The Good News Movement

Top Menu

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Good News
  • Be Inspired
  • Submit Your Good News
  • About Us

The Good News Movement

The Good News Movement

  • Home
  • Good News
  • Be Inspired
  • Submit Your Good News
  • About Us
Good News
Home›Good News›How ‘Buy Nothing’ Groups Are Helping to Build a Sense of Community

How ‘Buy Nothing’ Groups Are Helping to Build a Sense of Community

By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
February 28, 2019
0

A simple compliment led Kate down a path she never would have expected.

After commenting that she liked the shoes the child of a friend of hers was wearing, Kate’s friend mentioned that she had got the shoes from a ‘Buy Nothing’ group.

Kate had never heard of “Buy Nothing’, so she did some investigation.

She found out that Buy Nothing is a concept where people join communities in which you – as you’d expect – buy nothing, instead focusing on sharing the possessions we already have with those who need them and being shared with in return. Imagine Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree, but all free – and all local.

She’s now an administrator of the Swanbourne group for this growing movement.

“Buy Nothing is a hyper-localised gift economy,” she explains. “You can only join one group, and that’s the area in which you live.”

There are over 130 groups in WA and ther

And the groups can come in handy at the most unexpected times.

“For example, my daughter was about to start three weeks of Minkey trials (modified field hockey for children),” said Kate. “So I realised I’d have to buy shin guards, mouth guards, hockey sticks and everything.”

“I popped it up on my Buy Nothing group – does anyone have any shin guards that we could have or borrow – and I got a pair.”

“I popped round the corner, picked them up – sorted.”

There are three types of posts that are encouraged within a Buy Nothing group – to gift or offer things you no longer need, to make a request for an item or service, and gratitude posts to thank people for their help.

For Kate, it’s been less about the things she’s been able to gift and receive and more about the relationships she’s fostered in her community.

e’s new ones popping up all the time – WA is the fastest-growing region in the world.

“You actually get to know the people in your group as people, not just a name on a screen.”

“I have had some beautiful interactions with people – for example, we had a cold in our house so someone cycled around with a bag full of lemons for the household.”

Kate’s group also runs social events – both for people in the community to take and drop off items, but also for people within the community to simply socialise with each other.

Some of the members of the group have even had Buy Nothing garage sales – where they have a room or a garage set up for members of the group to come around and take anything they might need.

“We all have an abundance around us already, but not everyone has the same things in abundance,” says Kate. “But amongst our community we do have enough, if we share, to help each other.”

You can find out more about the project at the Buy Nothing Project Facebook page.


by Andrew Williams

Previous Article

Meney Cycling For Change

Next Article

Why giving is good for the soul

Related articles More from author

  • Good News

    Meet The Queensland Mum Leading An Anti-Plastics Movement Supported By Big Business

    September 9, 2019
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
  • Good News

    A Five-Star Experience for Melbourne’s Homeless

    May 16, 2018
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
  • Good News

    2019 CHINESE HOROSCOPE: YEAR OF THE PIG…WHAT DOES IT MEAN?  

    February 22, 2019
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
  • Good News

    World First Ocean Study Reveals True Extent of Plastic Pollution – We All Can Make Change  

    June 13, 2019
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
  • Good News

    New Hope for WA Patients with Rare Cancers

    September 18, 2018
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
  • Good News

    Why Dying In Your Dreams Isn’t As Bad As You May Think

    November 28, 2018
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Good News

    Kayaking down the World’s Most Polluted River to Stop Turtles From Suffocating on Plastic

  • Good News

    If Consumers Buy One, Small Businesses Give One to Help

  • Good News

    How Australia is Knitting Together to Save the Lives of Orphaned Lambs

Follow us

Join us

logo

We need to be informed and the world needs to be kept accountable.

But in an era of digital disruption and falling news audiences, the media must take a different view on what news is, and how stories are constructed.

Negative emotions have served us well during an age of flight or fight. But it’s the positive emotions that drive society forward – and that is the era we are currently stepping into.

Media has the power to move society and send a positive ripple out into the world.

  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Man Who Saved Stranger From Train Tracks Surprised With Car

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    June 28, 2022
  • 83-year-old Becomes Oldest Person To Sail Solo Across The Pacific

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    June 28, 2022
  • WA Court Approves Young Boy’s Request To Adopt Teddies

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    June 10, 2022
  • Teenager Walks Out Of Hospital After Being Paralyzed In Tornado

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    June 10, 2022
  • Man Who Saved Stranger From Train Tracks Surprised With Car

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    June 28, 2022
  • A Woman’s Magical First Breath During Lung Transplant

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    May 16, 2018
  • Aussie Surfers Slash Ocean Pollution With ‘Seabin’

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    May 16, 2018
  • Break through for coeliac disease

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    May 16, 2018

Follow us

  • Home
  • Join the Movement
  • About Us