You can check this book out of the library. I recommend this 30-Day Guide because it’s simple to use. Though it might not be easy it will likely be rewarding to complete the Challenge.

Ashlee Piper starts off the book with a history of the dawn of the marketing and advertising era to sell products. Like cigarettes that languished in sales. Until a clever advertisement in the 1920s to women calling cigarettes “Torches of Freedom.” Women marching in the streets would stop and light up the cigarettes called “Torches of Freedom.”

No kidding.

One issue I take with No New Things (it is likely accurate though) is that some people tally up that they saved $6,000 per month on purchases they didn’t make. How could someone have that kind of cash to drop on products to begin with?

Oh–the second issue I have is Piper’s reliance on thrifting and buying secondhand clothing. Most people are okay with wearing items that other people wore. Some of us prefer new.

All in all I recommend this book to anyone seeking to restore peace of mind to how we feel about ourselves. Piper alludes to how Influencers peddle products. How we could feel unworthy and less than so buy what’s being sold in an effort to feel better.

It’s really possible to stop impulse shopping. I call curating a wardrobe “collecting” items not shopping for them. I recommend giving thoughtful consideration to your style via the Three Word Method or a dive into Project 333.

September is here soon. Going back to school or getting into the groove at work again doesn’t have to require buying a truckload of new outfits.

What I’m interested in and think everyone should copy from No New Things is to have fun doing things with friends that don’t involve trips to shopping malls to buy stuff. Why not take a walk on a boardwalk if you live near a beach? Take a walk in a local park like Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. While there go to the Japanese Tea Garden.

By the way I think the end of summer is the ideal time to do spring cleaning. My credo is the “one thing in – one thing out” ethic.

The true Torch of Freedom today is the ability to Just Say No to endless retail therapy that doesn’t really make us feel better.