Buy Nothing Project

A few months ago, I came across a group on Facebook called "Buy Nothing (my area)". I decided to join and see what it was all about.

The premise of Buy Nothing is to gift items to people that are local to you. It could be something new, something old, something recycled.  If you have it, and want to get rid of it you offer it up on the site.  People will then respond under your post if they are interested and answer anything you have asked.  You then have the chance to go through and decide who you would like to gift your item to,

I have been able to gift many books, some kitchen items, clothing my children have outgrown, craft supplies, a diaper bag and more.  It is nice to know that items I no longer have need for can find a new home.  There are some items I have that I still sell (I need to re-coup the cost sometimes), but I find it easy to list on the Buy Nothing site.  I don't really need to worry about what condition the item is in, I don't have to worry about people haggling over price.

I have also been gifted quite a few items - pirate outfit for my son when we go to Disney, books, clothing for the kids and some DVD tv series as well!

Some of the rules are a little strict (no selling, no trading/bartering, and you should be writing out in plain english instead of using acronyms) but they are easy enough to abide by. The one that took me the longest to get used to was no outside links or mentioning where to buy something.  It is habit when I see someone asking about an item, to mention where it can be found.

Having a local Buy Nothing group has been wonderful, especially with the #40bags40days project I have been working on.  I have been able to fill up bags of items I don't need/want anymore and list them on the site, and most have been picked up within a day or so.  When you are selling items, it can take longer than that sometimes and when you want the clutter gone, the faster the better!

Do you have a local Buy Nothing site? What do you do with items you don't need/want anymore?

This is NOT a sponsored post. It is a group I am a part of and find it quite helpful, so wanted to pass along to my readers in case they are interested in joining in their local one!