Introduce Yourself

Hello all. I'm in Buffalo, NY. Right now I'm pretty good at Repurposing and really good at Repair. I'd like to learn new skills, perhaps do repairs for others not as handy, give away things I don't need and maybe pick up a few freebies. Maybe even win a copy of The book.

Hi, I live in Shaler, in Pittsburgh Pa. I love this idea of buy nothing. I am a real bargain hunter, and a DIYer. My friend hate my house because it is a mess with junk. I don't think it's junk. I tell them "I may need it some day". OR better yet "you may need it some day". I hate throwing away anything even if it is broke you can find a piece from it that may fit something else that is broke. Nothing is a total loss. And if I do go to the store to search for bargains. I get bargains no one believes. I just bought jeans for four of my friends, marked down from $29 to $1. and the same day I got tops for myself for summer from $12.99 to $29. and they were $1 each also. Sometime I get so excited, I actually sweat. I have a bag of broken jewelry here that I am going to take all apart and make new stuff with and another bag of broken Christmas ornaments to fix and make new again. Nothing goes in my garbage can. I am so excited to be here. So glad I found you. I have lots of things here to GIVE just have to get the pictures going. Love you all already. Have a wonderful day. Get a jar and collect all those funny looking do-dads you don't know what they are. You never know what they can be!

Happy Giving, Saving, DIYing, Happy Happy Happy Day

Donna Baldinger

😍

I'm from a rural area in Southwest Iowa,a bachelor I have inherited my family's stuff when I purchased the ancestral home. Hopefully I can make an impact on my local area by using the tools I am reading about in the book. It's important to preserve our environment by not continuing unbridled consumerism.

Hello! My name is Erin. I’ve actually just got to the Introduction to Buy Nothing part of the book. I’m feeling really hopeful and excited and warm thinking about this challenge and change of mindset. I’m all too often thinking of the next thing I can buy and where I’ll get the money to do so. Experiencing and going on this journey may just be the best thing for me and my mentality. I’ve already related so much with the comments of having no sense of self and wanting to identify with stuff coinciding. I’m in therapy, but this felt more therapeutic than my recent sessions. Thank you for this forum and for this opportunity to connect!

Sending gratitude and admiration for creating such a brilliant organization. Just finished your book. Wow! Many dream of doing good, but few put it into action.

I have been living a minimalist lifestyle for many years now. My husband and I recently moved from New York to Los Angeles with all we own in a Jeep Liberty. For weeks prior to the move I placed many items on the driveway with a FREE, TAKE IT! sign. It has gotten easy for me to shed possessions because I have learned, as you have, that material goods can be gotten cheaply or free if you are willing to use second hand stuff.

I don't want to bore you with my story, but after getting rid of everything I was incredibly free... but free to do what?? This is where the beauty of your program comes in. We connect in unhealthy ways with stuff, food, and millions of addictive activities because we don't connect with one another.

I joined a BUYNOTHING group and can't wait to get involved. I have never actually met a person who shares my values! I've read books, blogs, and listened to podcasts about such people, but don't know any in real life. My friends and family regard my choices with tolerance and amusement, but I know they don't relate. Thank you for creating this community.

May the beautiful impact you make on the world continue to ripple.

Hello I'm Djuana from Houston and just joined the group. I have some food items in multiples thanks to the rush of food shortage here in Houston. Looking through my house I discovered 2 books that I've read and think someone else might like reading.

Hi everyone! So glad to be here! I just did a post recently on the first of the R's, that I live by and that's Rethink. I started counting how many clothes I owned and where they came from. I created my 7R mantra while living in Bangkok, Thailand seeing the state of beaches and over-consumption literally on every street corner. Together with mindfulness and meditation, I have been able to reduce our lives to the bare minimum, so we returned from Thailand last year with 4 suitcases and 5 boxes (mainly books and some clothes). In my recent Insta post I reflected on how many pieces of clothes I own and where they came from.... Swap till you Drop community in Bangkok, second hand, friends... I came across 4 pieces, which I bought from a local weaving community during my travels... I really want to support local, if I do purchase something.

I grew up in Communist Germany, where I learned to grow my own food, repair and become a big DIY fan. After the Wall came down I spent 10 years in the US, which shocked me to the core .... I actually become obsessed with buying stuff during that time, but glad to have returned to my roots ever since. I think Thailand really was a wake-up call in terms of how I wanted to live and integrated that into my classroom. So proud of my students for becoming mindful consumers, some even minimalists, urban farmers and more. Truly believe that planting seeds in education can change our current world in so many ways.... empathy, kindness, art, music, happiness is what humanity needs....

