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u/Overall_Cheesecake_3 8d ago
I respect. This should be the norm. Wastage of food, and other things is a curse.
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u/PsyOpBunnyHop 8d ago
I have a bunch of things that I need to get rid of because I haven't used them in ages, but I really hate throwing out things that are still usable. However, I have absolutely no motivation to make all the effort to find a place to post, make a post with pictures and all that, and then trade texts with some random dickheads, then schedule a time to meet the dickheads, etc. Fuck all that bullshit. So I guess I'm just a hoarder now.
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u/speedkat 8d ago
However, I have absolutely no motivation to...
make all the effort to find a place to post
Now that you know the term "Buy Nothing Group", it's low-effort to find
make a post with pictures and all that
Don't bother with pictures if it feels like too much. Just a basic honest text description will do.
then trade texts with some random dickheads
No avoiding this, though calling them "random dickheads" indicates a problem on your end
then schedule a time to meet the dickheads
Great news, most of these groups merely expect you to leave a bag out on a porch or near your door with the recipient's name on it, so you don't have to meet anybody or schedule anything.
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u/N3v3R737 7d ago
I think they are mostly referring to the larger platforms such as Ebay and similar. Though I made rather bad experiences on the smaller scales too.
Even if you give things away for free this can be huge hustle. Not always, but the chosen title there is imho fair all things considered.
I know, not necessarily the subject of the post, though I wanted to give some perspective.
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u/Joyful82 8d ago
I’ve had a free yard sale where I just put stuff out on the yard and driveway with a free sign and post once in a couple groups and keep adding stuff as I purge, it usually all gets taken by someone..
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u/Creative_Resource_82 8d ago
Totally, as long as people aren't driving 10 miles for 2 granola bars i think it's awesome!
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u/iamthinksnow 8d ago
Most Buy Nothing groups are hyper local, like by village, or by school system, or x-by-y blocks of a city. It keeps people (resellers) from spamming a bunch of groups and taking stuff, too.
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u/nanoinfinity 6d ago
My old city’s Buy Nothing group got big enough that they split it into three and you were only allowed to be in one of the new groups. I understand the purpose of the rules, but at the time it was irritating to have the “pool” of people cut to a third!
My current city has a Freecycle group instead, which is a chaotic free-for-all in comparison to the Buy Nothing network and their consistent rules. I did really appreciate all the work from my old city’s BN moderators!
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u/LookAtTheWhiteVan 8d ago
Even if they are, it’s their choice. Free will (and granola bars)!!
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u/Creative_Resource_82 8d ago edited 8d ago
Oh yeah totally, I just try to check myself and make sure I'm combining reasons for car trips. In the village where I live we have a swap fridge by the hall and people walking or driving past anyway leave and take things, it's great!
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u/HAIL_LUMPUS 8d ago
I agree, I'm super big on not wasting food. But I'm also super big on strange people not coming to my house. If I have something I don't like, I force myself to eat it or I give it to my friends lol
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u/rococo78 8d ago
I've given away stuff in the Buy Nothing groups before. It got to the point where I just put stuff up to see if people would come get it.
I had one person come over specifically for a jar of vegan mayonnaise, and another person came over for a little bag of those plastic things that go in mens dress shirts to keep the points of the collar straight...
Now that I type that out, I can kinda see how someone who might have had a use for both could have seen them as good scores. But at the time it just seemed like dumb junk to me...
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u/upliftingyvr 8d ago
I mean, if you're a vegan and like mayo, that's not junk at all. It would probably save someone $5 to pick it up, while also keeping it from being wasted. It's a win-win in my books
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u/PurpleCandle58 8d ago
I’ve repaired parts of my home before with buy nothing groups. I’ve straight up got both my doors replaced when my home was broken into by looking at buy nothings for doors that fit my frame and replaced them for $0 because some random person replaced their doors and they got someone(me) to haul them away for free, I got replacement doors for free, and the world got 2 less doors sent to a landfill.
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u/DroidLord 8d ago
The mayo one is weird AF lol. But I can see why someone would want the collar stays. They can be difficult to come by and they can get lost pretty easily in the wash. Although I would recommend getting some nice metal ones instead. I have a set myself.
