I'm out there contributing. I play four instruments and arrange music for them, I paint, I sew, and I fork over at the museum because I'm darned glad the museum is even there for me to look at. What do YOU do with your spare time? Oh, yeah--you SHOP.

She is spoiled and less able to entertain herself than most four-year-olds. She seems to expect an award for hand-making a Valentine. Without a credit card, art movies, or theater tickets, she has no idea what to do with herself. Get a hobby, woman!

I'd also like to know why an environmentalist who is trying not to spend has a New York Times subscriptions. She could read it online and save both money _and_ paper.

Her ravings about Bush, even if you agree with her, made no sense in context. Bush, et. al., are not responsible for American consumer culture. She should have left the politics out if she has so poor an understanding of it, or is so unwilling to consider multifaceted viewpoints.

Overall, my impression was that this was the viewpoint of a very limited, self-absorbed, immature woman whose identity seems to have been almost completely purchased--designer glasses-frames, the "right" jacket, the "right" entertainment, the "right" politics, the "right" organic food--but who, left to her own devices, has never developed a sense of who she is under the trappings.

One cannot help but thing that the non-consumption is as much an identity schtick as was the overconsumption.

Like so many others, I took exception to many aspects of this book. So many infact, that I decided to number them for easy reading;

(1) Levine and her husband have three (three!) cars, of which she classes petrol as a necessity. She admits that this is excessive, especially for such 'commited environmentalists'! She seems to miss the irony of this statement.

(2) Early in the book, she criticises a couple who have expensive cars and designer goods for ironically believing themself to be unconcerned with status symbols and wealth.

Later, she is discussing what she is wearing and says; 'The jacket cost $150 (on sale), the glasses more than $350. But the price tags aren't the point. These are not wealth symbols or even status symbols..' (p64.)

She doesn't seem to realise that $350 glasses are inevitably somehow related to status. Afterall, why not choose the $10 option and why mention the price to begin with? She also misses the irony in her criticism of the wealthy couple, when she wrongly believes herself 'unconcerned' with status and wealth.

(3) She sees a $55 haircut as a necessity over donating money to a New York museum, and then wonders why the cashiers don't smile at her.

(4) She recognises that if people don't buy things, they won't buy her book. On p109, she says 'the economic impact of lower consumption hits me directly in the royalty statement. Calll me a hypocrite, but I resolve right there that I will not market 'Not Buying It' with the slogan, 'Don't Buy This Book' (p109.) Judith, you just undermined your whole premise and yes, you are a hypocrite.

(5) Several times, she mentions being a vegetarian, only to later describe eating a sandwich of meat/fish. Small but annoying.

(6) She goes to a group meeting of people trying to embrace simplicity. One man's wife has been fired, but he still wants to buy a large fridge. She 'writes in (her) notebook, Can this marriage be saved?' (p123) What a judgemental statement. Why is it her place to act as the newly appointed moral judge and jury?

(7) The book is far too political and off-subject. While I agree with her anti-Bush sentiments, I didn't pick up the book to hear about them.

Levine seems to miss how pretentious and hypocritcal she is. I am certainly glad I didn't buy this.

Judith Levine's "Not Buying It" is an enjoyable read, a tale of how the author saved $8000 in one year (and paid off her debt) by cutting her expenses to a mere $3900, not including rent and utitilties. This meant a pretty drastic cutback -- everything from DVD rentals to new socks were nixed for a period of one calendar year. The project wasn't motivated merely by financial burden. Instead Levine was sick of the mindless consumption she was partaking in and vowed to do something about it.

The book is political in nature, and is filled with socio-political details. During her year she meets various eco-friendly types, and engages in some local politics, such as a public debate over whether to allow a cell tower in a rural area.

This isn't a book that is full of answers, but it is an enjoyable memoir. Fans of "Your Money or Your Life" will welcome the chance to experience this year vicariously.

I found this book to be pretentious, hypocritical and annoying. This author writing about "voluntary simplicity" is undergoing a home renovation which will include a library, guest room, wine cellar and "many, many built-in cabinets, shelves and closets" (sounds simple, doesn't it?)and she has three cars for two people. She spends time deliberating about whether to spend money on wax for her skis, but no time at all on whether to spend money on skiing. A plane ride to Montana is not considered to be a "purchase" since it's on frequent flyer miles, and the hotel room there - well, it's for her niece's graduation so that doesn't count. She mooches off her friends, buys newspapers and goes skiing, but she won't give the Metropolitan Museum of Art more than a quarter because they have so much money. How generous! I really disliked the pretentiousness and hypocricy throughout, which really contrasts to the original premise of not buying things. Do yourself a favor and don't buy this book.

When my husband and I first got married and bought a house, it was obvious we had come with different spending habits. We could have budgeted, fought about the budget, and ultimately always be stressed about the budget, but luckily my husband heard an interview on the radio with a family trying to go one year without buying ANYTHING. What a great concept, we said! So, we decided to address our money problems buy not buying anything new for one month.

We had a great time, learned a lot, and when one of my friends saw this book, she just knew I would love it. When I opened it at Christmas last year, I knew I would love it.

