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Group sold on buying nothing new for a year

Friends find ways to get w hat they need. Some have renewed ' 06 pact. A group of 10 friends made an anticonsumption pact for 2006. And they've reupped the deal.

SAN FRANCISCO - It began, as grand ideas often do, over a dinner - risotto, artisan cheese and wine. What would it be like, 10 environmentally conscious friends wondered as they discussed the state of the planet, to go a year without buying anything new?

Twelve months later, the results from their experiment in anticonsumption for 2006 are in: Staying 100 percent true to the goal proved harder and easier than expected.

And while broken vacuum cleaners and malfunctioning cell phones posed challenges, some of the group's original members say the self-imposed shopping sabbatical was so liberating that they've resolved to do it for another year.

"It started in a lighthearted way, but it is very serious," said John Perry, 42, a father of two who works for a Silicon Valley technology company. "It is about being aware of the excesses of consumer culture and the fact we are drawing down our resources and making people miserable around the world."

The pledge they half-jokingly named the Compact, after the Mayflower pilgrims, spread through the Internet and an appearance on the Today show.

The San Francisco group exempted food, essential toiletries and other purchases that fell under the categories of health and safety from their pledge.

Nearly 3,000 people have joined a user group Perry set up on Yahoo so participants could swap goods and tips.

Besides thrift stores and garage sales, participants found a wealth of free or previously owned merchandise in online classifieds and sites where people post stuff they want to get rid of.

Rachel Kesel, 26, who works as a dog walker, said she was astonished by how often the items she needed simply materialized - the friend who offered a bicycle seat when hers was stolen, the Apple store employees who fixed her laptop at no cost.

Similarly fortuitous timing happened often enough that group members came up with a name for it - "Compact Karma."

Kesel broke down only twice. Once was when she was planning a trip to Israel and couldn't find a used guidebook that reflected current political realities. The other was after her commuter coffee cup suffered a fatal crack.

Perry got satisfaction out of finding he had a knack for fixing things and how often manufacturers were willing to send replacement parts and manuals for products that had long since outlived their warranties.

"One of the byproducts of the Compact has been I have a completely different relationship with the things in my life. I appreciate the stuff I have more," he said.

[Last modified January 16, 2007, 01:13:07]