Hello, I'm Anna
Meet the face behind the posts
I started Not Needing New to celebrate second-hand stuff. I was (am) in a financial situation where it was the only way to manage. People kept saying things looked good, or cool, or stylish, and I heard myself saying over and over that it was from the charity shop, from the tip, found in a freebie box.
I thought it would be good to try to show that you don't need money or youth to be sustainably stylish. You need a bit of imagination, some bravado and actually, age helps, because you care less about opinions that are shared with the sole intention of trying to squash you.
Here are a few key things about me that shape my writing and might help you decide if you're interested. Maybe you'll relate to a few of them.
Not Needing New since 2013
A few facts
- I'm a single mum of a teenager and a twenty-something.
- My children's dad is a stroke survivor; the impact is lifelong.
- We lost our family home, and the kids and I now live in a small third-floor flat. There's no garden.
- I work for a vintage car restoration company.
- I ended my 23-year teaching career in December 2019. I knew the demands of the job were constantly pulling me away from the two children who really needed me.
- I have 14 brothers and sisters.
- I gave up all alcohol on 1 May 2020. I feel (and look, I think) a bloody hell of a lot better.
- I have a builder boyfriend. He's a single dad. We don't live together. This sometimes breaks my heart.
- I'm usually with Beamer, my Jack Russell Terrier.
- I'm absolutely and utterly proud that I keep my household going on very limited means. I DO NOT feel ashamed of my second-hand style.
- I pretty much have everything I want and need.
Anna Kilpatrick at a glance
- Living second-hand since 2013
- Author of Not Needing New: A Practical Guide to Finding the Joy of Enough (Orion Spring, March 2026)
- Started @not.needing.new on Instagram in 2019, now followed by more than 220,000 people
- A teacher for 23 years, until December 2019
- Featured in The Guardian, The Times and on RNZ and BBC Sounds
- Represented by Alice Lutyens at Curtis Brown
Everything I share here and on Instagram is free. If it's helped you, you can buy me a coffee.
Buy me a coffeeQuestions about Anna
Who is Anna Kilpatrick?
Anna Kilpatrick is the author of Not Needing New: A Practical Guide to Finding the Joy of Enough (Orion Spring, 2026) and the creator of @not.needing.new, followed by more than 220,000 people on Instagram. A former teacher of 23 years and a single mum, she shares how to live well, dress with style and find joy on a very limited income, mostly second-hand.
What is Not Needing New?
Not Needing New is Anna Kilpatrick's Instagram account, blog and book about second-hand style, living well on very little and finding the joy of enough. Anna has lived this way since 2013 and started sharing it on Instagram in 2019.
How can I get in touch with Anna?
Use the contact form on this website and choose what your message is about. It goes straight to Anna. For rights and book enquiries, contact her literary agent, Alice Lutyens at Curtis Brown.
Every day on Instagram
Follow along at @not.needing.new
Join more than 220,000 people for charity shop finds, outfits, home and honest thoughts on living with less.
