In my Buy Nothing group in Los Angeles, I began to notice how some objects, given from neighbor to neighbor, carry emotional weight. One item was more than it seemed. It was a piece of personal history, perhaps with generational memories.
From one person's hands to another, objects find new life through the free gift economy on Facebook or the Buy Nothing app. Buy Nothing Project, a public benefit corporation, reports that it has 14 million members in more than 50 countries who give away 2.6 million items a month. There are more than 100 groups in Los Angeles alone.
Buy Nothing reduces waste by keeping items out of landfills. It also builds community. When our lives are increasingly online, Buy Nothing encourages us to get out of our cars and make connections with neighbors, even if the interaction is nothing more than a greeting while picking up something left at the door. Researchers have found that even small social interactions can foster a sense of belonging.
Still, Buy Nothing has its challenges. For years, some have complained that groups should not be limited to neighborhoods but have more open borders. Last year, many long-time members complained that the project was enforcing its trademark, leading Facebook to shut down unregistered groups even if they served people under economic duress. Critics saw gossip as a shift from mutual aid to control and branding. For its part, Buy Nothing says Their decisions are based on building community, trust and security.
Despite those disagreements, Buy Nothing offers a platform for special connections. As much as there are jokes about people offering half-eaten cake, many have given away prized items. Buy Nothing items may seem too valuable for the trash or too personal for Goodwill. The interaction between the giver and the recipient becomes as significant as the object itself.
I set out to document these silent exchanges in my Buy Nothing group, drawn to the question of why people choose to pass their belongings from one neighbor to another.
Small builders, big trade
Lidia Butcher gives a toolbox and work table that her two children used to Chelsea Ward for her 17-month-old son.
“We've had the toolbox and workbench for the last 10 years, it's been very special. When I told my youngest son that we were giving it away, he was a little sad. He said he was still playing with it, but then I explained to him that it had been sitting untouched for a year and that if we gave it to someone else, maybe someone else would be happy with it. So he was happy to give it to another child who wanted to play with it. I have this little emotional feeling of letting it go, but at the same time “Time is a good feeling, like a new beginning.”
— Lidia Butcher, 35, joined the group several years ago when someone told her that a person in the group once asked for a cup of sugar.
“Let's get a workbench. Benji is old enough to be interested in playing with tools. I'm going to move my drafting table out of his room. His bedroom is my office. So either that will go away or the Buy Nothing group and the workbench will go in its place. We live in an apartment and as he gets older, his needs change, but our space doesn't. Buy Nothing is really useful for being able to eliminate things.”
— Chelsea Ward, 38, finds the Buy Nothing group extremely helpful since she became a mother.
something borrowed
Abby Rodríguez lends Sophie Janinet a veil for her wedding.
“Sophie had asked for a wedding veil in our Buy Nothing group and I lent it to her because I wanted it to have a second life. I hate the idea of precious things sitting there and never being touched. My wedding day was one of the best days of my life. At one point the power went out and now we have this amazing photo with my husband and I and everyone using their phones to light up the dance floor.”
– Abby Rodríguez, 40, discovered Buy Nothing when she moved to her Northeast Los Angeles neighborhood in 2020.
“I moved to Los Angeles from France four years ago. The day I joined Buy Nothing was the first time I felt connected to the community. It played a huge role in my adjustment to life here. I get a veil because I want my wedding to look and feel like my values. I took advantage of my dress, chose a local seamstress to alter it, but when I tried it on, I felt like something was missing. I wanted a veil but I didn't want to buy it new because I didn't want to add anything to the landfill, so I posted a request for the veil on Buy Nothing.”
— Sophie Janinet, 37, is recreating the low-waste, slower-paced values she once lived in France through her local Buy Nothing community.
1. Abby Rodriguez, left, holds the wedding veil she will lend to Sophie Janinet, right, for her upcoming wedding. 2. Michele Sawers, left, stands with Beth Penn, right, as she gives her a decorative owl.
An owl that scares away pigeons has a second life
Michele Sawers gives Beth Penn a decorative owl.
“Coming from a place of luck, I now have a lot to give. The owl has been with me for 26 years. I bought it shortly after I bought this house. The owl was bought because I had a problem with pigeons, they were camping under my eyes and I had bird poop everywhere. The owl must have worked because they left and haven't come back.”
— Michele Sawers, 58, regularly uses Buy Nothing to connect with her community and support her energy-efficient values.
“There are things I don't want to have. So borrowing those things from Buy Nothing is really nice. There's one person who I borrowed his cooler twice and his ladder twice, so I feel like he's my neighbor even though he's not.” [right next door]. We got these birds that poop on the deck and the online recommendation was to get a fake owl. When they posted it on Buy Nothing, I thought, 'I have to have that owl!' “He will have a good home with me on the terrace with some cats, a dog and some children.”
— Beth Penn, 47, once helped build her local Buy Nothing group and now experiences it from the other side, as a member.
Stuffed animals find a new purpose
Magaly Leyva, left, next to Tatiana Lonny, right, with the stuffed animals and balls that she is giving her.
(Dania Maxwell/for The Times)
Magaly Leyva gives stuffed animals and plastic balls to Tatiana Lonny.
“My mother-in-law gave my daughter dolls and plastic balls, but she has a lot. My daughter is not going to play with them with the same intention as another child would, because she is very small. I would prefer that another child use these things.”
— Magaly Leyva, 35, joined Buy Nothing almost four years ago to find clothes for her nephew.
“I'm taking these new items to a township called Langa in South Africa. I know the kids there will be very happy. They have very little there. I'm doing it all myself, I'm just raising a GoFundMe for the bag fee at the airport.”
— Tatiana Lonny, 51, started using Buy Nothing in hopes of finding resources to support the animals she rescues.
a second help
Laura Cherkas gives Aurora Sánchez a cast iron frying pan.
“Buy Nothing gives me the freedom to let things go because I know they will stay in the community and the neighborhood. I'm giving away a couple of cast iron items that my husband and I bought when we were in a cast iron phase, probably during COVID. We determined that we didn't really use these particular pans and that they were just making our drawers heavy. So we decided to let someone else use them.
“I hate throwing things away. I want to see things have another life. Sometimes I take things to a donation center, but I like the personal connection with Buy Nothing and knowing that there is someone who definitely wants your item.”
— Laura Cherkas, 40, has made connections with other moms through Buy Nothing and values it as a way to get toys in and out for her child.
Laura Cherkas, left, holds the frying pan she is giving to Aurora Sánchez, right, via Buy Nothing.
(Dania Maxwell/for The Times)
“I wanted a cast iron skillet because I grill a lot of meat. I'm excited to try this style of cooking and it will help me when I'm cooking for just one or two people. I was lucky because I was chosen to receive it.”
— Aurora Sánchez, 54, has spent the last two years collaborating with Buy Nothing, finding in it a sense of neighborhood support that makes her feel valued and at the same time strengthens her connection with the community.
next player up
Joe Zeni, 70, is using his local Buy Nothing Facebook group to give away a basketball hoop he used with his son when he was little.
(Dania Maxwell/for The Times)
Joe Zeni first offered a basketball hoop at Buy Nothing in 2023, where it remains unclaimed.
“I'm giving away a Huffy freestanding basketball hoop because it takes up space. We used to play horseback riding and shoot hoops together. My son is now 35 and doesn't live here anymore.”
— Joe Zeni, 70, uses Buy Nothing frequently to give away items, believing that many of the things he no longer needs still have a purpose.