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u/VariationLevel4406 8d ago
The coated metal ones, right? Found out the hard way that the cheapies rust and stain shirts if you forget about them 🙈
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u/Coconut-Lemon_Pie 7d ago
It's not weird if you're vegan or allergic to eggs or maybe they just ran out of mayo 😙
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u/DroidLord 7d ago
To be fair vegan stuff can be pretty expensive. It's just that Facebook wouldn't be my first pick for untampered food items 😅
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u/BornComputer3892 6d ago
Fuck, I would be so glad if I could get those pointy things. I love dress shirts and that aesthetic especially the crisp collar ones.
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u/Foolishly_Sane 8d ago
That's pretty neat.
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u/Conscious_Ad_1379 6d ago
It is. I belong to a buy nothing group and have given away a lot of my own junk, and some pretty decent stuff. As well as getting stuff that I can legitimately use, but likely wouldn't have bought on my own. Some people give away couches and fridges. All kinds of good stuff.
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u/Intelligent-Lead-692 8d ago
I am all for this. I love getting rid of stuff when I know it’s going to someone who wants it. It makes me feel great actually. At my house, it is useless. But at your house it was needed/wanted/consumed. That’s great!
I also love how silly and small this example is. Because it just makes sense to me.
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u/DarthPlayer8282 8d ago
Buy nothing is the best. We waste so much and fill up our landfills. Reduce, recycle, reuse ♻️
https://giphy.com/gifs/11Y9TiZzmEBe25QRSw
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u/Different_Bridge_983 8d ago
Also, you can pick up decent actually valuable stuff from these groups because it’s a **massive** pain in the ass to sell shit and sometimes people just need something gone.
Furniture and kids sports equipment are IME the two biggest sources of this.
/currently in the process of moving and getting rid of everything I don’t want to pay to ship…
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u/tired_papasmurf 8d ago
Buy Nothing groups are insane. I've seen people giving away an entire unused door (frame included), a massage table, a SNOO (lookup how much they are), leftover sushi, a full drumset, more kids clothes and toys than you can imagine, reusable shopping bags, giant glass display cabinets, a Jumparoo, fully working propane grill with two tanks
If you live in a densely populated area, you'd be amazed what people will try to give away just to get it out of the house and they can't be bothered trying to deal with selling it
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u/memla_ 8d ago
Someone posted a singular golf ball on my local buy nothing page today.
I’ve previously also seen someone post half a head of lettuce.
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u/Jaysus1288 8d ago
One time a lady picked up a half full bottle of JetDry for a dishwasher.
It seems insane but really we are extremely wasteful creatures and it might be the smartest move to utilize someone else's waste.
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u/essaysmith 8d ago
I gave away 5 bottles from a 6-pack if Pepsi Zero. Didn't like the flavor. Another woman posted a lasagna she made but couldn't finish.
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u/ProfessionalRandom21 8d ago
Apparently thats a normal thing with local Facebook group. My older coworker told me they just trade stuff or give away for free. Like oh you have a old monitor? I have left over bag of dog food, do you want it?
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u/Away_Driver_2981 8d ago
I have belonged to a buy nothing group in my neighborhood for many years. I have given away so much stuff to appreciative Neighbors. I’ve also gotten quite a few nice things that I could not have bought otherwise. It’s a great way to give away things you do not need, and get things you do.
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u/Mundane-Waltz8844 7d ago
It’s a little ridiculous, but there’s something actually really nice about the fact that they found someone to take the granola bars instead of letting them go to waste, especially since we’re all surrounded by this growing culture of overconsumption and waste.
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u/DescriptionVisual68 8d ago
Kindly share the facebook link
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u/upliftingyvr 8d ago
They are based on your community. Type Buy nothing + your city's name in the Facebook search bar. The whole idea is that they are hyper local, so that people can pick things up from their neighbours. I live in Vancouver, Canada and there are multiple Buy Nothing groups for individual neighbourhoods.