Then I tried reading it.

What neither of us had counted on was an unlikable, self-absorbed, whiny author. Besides being poorly written, the author is an extremely negative person. She doesn't have any fun with her experiment, she isn't learning anything, she doesn't discover the joy of spending less--perhaps because she obsesses the whole dang book about the joy she would get from some lime green shoes and maybe that's how shallow she really is. Some key moments:

* The author can't find her favorite skiing socks, so neither she nor her husband get to go skiing because she can't just use other socks

* They decide that a graduation gift for a niece is not a "necessity," but when they fly out for the graduation, the author has a tantrum in a clothing store and buys clothes for HERSELF.

* From March 22: "In a year without shopping, will I lose my self, and in so doing, my connection to others?"

I slogged through this book until she reached April, and then I thought perhaps she would stop whining about how she was missing a freaking year of her life because she couldn't buy the latest shoes/see the latest movies/read books because she is so obviously scornful of libraries. In April she started looking into societies & groups that were about living simply, but it turns out her only interest is to ridicule those who cut their own hair, plug unions, and start her own political diatribe. As a liberal, even I could only agree with a tiny bit of what she said, and will really fault her for not listing even a single source or foot note. She makes a lot of statements that for any self-respecting journalist should have been backed up by studies, articles, something--anything. Of course, I realize that in this day making statements with no facts to back them up is the norm, not the exception, but it will annoy anyone who can remember the difference between opinion and fact.

The only remotely positive thing I can say about this book is that it gave me an insight of the totally self-indulged, consumer-driven "ME" generation that we always hear about. Until this book, I truly had no idea that there were people who would tie up their own happiness in buying things to the extent Ms. Levine does. So, from that perspective, it was interesting, but I could still only make it into "July."

I had high hopes for Judith Levine's book "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping". Maybe I set my expectations too high. Can I really expect one book to convert me into a non-consumer? I wanted gems of wisdom on how not to spend money; how to talk myself out of buying that cup of chai or latest Jonathan Lethem book.

How does one spend an entire year without shopping? For starters, Levine and her husband stocked up on supplies before beginning this year-long project, which began on January 1, 2004. Even on December 31st at 10 PM, they purchase items online from Red Envelope. Did they really need that "small concrete baby elephant" two hours before the project was to begin?

Next Levine discusses the plethora of food, clothing, boots, and sporting gear in their Vermont home (they also own a condo in Brooklyn, NY). Then she moves on to explain why they have three automobiles. Three pieces of transportation for two people who spend half the year in the city. The couple also plans to purchase necessities such as unprocessed food, The New York Times, and gasoline. By page 25 I was already outraged, but willing to push on with naive hopes that her reform will rub off on me.

Throughout the book Levine makes side trips to talk with economic, consumer, and cultural critics. She attends meetings in Brooklyn with a group that's a part of the Voluntary Simplicity movement. I liked these sections of the book. It gave me a general understanding of why many (if not most) of our citizens spend and consume in order to be happy.

There are some funny moments in the book when Levine must decide what defines a necessity. Are Q-tips a necessity? What about tissues when one can use toilet paper instead? What about $125 pair of slacks in SoHo? Sadly, the answer to the latter question was yes. I found myself becoming very judgmental of the author even though she consumed much less in 2004 than I do in any given year.

I was really hoping for a book with topics on buying green, not buying at all, etc. Instead, I read a book about how to justify each purchase one makes. Very disappointing.

The author seems mindlessly materialistic, which her year-long experiment doesn't do much to change. A better title for this book would be "A Year Where Though I Cut Back on a Few Luxuries, I Continue Spending More Than Most Working Stiffs."

Would love to see her in a celebrity boxing match with Amy Dacyczyn, author of "The Tightwad Gazette." I'll take Amy in Round 1.

Honestly, I just couldn't finish this book. The author was so self-absorbed, and sounded so self-important that it became difficult for me to read, even though the actual writing style was at times pretty entertaining. I guess she sounded a bit like a grownup version of a teenager who decided that she was above going to the mall for awhile. Moreover, she spent most of the time, it seemed, complaining about her choice, and the fancy junk she couldn't buy as a result of it. I'm not trying to belittle what this woman has done (hey, I don't have a book on consumerism, do I?), but let's face it - most of us who are now looking at these types of books are doing so in hopes of gleaning meaningful lessons from our new-found need to economize. Because of this, to us, taking a dip in such shallow water, by someone who is careful to not be confused with a person who might need to economize, is not usually our desired experience. Most of us just want someone to get real. I tried to like the book, but I couldn't. Obviously, people look for different things in their reading, and I wasn't expecting the book to deliver what it did. I'd probably recommend going to the library and checking this out first, though, before determining whether it has a permanent home on your own bookshelf. I swapped mine out online last week, with a bit of guilt toward the recipient. I hope she's not expecting what I was (sigh).

I think I would have been better off reading from the wisdom of our previous generations. They lived without buying the hype, they created support for one another, and they centered their lives on the important things. They did this because, especially during times of war and need, they were not tempted by the preoccupancies that distract and/or steal meaning from our lives and the truth they should bear.