THE PINCH: Buying used instead of new

Katie and Mike Donnelly are a year and a half into an experiment that is enough to make a middle-class American break into a cold sweat.

The Colorado Springs couple have not bought anything new since January 2007, dollar-store finds excluded.

Well, that's not exactly true. Just recently, Katie Donnelly reported that the couple had to pay $80 for parts to fix their broken refrigerator. But that purchase only came after three weeks of eating out of an ice chest while they tried to figure out how to fix the fridge without buying a new appliance or the parts to fix the old one.

Excluding the fridge parts, living life without all the shiny baubles of modern American life has been OK, said Katie Donnelly, age 51. In fact, she said, the couple's life might be a bit more rewarding, with an emphasis on living with what they have rather than busily acquiring more.

The Donnellys based their effort on living simply on The Compact, an idea from a group of about 50 environmentally conscious residents of the San Francisco Bay area put off by what they believe is America's wasteful, overthe-top consumption of consumer goods.

The friends took a vow not to buy anything new in 2006 except food, health and safety items and underwear (Katie Donnelly reckons the couple's fridge parts fall under the health/safety exclusion). News of the San Francisco experiment spread on the Internet, spurring copycat efforts by other folks and dozens of Web sites geared toward living more simply.

Many of the folks who adopt The Compact appear to do so for political or environmental reasons. As a sociologist specializing in futurist issues, Katie Donnelly has always been interested in how people shape their lives on those levels. But the couple's experiment in living simply wasn't a sociological experiment - or particularly voluntary.

In 2004, the couple took in Mike Donnelly's mother, now 84, who has Alzheimer's and needs round-the-clock attention. That meant Katie Donnelly could no longer work full time. Soon after, 52-year-old Mike Donnelly's job at a local high-tech company was "outsourced," and he had to take on electronics contract work.

The family lived on savings for a while, but the Donnellys knew that was not a viable long-term solution.

"We sat down and said, ‘What are we going to do?'" Katie Donnelly recalled recently in the living room of their home off Flintridge Drive.

About that same time, Katie Donnelly stumbled onto news stories and Internet discussions about The Compact. She was intrigued.

"‘Can I do this? Can I actually do this?'" Katie Donnelly remembers asking herself. "I have needs like everyone else. I'm a consumer, too."

As it turns out, yes, she could do it.

Katie Donnelly said over the past year and half, she's learned to scour the free section of Craigslist and FreeCycle.com, free online advertising boards. The couple hauled home 5,000 pounds of rocks in plastic garbage cans to level their backyard - a back-breaking job she'd never have done in her previous life. The couple finished up the landscaping with free bricks and flagstone.

She visits dollar stores and a food liquidator, Extreme Bargains, for steeply discounted food items. She shops for the best deals in supermarkets.

She routinely hits yard sales, armed with a list.

She buys generic prescriptions at Sam's Club (there are other outlets in town, too).

They remodeled both their bathrooms for $150 by buying items at ReStore, a second-hand home improvement shop run by and benefiting Habitat for Humanity.

And, of course, they gave up some luxuries. Katie no longer dyes her hair or pays for false nails, which she reckons saves $350 to $400 a year.

The couple, in part because they need to care for Mike Donnelly's mother, no longer go away for weekend trips. Instead, they take long baths, read, do simple home-improvement projects and have potlucks with friends.

Pretty soon, Katie Donnelly said, her neighbors began to take notice. She explained The Compact to some of them, and four of them are now full-fledged members of a tongue-in cheek neighborhood club, The Joneses Society.

Each neighbor jots down needs on a master list, and they all hit Saturday yard sales. When one finds what another needs, they give each other a call.

The Joneses are thinking about buying a used freezer together and buying meat from a rancher at wholesale prices.

Katie Donnelly said the real challenge to living simply is dealing with the unexpected - the occasional crisis that has most folks reaching for their credit card. The fridge crisis eventually required a new purchase. But another appliance breakdown went the other way.

When their stove went on the blink, they went to Goodwill and found a stove for $65 - and it was better than the one it replaced, Katie Donnelly said. The couple then cashed in airline miles to cover the money they laid out for the stove.

Perhaps the biggest challenge on the couple's "live simply" journey was Christmas.

After some thought, they collected old family photos, scanned them onto a computer and then printed out photos. They mounted the pictures on colorful foam board and, with the addition of a ribbon, they became tree ornaments.

They (and baked goods) were a hit with family members.

"We brought meaning, significance and love. It wasn't about money."

The Donnellys know that, sometime in the future, Katie Donnelly will return to work full time, and the economy will improve enough for Mike Donnelly to find secure employment. When that happens, the most frightening part of living with reduced resources - the lack of medical and dental insurance coverage - should be resolved.

Katie Donnelly said the couple have vowed to live with The Compact through the end of 2008 and will decide next year if they re-enter the world of consumerism.

"Many people think because they are economically challenged, they can't do anything," she said. "Then there are others whose social credibility is defined by what they have."

There is a middle ground, she said, a place where folks keep their acquisitive impulses in check, appreciate what they have and find ways not to be owned by their possessions.

"I still consume as much as always - just in a different way," Katie Donnelly said. "We were able to change our lifestyle without a lot of pain."