It’s the group that keeps on giving.
While many have their sights set on holiday doorbusters and deals, there is a thriftier philosophy sweeping the nation at this holly jolly time of year: Buy nothing.
More than four million Americans are snubbing consumerism and instead enjoying free clothing, sports equipment, furniture, groceries and even hand-me-down holiday gifts. It’s all thanks to the Buy Nothing Project — an initiative that began in 2013 and has since swept the nation by way of hyperlocal Facebook groups, where neighbors give away their unwanted goods in lieu of sending them off to landfills.
It’s a dream come true for self-professed “former shopaholic” Eddie Chang — especially during the holiday season. The Upper East Sider said that he saves roughly $10,000 a year through the Facebook group of ten thousand locals that he runs.
“Last week alone I got a $400 Barbour coat, and $300 knife and cleaver for Thanksgiving through the group,” Chang, a 45 year-old IT project manager and married father of two, told The Post. He added that there’s seldom a need he has that can’t be filled through Buy Nothing — even holiday gifts.
“I don’t buy anything anymore,” Chang said. So far, he’s nabbed a drill, a beanie, a multitool light, and a few satchels to disperse at Christmastime, as well as a splint for plantar fasciitis for his wife. “We all subscribe to the same [buy nothing] culture,” he said of secondhand “shopping” for his family members.
Chang — who gives away as much as he gets to connect with his community — even takes excess groceries and meal kits off the hands of his fellow Manhattanites, and has tried to completely give up food shopping since he joined the group in 2018. He admits this strategy leads to “some creative meals” from time to time.
But even the oddest food items get snapped up.
“Sometimes people will give away half a bottle of ketchup and it almost always gets taken. It’s a zero-waste community,” Chang said.
“Honestly, it’s a lot more fun [to live] this way,” he said, predicting that many more people will try Buy Nothing this holiday season due to ongoing supply chain issues.
That’s true in Long Island City, Queens, where there’s already been a “crazy surge” of new membership this fall, according to the page’s administrator Carrie Brown Albanese. The 41-year-old marketing professional has been running the group of 2,000 members for four years now, and is pleased that she’s helping reduce waste by watching people turn trash into treasure.
“Holiday items become very popular around this time. People offer things from Christmas lights to winter kids gear,” Albanese told The Post, adding that the “winter clean out” purging spree usually runs through February on the page.
She began the group ahead of her first daughter’s birth in an effort to cut down the costs of buying baby supplies. Since then, the focus has remained on family friendly items, Albanese said, adding that when she had her second child last April, the LIC Buy Nothing crew gifted her with an estimated $1,000-worth of hand-me-down clothing and other toddler supplies.
“The growth and connection to the community has been remarkable. With everything I’ve received I’ve probably given five times as much,” Albanese said, estimating that by the end of December she will have distributed 1,000 items to her neighbors this year.
Holiday gifting gets taken to the next level on a Long Island Buy Nothing page.
Andrea Nowicki Cayea, who runs the group for the affluent North Shore community, which includes the towns of Sands Point, Port Washington and Manhasset, said she saw one mother simply post her daughter’s Christmas list on the page to try to source the desired items.
She said no ask is too outlandish — recently she saw another member give away a 16-foot skiff.
But for the 59-year-old registered nurse, the page is really about neighbors helping neighbors.
“People in Sands Point need things too. There’s many single mothers who benefit from our group,” Cayea said.
“There was a teacher who saw students coming to school without coats and the group stepped up and donated to all of them. That’s what the page is all about, generosity.”
