Swap till you drop – for free!

Melissa Gulbin with her kids Ivy, 4, and Elsa, 2, is holding an event for Buy Nothing New Month.

Lismore's Melissa Gulbin is an avid op shopper and second-hand rummager and the mother of two is also increasingly concerned with the throw-away nature of fashion and the vast amounts of waste being generated.

So when she discovered October is Buy Nothing New Month - encouraging people to swap, beg, borrow or buy second-hand in the spirit of conscientious consumerism - it resonated with her and she has embraced the challenge.

Having made the pledge to buy nothing new (necessities such as food are allowed, of course) Melissa has gone one step further, organising the Rug-Rat Rummage, a free swap meet for kids' stuff, on October 15 at Heritage Park.

"I'd been on the anti 'stuff' bandwagon for a while and then I saw The Story of Stuff (a short animation about the life cycle of material goods). The mindless consumption of stuff really gets on my quince," she said. "When kids outgrow their gear, many Australians drive to the shopping centre to buy cheap disposable stuff, possibly made unethically and certainly unsustainably, which inevitably doesn't last the distance and ends up in landfill. It's all a bit silly when there are fun, free alternatives."

Not only does the Rug-Rat Rummage aim to promote sustainable consumption, it endeavours to reinvigorate the culture of a more resourceful bygone era.

"We used to have a hand-me-down culture and bought things and treasured them. When you look at today's fashion cycle and how fast it is it's a bit crazy - kids don't care if they're wearing last season's trends. So the day is an antidote to that disposable 'fast' fashion.

"The culture of swapping stuff also means we can meet friends of friends and encourages a sharing, caring culture rather than one where we're keeping up with the Joneses.

"I think Lismore is really forward thinking in its innovation of second-hand goods and we can't keep buying new things in this open-ended chain. I'm not anti buying anything new, this is just one month, a bit of a retail detox."

The rules of the Rug-Rat Rummage are simple. Participants register one to two reusable shopping bags full of clothes and/or toys that are in clean, good condition and suitable for babies and kids under 12 for the spring and summer seasons. The bags are dumped onto rugs (supplied by participants) and when the whistle blows, participants have a leisurely hour to refill their bags with gear that fits.

All clean, quality stuff left over will be sorted and donated to charity.

"I'm relying on people to do the right thing and bring along gear that is clean and in good condition. The sort of stuff you would happily let your own kids wear if it still fit," she said. "Any cost associated with disposing of rubbish will come out of my pocket so it's an act of faith."

Melissa is also looking for sustainable organisations to sponsor the event to cover the $200 insurance and flier printing costs. The event will be documented and entered into a Buy Nothing New Month competition to win $5000.

The registration and bag drop is from 10.30am and the one-hour rummage begins at 11am sharp on Saturday, October 15.

"The swap day is about pulling our blinkers off, sharing, saving money, having a laugh and getting real while the kids play in the park in the spring air," she said. "It's my utopian retail therapy."