My 7R's: rethink, reduce, refuse, reuse, repair, (recycle) and rot.... it worked well for me in Bangkok and following it in Barcelona as well.... growing a community of like-minded people here.

Showing my students on how to make soap from used cooking oil.... missing them a lot!

Hi I am Chauncey I live in NC. I am currently declutter and as I do I have been sending out some awesome gifts to my friends, so technically I bought the stuff but it has been in my house for a long time.

I also do something that I think is cool - I send real postcards to my friends on a regular basis.

Hi Liz! So excited that the book arrived for you today. That's great to hear, as we had heard that there would be delays due to C-19. And, yes, all watersheds eventually head to the sea. I learned this doing work on landlocked Nepal high in the Himalayas and seeing the trash from villages rushing down the streams and rivers into the lowlands and beyond. Thanks so much for joining this forum.

I am not a 'great' online shopper, but I managed to order more than one copy of the book, and they arrived today. I am eager to get into the book, and to learn about 'The Plan.' I live in the beautiful Issaquah Creek watershed. Our storm drains say 'Puget Sound Starts Here,' as a reminder that we are stewards of water that flows from here to Lake Sammamish, and then to Lake Washington, and then to Lake Union, and then.... to Puget Sound. That's the short version of a 49+ mile long story!

Hello from New York - I have been in a buy nothing group for over five years. I am the person in the community that people drop items to because they do not know what to do with it or lack time to share. I like to share it around by setting up in my living room or back yard then people come shop. I am here to learn more about a gift economy and get ideas.

Thank you, Carolyn, for your poignant words. I so agree with how important it is to remember the good in things, in this climate, as too often the vocal minority, who like to insult and demean, set the tone. Rebecca and I often feel that talking about "Buying Nothing" can bring such anger and misunderstanding from people. And so we pick ourselves up each day and try to explain again how non-consumerism has shaped our lives for the better. Although I grew up a generation after you, my parents' and family's ethic was similar to your upbringing, yet very different from most of my friends' experiences and, interestingly, I'm longing for those days again, have tried to raise my own children with the same values of making things and growing things from scratch, using simple machines, not being dependent upon the "grid" because too often we can't use it anyway with the constant power outages we have in the winters here. Now we're all making do with what we have right in our cupboards, shelves and refrigerators until they're close to bare, due to this pandemic and it's an instant lesson in learning to make things stretch as long as we can, and finding value and use in everything, rather than tossing it.

Thank you so much for that extraordinary sobering personal life perspective! 👏

Hello, I'm Carolyn Overcash from NC. I'm now retired; therefore, I'm probably older than some in this group.

I have used the rolling blade push mower that is people-powered, a scrub board and tin tub, helped dig a hole for an outhouse, helped move it, and filled in the <gasp, gross> hole with dirt. I have felled trees, cut and stacked wood, hauled coal, cleaned wood or coal stoves. Then again, I have helped build buildings, roofed houses, painted the inside and outside of homes. I have hauled water from a creek and pulled a bucket from a well. I have hung clothes on a clothesline that then freeze before you get finished hanging the rest of the clothing in the basket. I learned to scratch cook at my mother's side. You planned the next meal based on what you were fixing now. I learned to hem, sew, repair tears, and sew on buttons.

Growing up in a family of six, we super reused things. Our home was multigenerational with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who were sometimes living in our family's home. My sisters and I shared a bedroom with one grandma. Money was tight; both parents were disabled. We learned to repurpose or reuse lots of things.

My mom did Marie Kondo, and Swedish Death cleaning before the authors that wrote of these systems were even born. If you did not want or need something, you found someone who did. If you could do without something, and someone had a real need, you gave them what they needed.

When I got married, everything I owned fit in a medium suitcase, except for my winter coat.

After marriage, when my daughter was small, we used cloth diapers, not disposable. Cannot even find them in a store now, think of the savings to a young family. You can still get them online.

In June, hubby and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, we have been in our 1925 built house for over 44 years. We have been turning the home, built for active health mill workers, into a home for retirees with physical limitations.

Aside from my moral compass, which springs from my faith, I would recommend that everyone watch the movie "Pay It Forward." No matter where we are in our life's journey, we can always offer someone a helping hand.

In today's climate of bashing and fault finding, I have to remember to look for the good and make sure that I am not an anchor dragging someone down. I wake up each day with a prayer of thankfulness; things could always be worse.

