What You Need To Know About The "Buy Nothing" Movement
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When I was a kid, I learned two very valuable life lessons. Number one, sharing is caring. And number two, stranger danger. And now there's a new movement out there combining both of those things. And it might just be the best thing to happen on the internet in the last few years. If you haven't already guessed, which I don't know how you would given that vague information, I'm talking about the buy nothing groups popping up all over the country and the world.

So in this video, you're going to find out what the buy nothing movement is, why it's awesome, and whether or not it's the everyman's answer to overconsumption and inflation. But before we get to it, I just want to reemphasize that sharing is caring. So share the care by smashing those like and subscribe buttons and send this video to your childhood BFF who helped teach you that valuable lesson. It's time you make amends after that Zelda-related dispute that severed your friendship. It's not his fault that it's a one-player game or that you sucked at it.

That hurt my feelings. Now, if you haven't hopped on the Buy Nothing bandwagon yet, it's basically an online community where people who live in the same area can share, lend, and donate items all for free. Here's how the Buy Nothing movement describes themselves on their Facebook page. The Buy Nothing Project is a worldwide network of gift economies,

bringing people together to give, ask, and receive items and services. Everyone is welcome. All gifts have the same value, literally priceless. And everyone contributes to building a lasting wealth of connections between neighbors and their resilient local circular economy. You can tell whoever wrote that listens to way too much NPR. ♪

So again, your money's no good here. You can't buy, bargain, sell, vend, trade, barter, haggle, quibble, negotiate, or otherwise regarding any items or services shared in the group. Now, Buy Nothing maintains its values by requiring every group to follow 10 rules, with the caveat that there can be additional rules added by your locality. Here's what the rules are. Number one, uphold the Buy Nothing code.

ethos. It's a gift economy movement, people. Number two, keep it legal. Probably the best rule. Let's not do illegal things on Facebook. That kind of takes the fun out of it, doesn't it? Number three, no cruelty, harassment, or hate speech. So if you're one of those comment section trolls, not the group for you. Move along. Number four, build trust.

AKA, be honest, don't steal or weirdly DM someone and pressure them to choose you as the recipient of the standing fan they posted that only kind of works. Have some integrity. Number five, everything is free, no exceptions. So MLM folks, get out of there. Quit your pitching. Take your Tupperware elsewhere. Dang it.

Number six, you have to use your personal Facebook profile. Fan pages and cat fishermen or women, unwelcome. Number seven, you give from your own abundance. Number eight, participate at your own risk. I.e. Buy Nothing is not liable for anything crazy that happens. Good luck and be safe. Number nine, you must respect the local Buy Nothing culture.

Not sure what that one means, but I'm a fan of respect. So yeah, respect it. And number 10, Buy Nothing Project local leadership is led by its local volunteers slash admins. So Karen, you can see your local admin about your critical feedback about that standing fan. I'd like to speak with the manager. Okay.

That pretty much recaps what the whole Buy Nothing Project is. But practically, how does this work? How can you get in on giving stuff or getting stuff? Well, for starters, you'll need to find your local Buy Nothing group, probably on Facebook, and request to join. And this might be the one reason you go back to Facebook. Just ignore that high school friend in your DMs who has an amazing business opportunity. Again, your Tupperware is no longer welcome here.

It's exhausting. Once you're admitted into the group, you can simply either post what you're giving away or find something you like and get first dibs in the comments. Then you coordinate the exchange and bada bing, bada boom, you're part of a movement. But for you visual learners out there, let's take a look-see at my local Buy Nothing group and see if we can find anything good. All right, here we are, 997 members. Not bad.

Proud member. Let's get it to a thousand, guys. All right, so far. Ooh, a Wacom tablet. Those are nice. Fancy. Here's a deep fryer for free. Infrequently used, needs minimal cleaning. It's the Cool Daddy Elite. Are you kidding me? A metal mail organizer in a bright blue. No thank you. Ooh, a dirt bike. My kid says it doesn't work, but if you want to tinker with it, not sure what's wrong with it. If it's a battery, a local bike shop can repair. We actually have two. Yikes. That was a bad purchase. It's

A Keurig. All right, Keurig single-serve K-cup. Works great. That's nice. That's solid. That's going to save some serious money. Wireless meat thermometer. Brand new, never opened. That's a big win. A DVD player. 15 years old, plays fine. Gets stuck sometimes when trying to open it. That sounds about right. Ooh, a small digital scale for weighing food, mail, etc. Needs a battery, but as far as I know...

it works. There we go. There's just a few examples of the stuff you can buy. And just for fun, I made my own post in this group. And let me tell you, it didn't go great. Here's my post. I said, giving away an amazing personal finance book.

