Buy Nothing: how local gifting is transforming the Canberra community

Posted on 11 March, 2020

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, the saying goes. And the saying is wrong.

The day after Christmas, I found myself with a kilo of delicious, insanely expensive fresh king prawns that we just couldn’t eat. (The Christmas Eve queue for prawns at Belconnen Markets was 60-people long. By the time we got to the front, I subconsciously justified the wait and expense by enthusiastically over purchasing!).

What the hell to do with them? They needed to be eaten within 24 hours. I opened Facebook and posted into the local chapter of a group I’m a member of. It’s called Buy Nothing. My message read:

Fast gift: One kilo big king prawns ($45 per kilo). I just bought far too many for Xmas—queued for ages to get them too! Nothing wrong with them—we are eating them right now. There’s just a lot. But they should be eaten today!

A lady called Tracey wrote under my post. She would love the prawns and could take them straight away. Tracey and her family lived one suburb over; I was delighted and replied she was welcome to them.

Tracey messaged: “Sending my husband Soren now! So excited! I had no idea what we’d eat tonight after three days feasting…[but] beautiful prawns certainly beats crackers with vegemite.”

And indeed, Soren appeared 13 minutes later, pleased as punch, with a cool bag in hand. Problem solved. This is the pure joy—and community connection—that comes from being involved in Buy Nothing. (Also, because it’s hyper-local, you’ll likely run into this person at the IGA two days later.)

According to the Buy Nothing website, this is a global movement that kicked off in 2013 and offers “…a way to give and receive, share, lend, and express gratitude through a worldwide network of hyper-local gift economies in which the true wealth is the web of connections formed between people who are real-life neighbours.”

The movement focuses on ideas of abundance, gifting and gratitude. Not charity. Canberra, as it turns out, is bonkers about Buy Nothing. The ACT has 28 Buy Nothing chapters. (29 if you include Queanbeyan). In contrast, Sydney only has 15.

Around the world, there are approximately 3000 Buy Nothing groups in 30 countries. More than one million people are members of these groups, including about 5,300 volunteer admins.

One of those admins is Kristy. She supports Buy Nothing’s Calwell/Banks group. Kristy found out about the movement while listening to a podcast.

“I’m a minimalist and one day while listening to my favourite podcast ‘The Minimalists’ they mentioned this Buy Nothing Project, I looked it up and was surprised to see there was a group in Canberra.

“Back then there were only five groups for all of Canberra, now there are 28 groups covering every suburb in Canberra. I loved the idea of gifting items I no longer needed to another person or family for the item to live on.

“The project is about giving freely and receiving gratefully. When you meet the person who is giving you something you need or your giving something to someone who needs it, that is one of the best feelings in the world,” she says.

Virgina wrote a gratitude post at Christmas time stating that she’d been gifted so many wonderful things over the past year, including loads of Christmas presents for her daughter, Imogen (pictured). She’s also enjoyed giving unwanted items away.

For Kristy, it’s not surprising that Canberra has more groups than Sydney.

“Canberrans are such generous people, we love to help our neighbours. Canberra has a slower pace than Sydney which gives us the opportunity to slow down and take the time to really help each other,” she says.

A chain of which really highlights this occurred over summer during the terrible fires. Lea posted in her local group to ask if anyone had spare battery-operated radios:

I live part of my time in Braidwood and the local radio out here is a great source of information to stay safe. The fires have been bad and are creeping closer and closer from the east. The radio station is collecting analogue radios that are battery operated or Both ac/dc and battery power for people who can’t get internet or phone reception. So, if you have an old radio lying around you no longer need can you consider passing it on through me? 

The response was rapid. Anyone with a radio to spare handed it over. Before long Lea had gathered plenty. He next message read:

Thank you so much for the donation of radios even with batteries! I have delivered them to Braidwood FM who will give them to people who need a radio to keep on top of the fire situation with our mobile or internet. I love our buy nothing group!

Another post I came across recently was responding to the nationwide toilet paper shortage. A Canberra woman with loads of toilet paper offered rolls to anyone in her Buy Nothing group who might need one.

As an admin, Kristy sees this kind of support being offered between neighbours on a daily basis: “The thing I love the most about buy nothing is that the group is here to help. We’ve had people ask for help when they were short one week and needed nappies or dog food or milk.

“We’ve had other people who want to try a new hobby and have asked the group for help. We’ve also had people need help with moving a big item or help flicking a fuse when they are home on their own. During the bushfires we had a member offering to help people fill out their bushfire survival plans. The power of the group is endless,” she says.

Two-year-old Vincent was delighted to receive a rocking bear from Nicole, a member of his local on Buy Nothing. His Mum, Qin, gave use permission to use this photo and said the bear was clean and in great condition.

Andrea, a 42-year-old public servant with two kids, feels the same. She recently expressed her gratitude in a heart-warming post in her local group recently:

“I’m grateful for friendships through our neighbourhood bounty,” she wrote, before listing a number of friends she’d made through the group and going on to say: “It started with a couple of bonds onesies and a Holly’s Little Kingdom backpack.

“Now, it has blossomed into family celebrations together and a friendship that crosses continents. While I’m grateful for the generous gifts shared on this group, it is the friendships and connections that [most] I’m grateful for,”

Find your local Buy Nothing group here