I first encountered the term in an article published by Mona Lazar in Medium The Buy Nothing Rebellion: 7 Refusals | Medium. I had before followed TED talks on Minimalism, a predecessor movement, something different, similar or basically the same? I do not know. Maybe it is just a new term for a recurring movement that takes on different qualities over time and generations.

Maybe minimalism is ‘old-school’ – Buy-Nothing- Rebellion is stronger and more defiant of consumerism. More political than personal.

I will explore further …

The ‘Buy Nothing Rebellion’ is growing as more people opt out of modern consumerism – Upworthy

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Related to ‘buying nothing’ is ‘decluttering’. Just from a slightly different perspective. Getting rid of stuff (there is a post about that somewhere on this blog ;-)) can make you feel lighter, like unburdening oneself from too many things. What ‘too many things’ are might be individually different, but I always feel better after having gotten rid of things like the third winter jacket from 10 years ago, or the old trainers still considered too good to go and ending up as garden shoes. The garden seems to be one of the last stations of many clothes and shoes – if you have one. After that they usually can be binned. Taking things to a second hand shop or ‘Fairkauf’ place is a better solution when things are still in good shape.

The article below explains why it is sometimes so hard to part with things:

In studies in which people made choices about what to buy and sell, the sellers who had the most difficulty parting with items showed the most brain activity in regions that process pain, risk and attention. So we hold on to family heirlooms — as well as pants that no longer fit and piles of travel mugs cluttering the pantry.

Opinion | Neuroscience Can Make Decluttering Easier – The New York Times