Why you Need to Join your Local Buy Nothing Group
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Cleaning out your home and have things to get rid of? Need a new piece of furniture, but on a budget? You need to join your local Buy Nothing Group on Facebook right now. I mean, finish reading the article first, but, if you’re looking to save some money and save some items from being banished to the landfill all while getting more involved in your community…you definitely need to join a Buy Nothing Facebook group.
Why join another group?!
I used to be in a ton of resale groups on Facebook. I’d visit the groups throughout the day because items were often sold cheap and fast…and to the first person that would be able to type “interested!” in the comments before someone else did. Don’t get me wrong, I did score some awesome deals on those sites, but it was frustrating and, quite frankly, sometimes anxiety inducing just keeping up with the groups to make sure I didn’t miss out on something awesome. Don’t even get me started talking about claiming items, driving over to complete the purchase, and finding out the item was NOT as described or…even worse…reeked of cat pee (true story).
When I wasn’t purchasing items in these resale groups, I was selling items. It was nice to get a few extra bucks for selling items my family no longer needed, but…let me tell you…sometimes the effort put into making a sale actually happen was NOT worth it. Most of the sales went through without trouble, but SO many people wouldn’t show up as promised leaving me to put even more effort into trying to sell an item. Oh, and then there were the times people would agree to a price online, but, when we met in person, would try to haggle or get me to accept less claiming they “didn’t have exact change.” Um. No.
Why join another group? I can pretty much promise you, if your local buy nothing group is anything like mine, it will be a million times better than participating in a resale group. You probably won’t even miss getting pennies on the dollar for the action figures your kids are done playing with. So, while it might initially be a pain in the butt to join yet another Facebook group, trust me. The Buy Nothing group is a group you WANT to be in.
How do Buy Nothing groups work?
So, let me tell you how the Buy Nothing Groups work. They’re nothing like the resale groups. The Buy Nothing Project is a grassroots project, completely run by volunteers. Now, you could read the official criteria for membership, but I’m going to tell you about how it works in my group (which, really, will be similar to other groups.
Ok, so, there is no money to be exchanged in the Buy Nothing Groups. You can barter, give, or ask for anything, or any service, with the individuals in your community. Yes, your community. You won’t be driving an hour to pick up a bike or have someone asking you to ship your item to them three states away. Buy Nothing Groups are location-specific and you are allowed to be ONLY in the group for the town in which you live.
Remember those feelings of being bummed when you missed out on a super awesome item in the resale group because you weren’t fast enough to comment? That won’t be happening in the Buy Nothing Facebook Groups. No sir!
When you list an item or service as a “give” in your Buy Nothing Group, you are asked to wait at least 24 hours before making a decision as to which person gets that item or service. Why? Because Buy Nothing groups encourage community building and actually getting to know your neighbor instead of just letting the person with the fastest typing fingers (for lack of a better word) “win.”
If you have an item to give, you can ask interested group members to tell you how they’d use that item or even ask them to tell you a funny joke or share their favorite recipe. It’s totally up to you. Then, after 24 hours have passed, you choose a person. Fun, right? I totally love that the Buy Nothing Groups encourage building relationships within the community – it’s been a refreshing change from the cutthroat resale groups.
How do I find my local Buy Nothing group?
Oh, I can help with that! To find your local Buy Nothing Facebook group, you can either do a quick search on Facebook for “Buy Nothing” and the name of your town, but you can also find a directory of all the groups here. Since there are some towns without groups and even some towns with multiple groups (for instance, my town has an “east” and “west” version), I would definitely check out the link provided in the last sentence.
If you don’t see a group for your town, you might consider starting your own group! If you would like information on starting your own Buy Nothing Facebook group, you can find all that information on this page.
You’ll love it!
I hope this article has helped to open your eyes to how awesome the Buy Nothing groups on Facebook can be! It’s just one of many ways that I am able to both save money for my family and give back to the community I grew up in and am now raising my own kids in. As soon as I hit “publish” on this article, I’m heading off to box up some of the children’s books we no longer need for a community member who manages a local Free Little Library! No surprise, I found her in my Buy Nothing group!
