Efficiency Michael Kirk: My wife, Mrs. Efficiency/Dr. Mandy Kirk on her own:
Looking to save a decent amount of money? Want to clean out your house of the clutter that compiles with time? Want to meet your neighbors and save the landfill from being overloaded? Then Buy Nothing groups are for you.
If you haven’t heard of Buy Nothing, it is a community founded on gives, asks, and gratitude. It is organized by Facebook groups local to cities. There are some cities that don’t have them and are grouped into other cities, or if you’re in a rural area you may not have them at all. Most major cities have a Buy Nothing Facebook group associated with them. My city has 4 Buy Nothing groups, dividing the city into quadrants to keep things a bit more local – I’m in the Southwest group.
On Buy Nothing Facebook groups people will post items that they are getting rid of for free (gives) so that others can pick them up from neighbor’s porches instead of the trash.
People can also post asks, things that they want or are looking for so that people who have extra can give them to them. All of these items are FREE, which leads to gratitude and increased community togetherness besides the money saving aspect.
Since I joined Buy Nothing, I’ve learned the geography of my city and met a lot of my neighbors and created friendships.
I’ve had the added perk of expanding my business and gaining new patients from the community, since they are more likely to go to a local physical therapist who they have met.
It’s made me appreciate my community more and restored my faith in humanity to a certain degree.
I’ve been able to clean out my basement and closet when I was nesting and know that my items were going to good homes.
Of course I’ve decorated my house and clinic with gives.
Some of my favorite items received:
Sometimes even things that I thought no one would be interested in (half used lotions, leftover food from a party) gets snatched up pretty quickly! It’s nice to know anything can be put to good use.
The only negative I can see of Buy Nothing is potential transportation waste. Driving all over the city and wasting up to 15 minutes each way on transportation time and gas can add up. There have been occasions when I make a drive out and then the person forgets to put the item out and I have to make a second trip.
My recommendation is to look at cross streets of items and judge for yourself if the value of the item is enough to you to make a trip out of the way. I am more likely to pick up small things in my neighborhood and on my way to work, and if I’m going out of my way I try to stack multiple pickups on one day or only get large or expensive items.
Low stakes, high reward. Go to Facebook, search “Buy Nothing *your city name here*”, join the group, and scroll to start. See what people are asking for and giving. Find something you like, comment on why you’d like it. The more personal the better odds you are selected, give a reason.
Wish you best luck on getting and getting rid of items.