Shop less and save more with a 'no-buy challenge'

Life Kit

NPR

Education, Business, Self-improvement, Kids & Family, Health & Fitness

4.5 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you're struggling to save for long-term goals, find yourself lost in a sea of clutter or are concerned about consumerism and climate change, there are ways to curb your shopping habits. This episode, journalist Stacey Vanek Smith talks to writers, influencers and activists in the sustainable fashion industry about how to reign in overconsumption, rethink our power as consumers and challenge ourselves to buy less. This episode originally published Aug. 20, 2024.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.
0:05.3	Hey, everybody, it's Mariel.
0:07.8	When was the last time you bought something?
0:10.3	Like a piece of clothing or jewelry or electronics or makeup or a kitchen gadget or home decor?
0:17.3	Was it a month ago?
0:18.9	A week ago?
0:20.3	An hour ago?
0:21.9	After all, buying things is so easy now.
0:24.9	We can drop 100 bucks on a deluxe egg cooker while we're waiting for the subway,
0:29.0	or buy sunglasses on flash sale while we're in line for coffee,
0:32.7	even grab an adorable hot pink cake stand while we're in a Zoom meeting.
0:37.1	Because we definitely will start making cakes
0:39.3	if we have a cake stand, right?
0:42.4	Of course, a lot of this stuff we're buying
0:44.3	isn't stuff we need.
0:46.6	Let's go through my purse.
0:47.6	I have, let's count.
0:48.5	One, two, three,
0:51.4	four, five, six, six lip bombs.
1:01.4	This is Alicia Berman in a conversation with journalist Stacey Vanek-Smith back in
1:05.3	2024. At the time they talked, Alicia was 35, working in fashion and beauty in New York.
1:11.2	Trying new products and new looks was relevant to her job, but mostly she just loved
	...

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