Hello and thanks for this opportunity to join your movement! I too was born in the 40's and have always been of the mindset of "waste not, want not" as was drilled into me by my parents. And I'm proud of being that way ....even though others have called me a packrat. I've been able to use a lot of the saved items to fix, improvise or otherwise make use of them. After I retired from my (scientific) profession I worked several years with a team "deconstructing" houses and selling the used materials for reuse. I loved it. Hated to see houses and all their contents dumped in a landfill and we got so good we could salvage about 80% of a house. I've been washing and reusing plastic bags since I was in my 20's and my latest version of that is to take all those Amazon bags and use them as temporary "pots" when transplanting or giving away garden plants. Enough said already! I'm delighted to join this group and look forward to the book and the many tips I'll pick up and share along the way.

I live on the outskirts of Melbourne, I’ve ordered two books, one for myself and one for my co-admin. We are a relatively new BN group and I was having a fine old time using and applying the BN philosophy to our steadily growing community. It was a bit of a shock when the BN founders changed all the parameters around stewarding our group, and an even GREATER shock when we found ourselves in the middle of a global pandemic with ‘frivolous‘ gifting suspended!! 😂 No template for that!!

Needless to say the last little while has been spent finding our feet and deciding how we want to walk from here on in, at least in the middle term! I’m starting to get a sense of the possibilities, beyond materialism. It’s fleeting sometimes and hard like trying to exercise a muscle that has atrophied... or remembering a dream.

I (I’m the one the right, the one on the left is coadmin Annie Rees)

feel we have an unprecedented opportunity to change our ways and really truly buy nothing and get everything!

Hello all! I just recently discovered the buy nothing project and am very excited to learn more about this and to be a part of this community. Reducing waste, reusing and recycling are all a big part of my lifestyle. I have been all about decluttering and a minimalist lifestyle for the past 7 years. It's amazing how much stuff accumulates and I am constantly giving things away. I also have a small farm and do my best to apply these principles there as well. Waste not, want not 🙂 Happy to meet you all.

Thanks for joining us, Mary!

Wonderful! Thanks for the good energy here 😍

Thanks so much for joining us, Pat! I can identify with your discomfort with waste. My mother is very frugal and uses up everything in the household, many things that she uses are items she received around the time when she and my father got married, some 60 years or so ago. I love the pride she has in showing off these well-made useful items she would never dream of tossing. I love that you articulate how giving can fit into our current consumer culture, and provide joy. Thank you so much for participating in the Buy Nothing movement. We feel like we're at the very beginning of something that each of us can contribute toward growing worldwide, simply refusing to buy so much stuff.

Hi all, I live in a small town just outside of Ottawa, Canada. I was born in the forties and my parents were old enough to easily have been grandparents to many of my friends. Given the times they grew up in, the mindset/culture in my family was to reuse and recycle pretty much everything one possibly could. Not being born into a consumer culture I have always felt uncomfortable with waste, with single use items, and with here-today gone-tomorrow purchases. Giving is an antidote to that discomfort - a joyous act. Supporting the Buy Nothing Project is one thing I can do to help reduce waste, and return joy to people's lives.

Together, we ARE best, Katylin. Absolutely beautiful introduction! I'm so grateful to have met you in person so now I know the face, expression, and gestures that come with your beautiful words, which are a gift unto themselves. So excited to continue on this journey together!

Hello! I am Katylin. I am married to MrJ and we steward and parent two boys, Enoch and Seraphim. Over the years, I had set aside my own identity as when I married MrJ I took on his whole name, watch out 1950's you don't have anything on me! I am officially Mrs.J but you can call me Katylin. I often use our initials as I want to be actively reminded that ALL the time I give to others, no matter the medium, from Facebook to volunteering in person, is time away from my family.

Our icon is our initials wrought in iron stamps. For me, they represent the strength and steadfastness that our family holds. Our family is more than just the parts ὂλος we are holism, and that is why we as a family choose to live with a giving economy being at the forefront of our family's actions. When we reuse we are saving an item from being recycled (which time has shown most items are not actually recycled). When we give freely we are open to receiving what will fill that new space as well as creating new bonds with others. When we repurpose we are saving our resources and ultimately a little sliver of the world for our children's children.

I grew up in a powerful concrete city, plastered and pounding with bulletin board ads, excitedly selling a single serving, completely disposable 21st-century digital world, bigger, harder, faster, more more more... But in the middle of culture's shopping-as-a-pastime-frenzy, over the television, the radio, the newspaper, and magazines I could hear a soft but steady voice say, "none of this will bring you joy. None of this will bring you happiness, peace, or lasting pleasure.  None of this will define you. Do not store your treasures here." Leaving my city of angels for the emerald city of rain, I powerfully and intently changed the way I lived. I never dreamed that my love of scrimping, saving, repurposing, patching, repairing, thrifting, homesteading, sharing, asking, borrowing, reused gifting, passing along, handing down, recycling up, dumpster diving, city gleaning, pea gardens growing, and on-&-off the playa living )'(  would be a movement that would "both spark joy" and "build community". All of these practices were organically found in the Buy Nothing Project for me.  Here in the Buy Nothing Project, I have found my tribe. We together can change the way we think, the way we live and ultimately effectually change our neighborhood and community by giving. Giving our time, giving our things, sharing our lives, sharing this evident truth, that together we are best.

