Should you join the “Buy Nothing Project”?

If you’re like our family, you need something to do to keep from going stir-crazy during this pandemic. Many of you are getting your home in order. — cleaning out the basement, garage, and junk drawers. You may find hard to part with some items that are still usable — but just not by your family anymore.

What do you do with the tennis rackets when you haven’t played in a decade? Or those old vinyl records that you would still enjoy listening to, but you know you’re not going to buy a turntable? Still have baby items but your youngest is now in college? Looking for a chair for your desk? Need a chain saw but don’t want to buy one to use just for one day?

Of course, you can donate items that have resale value. Or hold a garage sale. Or just toss them out. And you could just buy the tools you need even though you know you’ll rarely use them.

There is an alternative.

The Buy Nothing Project offers … a way to give and receive, share, lend, and express gratitude through a worldwide network of micro-local gift economies in which the true wealth is the web of connections formed between people who are real-life neighbors. Post anything you’d like to give away, lend, or share in this Buy Nothing community group. Ask for anything you’d like to receive for free or borrow.

Buy Nothing West Bloomfield, MI is for neighbors in West Bloomfield only. Boundaries are Cooley Lake Road & Cass Elizabeth Road to the north; Union Lake Road & Haggerty Road to the west; 14 mile to the south; and Inkster Road (south of Lone Pine Road) and Middlebelt (north of Lone Pine).

If you live elsewhere, you can find an official group near you at the Find A Group page.

The Buy Nothing Project has rules that all agree to abide by. Some of these are:

• “Keep it legal. Keep it civil.”
• Offer any goods or services you’d like to share, loan, or give away.
• Request any goods you’d like to borrow or keep.
• This is not for buying or selling items. No commercial postings are allowed.
• You can belong to only one Buy Nothing group. The idea is to
• More details and fine print can be found on the Mission and Rules page.

Learn more about the Buy Nothing Project at http://buynothingproject.org/

There’s no cost to join this Facebook group. You just must answer three questions to join the group — basically, to verify that you live in West Bloomfield and that you agree to the rules. No fees are collected. You can join to check them. If it’s not for you, you can drop out any time.

Only members can see who’s in the group and what they post. As with any other Facebook group, you can set your notification preferences.

Our own experience

We joined a few months ago and gave away a number of items that others wanted.

We had some baby items that the grandkids no longer need. We took a photo of a stroller, added a description, and posted it to the Facebook page. That took less than 10 minutes. Another member of the project saw the posting within a few hours and she sent us a private message through Facebook. We arranged a window of time when she could pick it up from our front porch. No contact was necessary.

It was fast and easy. And gratifying to know that a neighbor could make use of what we no longer needed. One more item gone from our basement. We decided it was so simple, so we listed a few other items. Likewise, they were gone quickly and without any hassle.

Your own results may vary depending on what you are offering — or looking for. Try it, make a neighbor happy, and keep good stuff from ending up in a landfill.

More info

Wikipedia article on the Buy Nothing Project

a global network of community-based groups, founded in 2013, that encourages giving (or recycling) of consumer goods and services in preference to conventional commerce. It began as a Facebook campaign and has built up local groups in the US and other countries with over 4,000 volunteers.

The project has groups worldwide. On a local level, each Buy Nothing Project group may contribute significantly to local waste prevention and waste reduction efforts.

The Buy Nothing Project encourages local communities to focus on improving the community in which they live and keep groups small and local to minimize distance travelled to pick up items.

Explore the map below to find any of the Buy Nothing Project groups in your own area. — Over 120 groups in Michigan.