Live for Free and Don’t Buy Anything
Many months ago, my wife bought a pair of fancy cowboy boots. The boots were undoubtedly cool, but they had been in their box for years: untouched, unloved, often forgotten. When she finally decided to sell the shoes, we were quickly and rudely reminded that selling your old clothes is a huge problem, not to mention some oppression. It usually looks like this:
- Create a listing, turn it into a flawless sales pitch.
- Research prices by scanning other posts offering boots for sale realize that there are many boots for sale. The regret about the download is real.
- Get an offer! To accept the offer.
- Get a shopper ghost. Repeat two or three times.
- Get a real offer! Pack your boots. The slap is being loaded into the UPS.
- Imagine you put in 12 hours of work to make $ 20.
Not only is it painful to sell old stuff, not to mention that it is totally not worth it from a financial point of view, the fact that there are so many platforms out there that you can do it speaks for itself. Simply put, we all have too many things and it can take a lot of effort to get rid of them responsibly. At the same time, we are all drowning in debt, but we continue to buy things, because this is how civilization is built – it is a machine designed to take our money and make us want more. The resulting clutter is taking its toll on our mental health , especially when the rise of telecommuting and hybrid work has left many of us feeling trapped in our increasingly crowded homes.
If that describes your relationship with things – if you have a garage or warehouse full of things you no longer need and / or don’t have the funds to buy things you really need – there is a better way.
Don’t buy anything instead
The “ Buy Nothing ” project (which, oddly enough, has absolutely no official relation to “Buy Nothing” Day ) was launched in 2013, but the “gift economy” has always existed. What has changed is the emergence of platforms that make it easier for people to interact. The idea is simple: using Facebook groups or websites like Freecycle.org (which is divided into local message boards targeting specific areas or municipalities), people post material they want to get rid of. When someone contacts them, they negotiate a transfer. People can also post requests for things they want instead of waiting for something to appear on message boards.
As Fortune notes , the gift economy got a huge boost during the pandemic isolation, when people simultaneously discovered how many things they had and how reluctant they were to go to overcrowded stores. Between March 2020 and January 2021, Buy Nothing added 1.5 million members, and Freecycle.org reported a 100 percent increase in activity on their site over the same period.
What do people give? Everything. Clothes, dishes, food, furniture, leftover materials for repairs, baby products, books – literally everything you can think of is being given away for free right now. People also offer and request skills. For example, if you enjoy collecting furniture from Ikea (some find it in the spirit of Zen), you might suggest doing it for the people in your area. All you have to do is join the platform. There are usually a few basic rules: you cannot offer or solicit illegal items, you are not allowed to bully or insult people, and you can never expect any kind of compensation – this is not barter , this is giving back. For this reason, you are also generally discouraged from pointing out that you were going to drop the item anyway, or calling the sentences “limited time” or “first come first served”. The idea is that you are giving something to the neighbor, not throwing the trash out of the house.
The main way of interaction is through local groups, which are usually associated with a dedicated Facebook group. There are also apps for iOS and Android . Once you’ve created your profile, you can post Gives (offering a product or service), Asks (asking for what you need), or Gratulations (giving thanks for your help). You are encouraged to post on social media about this to develop the community (the more people donate, the better), but this is not required. To get the most out of the community, you will likely need to join a “hyperlocal” Facebook group associated with your area, or create one if one doesn’t exist.
In Freecycle, you can check local publications without creating an account, but in order to publish items or claim rights to things, you need to register with the website . You specifically join the board for your area or city (or create one if it doesn’t exist). It’s not as smooth as the BuyNothing app, but there is a solid membership.
As you can imagine, the ability to give whatever you have, cluttering up your attic or crawling space, can quickly turn intoxicating – it’s like the strangest superpower in the world, and it can turn people’s heads. An incomplete list of some of the weird things people have given out include:
- A can of pickled juice (“I just really like pickled juice, ” the applicant explained , which seems reasonable)
- A lint dryer that can be used to build a fire or as a bedding for small pets.
- A half-eaten birthday cake, which, frankly, should be in a dedicated app that provides this service, right?
If you lean towards that, Buy Nothing is a lifestyle that never goes to waste – or at least only gets wasted when absolutely no one can figure out how to use it.
Benefits of not buying anything
The benefits of the gift economy are clear. First, you can get rid of the clutter without the stress and hassle of temporarily becoming the world’s worst small business owner. You also get access to a lot of free stuff, which you can literally get for the price of a walk or a few blocks. You will save time, stress and money.
But you are also doing good for the world because you cut waste and limit overconsumption. Instead of throwing old things in the trash (which is, let’s face it, the easiest thing for most of us), you make someone else’s life a little better. And when you’re looking for a used item, instead of buying a new one, you also don’t throw the packaging in landfills – we all got a package from Amazon that put a tiny product in a huge box and then filled the empty space with plastic bubbles. …
Equally important are the less tangible benefits. The first is social and local activities: you will meet people in your area and connect with your neighbors. You will feel like you are helping people and getting help in return – an old-fashioned sense of community. The psychological consequences of buying anything cannot be significant.
Of course, if everyone went to buy nothing, the global economy would collapse and suddenly we would all be fighting for our lives in some kind of hunger game. But at least we’ll get those damn boots out of the closet.