Author Topic: Buy Nothing Project/Group  (Read 3236 times)

jpdx

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 760
Buy Nothing Project/Group
« on: May 21, 2019, 12:18:11 AM »
Have you discovered your local Buy Nothing group? It's pretty great. The BN Project has Facebook groups for locations all over; where I live there are actually groups for each cluster of neighborhoods. It's a place to pass on things that no longer "spark joy" and to receive free items from others. You can also use it to borrow and lend. It's especially great for kids items like toys and clothes which otherwise have a short life.

For my family, Buy Nothing has been a great way to save some money, and more important, a nice way to build community and meet new people.

https://buynothingproject.org

MonkeyJenga

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8894
  • Location: the woods
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2019, 01:10:10 AM »
I recently moved to a new city with only what I could carry, and Buy Nothing has been amazing! Towels, toiletries, clothing, shoes, food storage, food, games... So many things that otherwise would have gone in the trash while I spent money buying them somewhere else.

Step37

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 465
  • Age: 50
  • Location: AB, Canada
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2019, 09:38:51 PM »
I think I first heard of the Buy Nothing Project on this forum. I read about it, LOVED the idea, and looked to see if there was a group in my area. There wasn’t, and about six months after my inquiry, they reached out and told me I could start one. It started in July 2018 and has been awesome. Anyone I meet who’s a member is so positive about it and grateful for the group. Nothing makes me happier than seeing an unused item go somewhere it’s needed and appreciated, and it’s also almost as wonderful to receive something that is needed for free! ♥️

Fresh Bread

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3370
  • Location: Australia
  • Insert dough/bread/crust joke
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2019, 10:01:02 PM »
I think I first heard of the Buy Nothing Project on this forum. I read about it, LOVED the idea, and looked to see if there was a group in my area. There wasn’t, and about six months after my inquiry, they reached out and told me I could start one. It started in July 2018 and has been awesome. Anyone I meet who’s a member is so positive about it and grateful for the group. Nothing makes me happier than seeing an unused item go somewhere it’s needed and appreciated, and it’s also almost as wonderful to receive something that is needed for free! ♥️

Step37, what was required of you to start one up? We don't have one in my neighbourhood and I'd really like one. We have something similar but it doesn't allow for wanted posts or lending.

Step37

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 465
  • Age: 50
  • Location: AB, Canada
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2019, 10:45:17 PM »
FreshBread, here is part of the message I received prior to the group being set up. I’ve removed all identifying details... I believe they have slightly changed the process (due to the huge growth they’ve been experiencing), but it should give you a good idea what needs to be figured out. As the local admin, I am responsible for approving and welcoming new members, making sure the rules and guidelines of the group are being followed, and stirring up some activity if things seem quiet. I can’t say I’m great at all of it, but I’m doing my best and have intentions to get a lot better. Check out the links within the message for more details. Keep in mind that everything is 100% volunteer run, so you may not hear anything right away (like I said, mine was about six months!) - it’s worth the wait. I can’t believe the level of detail and organization that has gone into setting up these groups. Major dedication and a truly incredible initiative.

“Thank you for contacting the Buy Nothing Project about starting a group for your area!

I will be working with you to:

☑️ Determine and define the boundaries of your new group

☑️ Name your new group

☑️ Set up the group on Facebook, with all of the necessary documents and graphics

As we are looking at maps and population charts, there are some things to keep in mind:

☑️ Our mission is to foster hyper-local gift-economies. In order to do this, we
like to start out with a population base of 10,000 - 25,000 residents.

☑️ Groups are only open to neighbours living within the boundaries that we determine while setting up this group.

☑️ Each group name allows it to be easily recognized to people living in the neighbourhood, and not be confused with another area.

☑️ Each of our groups are subject to all the same rules and procedures, which can be found on our website here: https://buynothingproject.org.

☑️ Each of our groups needs a Local Admin. In this case, that would be you! If you can find a friend and neighbour to help you out with this adventure, it would be even better! Here is some information about the responsibilities of the Local Admin:https://buynothingproject.org/join-our-team/.”

Fresh Bread

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3370
  • Location: Australia
  • Insert dough/bread/crust joke
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2019, 10:49:57 PM »
Fabulous thanks. Waste/ consumption reduction is something I want to do in semi-retirement and this might be a good way.

jpdx

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 760
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #6 on: June 09, 2019, 03:34:26 PM »
It's great to hear about your experience of starting a BN group!

Our fam has a constant flow of gifting things for people to grab on our porch, and picking up gifts via bike. Love it.

Dicey

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 22320
  • Age: 66
  • Location: NorCal
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2019, 01:55:53 AM »
I would do this in a heartbeat, except it's Facebook and I just can't make myself do FB. If there's any kind of workaround, I'm all ears.

Step37

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 465
  • Age: 50
  • Location: AB, Canada
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2019, 07:57:25 AM »
I would do this in a heartbeat, except it's Facebook and I just can't make myself do FB. If there's any kind of workaround, I'm all ears.