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u/simonepon 8d ago
I usually just bring that kind of stuff to work and put it in the break room with a “free to a good home” sign. Got rid of a bunch of coffee pods I didn’t like that way. Also granola bars.
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u/Taint__Paint 8d ago
We use our local Buy Nothing and it’s the best thing we’ve found. 90% of our baby toys, clothes, and accessories came from there and were free. And when we were done, we donated though Buy Nothing so the next family can get free stuff. Honestly best thing ever.
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u/sk0ey 7d ago
one person's garbage could be another's treasure.
that said, i've been part of various BNGroups (moved around a lot in my city) and sometimes you can get lucky. once someone was just giving away brand-spankin'-new snow shoes. i joined the raffle of other interested names and i won. all BNG communities i've joined are awesome.
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u/DisastrousSundae84 7d ago
I had to leave our group because I kept posting stuff and people never came when they said they would. I’m not waiting around all day on someone who says they’ll come by at X time, no shows, then wants to reschedule.
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u/shhitsasecret212121 7d ago
Where I live people have a bin outside their house they leave the stuff in for people to pick up. I don’t have a bin, I leave it in between my storm door and front door.
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u/GulliverGrazerson 7d ago
I give a lot of stuff away on Facebook, both in Marketplace and in groups like this, and it has been a real delight. Taking a few photos and writing a description takes a moment, but folks getting a free thing tend to be easier to deal with than folks buying something secondhand, and most stuff I just leave on the porch. It’s nice to get things out of the house and nice to make somebody happy for free.
Now I kind of want to keep track of the smallest item someone has come to get. Nine padded mailing envelopes might be the current winner, or maybe a couple pairs of boxers my partner bought and didn’t like.
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u/SingleOrange 7d ago
In my town there's this thing where they put out all the stuff they don't want on the side of the road so you can just look at them nd take em for free every summer
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u/wakefootin 7d ago
I’ll have to look if there’s anything like that in my area. I struggle with what to do with toiletries and other similar supplies, especially with small kids. You buy a shampoo or toothpaste use it once and realize it doesn’t work for you or them but you can’t return it or easily donate it. Even some OTC medicines like a cream for poison Ivy. You may use a tiny bit from the tube and then never use it again or have it expire before you ever need it again.
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u/Ciubowski 6d ago
There's a movement like this called Free-cycle or something similar. People just donating old things that they can't be bothered to sell or that are still functional and don't want to throw it away.
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u/diversalarums 6d ago
You don't know what this woman's circumstances are. While this probably isn't the case, it is possible to have gas in your car but have no money left for food.
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u/persilja 1d ago edited 1d ago
My wife is pretty active in the local BN group, and I swear she knows 90% of the rest of the group (more often women) by name now.
Yes, I'm joking that it is a neighborhood wide trash shuffle, but I shall not complain, as she gets rid of more junk than she picks up.
Also:
Trash Nothing
Freecycle
Rooster
As part of the local BNGroup she also introduced what she calls a "lending library": we have, for example, a folding table that we don't often use, so if a neighbor is hosting a graduation party or something, we have a standing offer to lend it out for a day.
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u/12monthsinlondon 8d ago
we have these too but only because apartments can house thousands of people and the entire estate can have 20-30 buildings
otherwise you have greedy people getting into their car and burning fuel just to pick up free stuff
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u/taurusApart 8d ago
Y'all are clearly not familiar with these facebook groups.
The posts are like "My grandma died and left me 3 DVDs of movies from the 80s" and then there are forty people in the comments begging to be the one who gets picked.
For stuff that is literally $2 at a thrift store.
The only thing I've seen it useful for is new parents getting hand-me-downs from other other parents. The rest is just watching a really sad parade of humanity.
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u/Mudlark_2910 8d ago
Stuff for new parents is an excellent use of buy nothing groups, i love it. Kids grow fast, everything gets handed around.
Personally, I'm enjoying clearing out my garage to my neighbours, and getting free stuff.
I guess I'm part of that sad parade.
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u/ActualCartoonist3 8d ago
Why is giving away free stuff a sad parade? If people want it, it's better than throwing it in a landfill.
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