Autographed by the author, new, never used. I already have a copy that was gifted to me and just want to pay it forward. Martha, she wanted this. She said, I would be interested in this. And I said, great, it's yours. Can you pick it up tomorrow? She said, I think I could tomorrow, 9 to 10 a.m. I said, great, come by. It's the Ramsey headquarters. Here's the address. It's at the front desk. And all of a sudden, the backpedaling begins. Okay, I actually have too many errands this week and I overcommitted. I'm sorry. Please pass it on and thank you anyway. Hurtful, Martha, hurtful.

How could you do this to me? So here's a few reasons why buy nothing groups are so great. First and foremost, it gives people a chance to practice generosity, which in my experience is like building muscle. Not that I have extensive experience with building muscle. All I'm saying is the more you practice generosity, the more generous you'll become. And statistically, the more generous you become, the more wealthy you become. And I did a whole video on proving that, but that's talk for another time. And get this, professional organizer, Lindsay Downs, loves recommending buy nothing groups to her clients.

She says, quote, my clients are often hesitant at first, but once they get going and see how rewarding it is, they get really into it. Lindsay, you're a genius. The best way to organize stuff is to get rid of it. And even better, give it away to someone who could use it. And speaking of things you can use, how about a high-yield savings account where your money can make more money? You see, a high-yield savings account earns way more interest than a traditional savings account.

So if your money is just going to be chilling in savings either way, why wouldn't you want it to work harder for you? And if you're looking for a good high yield savings account, look no further than Laurel Road. Right now, your account balance will earn over 4% APY. Plus, there's no bogus monthly maintenance fees. Your deposits are FDIC insured and there's no minimum balance required.

So if you want to make the most of your money, go check them out. Go to laurelroad.com slash george to learn more or click the link in the description below. You know what else you could use? A more affordable cell phone plan. And wouldn't you know it, a sponsor of today's episode is Telo, a mobile service provider who has the same great coverage as the big guys without the big price tag and all the fuss. Their plans range from as low as $5 all the way up to $25 for the unlimited everything plan.

Plus, they've got a pay-as-you-go international roaming that's got you covered in over 250 countries. And right now, you can save an extra five bucks off your first month when you go to tello.com slash george or click the link in the description. All right, the next benefit of these buy-nothing groups is getting the chance to declutter your home. Decluttering can not only help you save space in your house, but can also help you make more space in your life for what really matters. Like, you know, these guys. It's too cute!

It's disgusting. And if you don't know how to get started, I love the 30-day decluttering challenge from my friends, The Minimalists. Here's how it works. You get rid of one thing on the first day of the month, two things on the second day of the month, three things on the third, so fourth and so fifth. Now it's not easy come day 27 or so, but it is very effective and addicting. Plus, I know there's at least six of you watching this who have all 34 Marvel films on Blu-ray. So if you ditch everything except Empire Strikes Back, day 30 is going to be a breeze.

Live long and prosper. Jar Jar Binks, best character. Best, I don't care what you say. Yes, nailed it. Pissed off everyone. Now trust me, once you do this challenge, you'll be way more conscious of what you're buying and whether you really need it. 'Cause you'll have the pain remembering that you threw away all those clothes with tags on it that you never wore, that you thought you would. Plus you never know, something that's easy for you to get rid of might be a game changer for someone else. And speaking of game changer, these buy nothing groups could help you save some serious dough if you're intentional about it.

I mean, you saw the stuff I was showing you earlier. We're talking electronics, clothing, and more. And we're talking thousands of dollars a year you could be saving by reusing and reducing and recycling versus buying brand new. And that's just a quick scroll of my local group. A local Buy Nothing admin in Queens, New York says, quote, for us, the biggest savings has been in children's clothing. She estimates she saved thousands of dollars in what she's gotten from her group. And to that, I say, yas, Queens.

We love a savings queen from Queens. But that's not all. Homegirl scored a Bugaboo stroller, which retails anywhere from $500 to $1,500. And her husband also got a jogging stroller, which could be anywhere from 100 bucks to 1,000 bucks. So move over, Paul Blart. There's a new king of Queens. So is the buy-nothing trend the solution to rising costs of goods and your income issues? No.

But it can help you save a few bucks, spend more wisely, as well as foster a community-forward mindset. And those are all wins in my book. And while scoring sick deals from your buy-nothing groups is great, some free stuff is not going to fix your financial problems. But what I love about this group is it helps you become more resourceful and more mindful of your spending. And I'm a big fan of creative solutions to spend less and get free stuff.

For free stuff, you can also check out Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or the golden hour of the yard sale. And for saving big on stuff you're buying, there's also browser extensions I love to use like Honey that can apply promo codes for you. And if it's your birthday, that's 100% the best time of the year to get free stuff and discounts. No Facebook account needed. In fact, I did a whole video ranking the best birthday freebies so you know where to go to get the deal. So just keep watching it coming up next or click the link in the show notes to check it out. As always, thanks for watching. See you next time.