There isn’t... BUT, it might be worth creating an account. It’s that good! There’s a woman in my group who maintains her FB profile only for this purpose. There’s more to this story but I’m out of time for now. I’ll come back to it tonight or tomorrow.

Dicey

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 22320
  • Age: 66
  • Location: NorCal
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #9 on: June 11, 2019, 01:59:12 PM »
I would do this in a heartbeat, except it's Facebook and I just can't make myself do FB. If there's any kind of workaround, I'm all ears.

There isn’t... BUT, it might be worth creating an account. It’s that good! There’s a woman in my group who maintains her FB profile only for this purpose. There’s more to this story but I’m out of time for now. I’ll come back to it tonight or tomorrow.
Thank you!

Step37

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 465
  • Age: 50
  • Location: AB, Canada
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #10 on: June 11, 2019, 11:35:07 PM »
To expand on the person in my group who keeps FB only for the purpose of Buy Nothing... she is someone who joined right when the group started and has offered up lots of good stuff over that last several months. Let’s call her Pat. I think I mentioned above that I’d been a bit too hands-off with the group for a while, naively assuming that everyone would just automatically read the guidelines and follow them. Newsflash: hardly anybody does this. Drives me a bit bonkers, to be honest.

Anyway, sometime in March I decided I should start giving more guidance about how things should best be done to align with the Project rules and guidelines, both by making polite comments and modelling the desired behaviour. One of the biggest things is that people are strongly encouraged to not use “first come first served” as the standard way to give items. It’s best to allow some time for more than just the people who have ready access to their phones and notifications at all times to express interest in an item, and then choose a recipient based on whatever method the giver chooses (random draw, whoever asks the most politely, best haiku, etc.). It’s as much about building community as keeping things out of landfills.

So, right around this time, Pat posts an item to give away, and tells the first person who said they wanted it that she could have it. Several more people comment “interested” or “next please” and someone else commented “hey, there are rules here, it’s not first come first serve, right Step37!?” The comment came off a bit snippy (although I don’t think that was the intention) so I was pretty worried it was about to get ugly. I politely explained that it was a guideline that was encouraged, not a rule, and that each person can gift items as they see fit. Pat replied “that’s good, because it’s a lot more convenient to just take everything to Goodwill if selecting someone becomes a pain.” Again, not the most positive exchange.

I moved to private messaging with her and apologized for the post hijack, but explained that I was just trying to provide the feedback in the place it came up. I further explained the rationale behind allowing some time, offered suggestions on how to decide (she’d replied that she wasn’t comfortable about how to choose), thanked her for being a part of the group, and she thanked me for being the admin and was totally gracious about receiving the feedback. She said she only keeps FB for the group and was thinking of ditching it, and that I’d made her see things differently and reconsider. She made a big gratitude post the next day about something she had received in the group/the group itself. It was SUCH A POSITIVE interaction, and I’d felt so nervous writing to her in the first place. I was all warm and fuzzy and teary-eyed at how it turned out.

Much to my surprise, I have had very positive experiences when giving feedback in the group. This is good, because I’m not overly at all comfortable doing it. I think it says a lot about the types of people who join the groups: mostly kind, open-minded and community-minded.

So, @Dicey, this is my VERY long way of saying that you’d fit in so well in such a group. :)


MonkeyJenga

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8894
  • Location: the woods
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #11 on: June 11, 2019, 11:48:31 PM »
Iiiinteresting, I didn't even realize first come first serve wasn't recommended. I'll keep that in mind and give people a few days to respond when I post things.

Fresh Bread

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3370
  • Location: Australia
  • Insert dough/bread/crust joke
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #12 on: June 12, 2019, 01:44:44 AM »
I've applied to set one up now, so let's see what happens. I can't imagine I'd be any good at encouraging people to stick to the rules - 'the first to respond gets it' idea is pretty ingrained on other groups, even though it's not actually the rule on at least one of them. From experience, the first to say "sold!" can often be flaky as they haven't thought it through.

Dicey

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 22320
  • Age: 66
  • Location: NorCal
Re: Buy Nothing Project/Group
« Reply #13 on: June 12, 2019, 10:01:07 AM »
Just some thoughts...
I never go after anything that someone has put on the curb. Nope. Not taking a chance on driving somewhere and having it be gone. I think people who take this route tend to be lazy-ish and I tend to equate this with "people who don't take good care of their stuff".

I volunteer at the library. For a few years, I used to offer up interesting titles that were duplicates as a way of promoting our book sales on freecycle. "You can pick up your free books at the library book sale on Saturday from 10-5 or from my front porch, whichever is more convenient." <--See how I got a plug for the book sale in there? Diabolically clever, I know.

However, it led to a LOT of responses, which kinda stressed me out. Some people were super nice, some people were entitled jerks. I didn't really like having to sort through the answers to choose the best one. Fortunately, NextDoor came into existence in my area and pretty much killed freecycle. I don't give away books for free any more, just post the book sale on ND.

I am a longtime reader of The Non Consumer Advocate, and she swears by her Buy Nothing Group, so I am mightily tempted.