Hello world! I am a fan of the Buy Nothing movement because I see how much stuff we all tend to accumulate (and some of us hoard) and see a lot of value in using this stuff as a tool to build community (something unique to the BNProject) so I am happy to be part of this wonderful movement. Giving to my community (which is still very much a fledgling BN community at this point) is a real challenge because in my country, people tend to think of asking for something as meaning that you can't afford it or you would just buy it. I don't know maybe I need to post the "this is not a charity" reminder to my neighbours once a month or bump it as often as needed until people understand it's good to ask!

Needless to say, three and a half years (almost four I think) later...I find that I have not yet given away a lot of stuff but I did make wonderful connections each time I did manage to give away something (or ask for something that was given) because I kept in mind the idea of this movement being about strengthening your community ties...and so even though the giving might be slow, I am not giving up hope. :)

I have minimised my buying habits a lot because of the BN Project and the BN7 challenge - although I didn't really come to BN looking for that kind of advice. I do tend to have a DIY streak in me - that's something I have practised even before the BNProject came to being - and it's wonderful to connect with people of like mind. I remember creating a makeshift spoon holder out of wires in our old kitchen...one of my first DIY projects...it was kinda clunky-looking but it served its purpose. These days I diy my own toothpaste and deodorant regularly and am always learning of new things I can do from the BNProject community which keeps me coming back even though I may never be able to try them all!

Hello! my name is Katherine and I live just outside Richmond, VA. I have five kids and we have a lot of STUFF! I like to pretend I am a minimalist but I have a very hard time getting rid of things that we may use or that might end up in the landfill. I know the solution to this is buying less but with all these small children they like to make use of all these spare parts in ways that make me a little... claustrophobic? Clutterphobic? Is that a thing? I don't know. I'd love to make Buying Nothing a more intentional practice and not just never throwing anything away (I'm not a hoarder I promise) and rather use things or give them to people to use if I cannot.

Also being a bit more patient and asking and then waiting for things or solutions to come to me would be a great habit to get into rather than needing something NOW or needing it gone NOW. I need some real life simmer practice? Thanks for this space!

Hello! I’m Kristina and I live in San Diego, CA. I enjoy repurposing and upcycling things into something new and purposeful. I also like refinishing furniture ... a lot of my furniture is second hand with new life from me. My favorite thing to repurpose is anything that can be used in the garden - you’d be amazed at what can become a vessel for plants!

Hello all! The past years of my life have been about finding ways to live more sustainably and maximizing the use of existing stuff. And the more I dig the more cool information I find. And I'm all about building community, especially a community of people who have the same ideas. In many of my communities I engage in I feel like my ideas are considered weird or strange but I keep doing them. But this kind of community there are always people doing even weirder and stranger stuff than I do. Of course it isn't really weird or strange at all! It's amazing how many skills and how much knowledge we're losing to a consumer culture and I want to keep learning those skills before they are lost.

Hey all! So thrilled to be here in a new-ish platform to be able to talk all things conserving-resources. This is my passion. We, as a species, are throwing way too much away, wasting true resources that can be reused, upcycled, refurbished, re-gifted, re-imagined. I'm a filmmaker/writer/storyteller using images and words to show, through science and my own personal experience, what is happening right now with climate change. I want to use my skills to keep building community around using-up what we already have in abundance before we take more raw materials from the earth to manufacture more. I have two smart energetic teens and an adventure-seeking husband, so we find ourselves in places far and away learning from like-minded people everywhere who share with us their own ways of honoring this Earth. If you're up for having a hard-knocks conversation about how we can stave off overconsumption, share more, and not throw away perfectly usable things, while acquiring just what we need in life, let's talk!

I'm so excited to get this forum going! I'm Rebecca, co-author of The Buy Nothing, Get Everything Plan and co-founder of the Buy Nothing Project with my friend Liesl Clark. When I'm not here, I'm busy raising two teens as a single mother, writing, helping non-profits with social media storytelling, baking challah for my community, and raising tiny lavender chickens in my backyard. One of my favorite aspects of Buying Nothing is the lending library I steward for my hometown, and harnessing my inner Grandma Inge (my family's Buy Nothing Macgyver) to fix, make and reuse for the creative challenge and joy of it.