The Year without a Purchase

The Year without a Purchase is the story of one family's quest to stop shopping and start connecting. Scott Dannemiller and his wife, Gabby, are former missionaries who served in Guatemala. Ten years removed from their vow of simple living, they found themselves on a never-ending treadmill of consumption where each purchase created a desire for more and never led to true satisfaction. The difference between needs and wants had grown very fuzzy, and making that distinction clear again would require drastic action: no nonessential purchases for a whole year. No clothes, no books, no new toys for the kids. If they couldn't eat it or use it up within a year (toilet paper and shampoo, for example), they wouldn't buy it.

Filled with humorous wit, curious statistics, and poignant conclusions, the book examines modern America's spending habits and chronicles the highs and lows of dropping out of our consumer culture. As the family bypasses the checkout line to wrestle with the challenges of gift giving, child rearing, and keeping up with the Joneses, they discover important truths about human nature and the secret to finding true joy. The Year without a Purchase offers valuable food for thought for anyone who has ever wanted to reduce stress by shopping less and living more.

Part One: Living with Integrity

1. Darth Vader and the Call from God

2. Doing Nothing for God

3. How to Screw Up a Good Thing

4. The Rules

5. The Monster under the Bed

Part Two: Owning What We Have

6. Our Little Science Experiment

7. Darn!

8. The Price Is Right?

9. The Businessman and His Baggie

10. The Power of Stuff

11. Filling the Void

12. Coach Burgess and the Brainiacs

13. Two, Four, Six, Eight, What Do I Appreciate?

14. Christ Is Risen! Let's Go to Arby's!

15. True Confessions

16. The Worst Parents Ever

Part Three: Growing in Faith Together

17. Yoga Pants and Jock Straps

18. Naked in the Flat

19. The Purge

20. Good-bye Nana Claus

21. Our Discipline Problem

22. The Most Awkwardly Awesome Prom Ever

23. The Perfect Birthdayâ€"Just Add Aqua Velva

24. What Do You Get the Woman Who Has Everything?

25. Gala People?

Part Four: Serving God's People

26. Ontario with Ellis

27. My Better Half

28. Brainiacs Revisited

29. Filling

30. A Homemade Halloween

31. Christmas Tree Carnage

32. The Santa Clause

33. The Belly of the Beast

34. Christmas Present

Part Five: The Results

35. Year in Review