Judith Levine (1) (1952–)

I thought this account of an experiment in which the author buys nothing that is not a “necessity” — a rather loosely defined term, in this context — promised an insightful look at the rampant consumerism that marks our times. Instead, we get to ponder the absurdity of not buying anything while living in New York City, endure the author’s agonies over purchasing a $3 used shirt in a thrift store where the profits help homeless women (how less consumerist can you get?), and wonder show more why organic coffee is a necessity but dining out with friends is not. This book did make me think about commerce in general, about how using your dollars to support the things you value — such as local businesses, good books and independent music — is wiser than not buying anything at all, because that way, we all get to make a living. Besides, it was pretty obvious that Levine only wrote this book so she could have her entry in the nonfiction “here’s the crazy thing I tried for a while and what I learned from it” genre that was started by that woman who worked for minimum wage, and I have to kick myself for being such a sucker as to have actually bought this book. show less

I have an online group of friends and every so often some of us will have a "no spend" month during which we set limits on our individual spending and then report back to each other how we're doing. We started after one of us read about The Compact and got inspired. This month is a no-spend month and I joined in. It's a good challenge for me because October has one of my son's birthdays, Halloween, and this year a vacation to Texas to visit family and go to my 20th high school reunion.

Judith show more Levine, along with her partner, takes this basic idea and extends it to a full year. Not Buying It is her record of that year and also her ruminations on consumerism, the economy, the government, and the future.

I enjoyed the book. It wasn't too heavy but wasn't frivolous either. She draws interesting and important connections between Americans as consumers (instead of citizens) and the decreasing common-space goods and entertainments that we have (such as libraries, public schools, funding for the arts).

Unlike The Compact though, Levine doesn't imagine a world in which we no longer consume beyond our absolute necessities. Instead she looks at how disparate distribution of wealth, a consumerist culture (intentionally created by the government and companies according to The Story of Stuff), and an economy reliant on evermore consuming lead to an increasing dissatisfaction with life and more and more spending as a way to try and increase that satisfaction. In other words, she puts forth some ideas for balancing things so we can have fulfilling lives and so can other people and we can still have a new sweater once in awhile.

After reading about her year I feel encouraged and optimistic about my ability to control my spending so that I can focus my time and energies on the things most important to me. I don't want shopping to be a past-time in and of itself, for me or for my kids (I don't have to worry about my husband--he hates to shop). But I also don't want to live the life of an ascetic to be a good person. Which is good, because I could never pull it off. show less

I, too, spent a year living on next to nothing - and I found this book a really good accompaniment: like Judith Levine, I found myself reflecting much more deeply about questions of economics and globalisation; and I was especially reassured to find that, like me, she went through phases of real apathy and irascibility. And I like the way she writes frankly but without too much of a sense of self-worthiness. As a result the book raises some important issues which we might all do well to show more consider more fully - but it does not rant, and it never loses its sense of the humane and the entertaining. show less

Judith Levine's "Not Buying It: A Year Without Shopping" tells the story of how she and her husband attempt to "not buy anything" over the course of a year. Of course, conceived in such absolute terms, the project could never have gotten off the ground. They permit the purchase of "necessities," a category which enlarges itself as the year goes by, and they make a series of permissive exceptions.

The book is highly digressive, containing excursuses on consumerism, the follies and excesses of show more the Bush years, movements to simplify people's lives and reduce their dependence on buying things, and people who have gone "off the grid." As much as the digressions are intriguing and provide much of the book's color, much of what we learn about making do with less is that it is a drag, to be resented and borne with as little grace as possible. Levine and her husband, despite being freelancers, are well-to-do -- they own two residences, an apartment in Brooklyn and a summer house in Vermont -- and compared to the space spent on not having the right ski equipment, little attention is paid to people who have to cut back out of necessity, not as a game which can be dropped at the end of a year.

My final difficulty with the book is that it doesn't give many signs of how the author's interior life changes. Levine's subjective experience of not buying things can be analogized to how many more secular Jews think of Yom Kippur -- as a day of being unconscionably deprived of food, to be gotten through as quickly as possible, and possibly by cheating with a run out to the car for a Snickers bar during the afternoon service. They ignore the spiritual aspects of the day -- the possibilities for introspection and personal change. Just so, there is no spiritual aspect to Levine's experiment; rather, it is a narrative of annoying "deprivations." The year is ended with relief and the happy prospect of a return to shopping.

Levine does come upon someone who finds a spiritual aspect in a life consuming less: a man named Richard, who, by ingenuity and living off the land, makes do on $7,000 a year. His modesty, his lack of a sense of entitlement, and his generosity are a far cry from Levine's grudging attempts at austerity, and open up the possibility that a life without many possessions can be a more peaceful and fulfilling one. Then again, Richard may just be an extraordinary person; if I had to carry out the year-long experiment, I'd be like Levine or worse. show less