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You know what rules about Buy Nothing? Kid stuff. My partner and I have young kids, so it is a revolving door of stuff in our house. Buy Nothing solves a maj

You know what rules about Buy Nothing? Kid stuff. My partner and I have young kids, so it is a revolving door of stuff in our house. Buy Nothing solves a major problem in that if we need to get rid of something, someone wants it. And on the other side of that coin, if we need something, someone probably has it and is looking to part with it. As an added bonus, we have built a much stronger connection with many of those who live in our neighborhood, people we might not otherwise have crossed paths with. In the words of your average Ebay review, *A++++ Would Buy Nothing again*

zabuni 6y ago
I've seen very apolitical people do a buy nothing for kids stuff. I called it the great chain of baby stuff. Just last week a coworker dropped off some diapers that their kid grew out of at another coworkers desk who could use them. Cribs, toys, clothes, handed from one family to another. I've seen a crib go to three different families.
- liveoneggs 6y ago
  Our crib was on its 6th kid (I only have two) when I got rid of it. I assume it is well into the 10th by now.
- cauthon 6y ago
  What do politics have to do with it?
  - adamjb 6y ago
    The project has a strong anarchist spirit. > The Buy Nothing Project is about setting the scarcity model of our cash economy aside in favor of creatively and collaboratively sharing the abundance around us
    - j2kun 6y ago
      Somehow this feels less like anarchy and more like a free market solution, where the market finally realizes that monetary value is not the only factor in rational decision making.
      - bgreezy 6y ago
        so you either don't understand free market theory or anarchism or both!
        yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
        Insulting people is against site rules and doesn't advance the conversation. If you disagree with someone, explain whatever you think they're missing.
        HenryBemis 6y ago
        Wikipedia on Free Market Theory: In economics, a free market is a system in which the prices for goods and services are self-regulated by the open market and by consumers. In a free market, the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government or other authority, and from all forms of economic privilege, monopolies and artificial scarcities. Anarchism.. in my definition, is the lack of a singular authority. Not to be confused with "chaos". I see this example (Buy Nothing Project) breaking the linear-ness of economy. Harvest, Build, Sell, Consume/Use, Discard. No re-use, no re-cycle. This is not sustainable, especially with population growing. We need to re-use. I don't think that anyone is doing (donating/giving away) to hurt the profits of XYZ company, I strongly believe that we all got so much 'garbage' in our home, things that we haven't touched/used for a looooong time, that as the Minimalists said (the first 120 podcast episodes - after Patreon I dropped them) "find this thing a new home".
        KozmoNau7 6y ago
        Circular economy is what we should be working towards, to get the most possible utility out of any given resource, rather than squandering them in the mistaken belief that there's always going to be plenty more where it came from. > "I don't think that anyone is doing (donating/giving away) to hurt the profits of XYZ company, I strongly believe that we all got so much 'garbage' in our home, things that we haven't touched/used for a looooong time" Both motivations are true for my girlfriend and me. We both want to make sure we don't get bogged down with superfluous stuff, so we give them to people who will appreciate and use them, but we also see it as an opportunity to not support corporations that do not have our (societal) best interests in mind. The less stuff we buy, the less our money is used for purposes we disagree with or even abhor, in many cases. By buying the few things we do buy from small companies with responsible profiles, that's another step towards our money going to better purposes. I don't really believe in the "power of the consumer" or "voting with your wallet" (both of which just lead to unnecessary consumption), hence why we try to buy as little new stuff as possible and prefer buying second hand whenever possible, but at least the little money we do spend won't be going (directly) to the exploiter's pockets.
    - adolph 6y ago
      Clearly they havn’t seen https://wonderfulloaf.org https://wonderfulloaf.org Once you see cash as a broad p2p communication method it’s hard to imagine an Anarchist seeking to undo it as it allows people to collaborate over space and time in so many more ways than barter or physical gift economies.
      - WaxProlix 6y ago
        They're not opposed to currency necessarily, as I read it, but a scarcity model which happens to be tied to the current paradigm.
      - eyelidlessness 6y ago
        Speaking as a former anarchist, saying it’s hard to imagine an anarchist not embracing ____ is folly.
    - smt88 6y ago
      I don't think "political" or "anarchist" are the right labels here. Anti-capitalist maybe? Unorthodox? Just because economic systems are politicized in our society doesn't mean it is inherently political to change your own personal economic system.
xwdv 6y ago
Feel free to send me your children’s Lego Bricks.
- seibelj 6y ago
  They should be donated to kids who want them ;)
- hanniabu 6y ago
  I attribute a large part of my accelerated development in logical thinking and problem solving to link n logs, tinkertoys, legos, and knex.
  - xwdv 6y ago
    Indeed, many of the absolute cerebrals I know today played with these construction type toys when they were young.
  - yrimaxi 6y ago
    Can confirm. Right when my wife got pregnant I convinced her to listen to classical music and the binaural beats extracted from world-class chess champions for optimal early-fetus neuroplasticity. We weaned them off of breastmilk at one years of age in order to feed them Brappdu™, a proprietary (sadly not open source yet) super-food for toddlers (500% more nutrient-rich and 800% more cognitive-enhancing than breastmilk!). Legos™ at two years of age were, of course, no-brainers to me and the mother, as we are both engineers. We also made sure to plenty of empathy-boosting roleyplay with them, so that they can better interact with the kids their age (they need to learn to manage their future subordinates). All of this was a huge success: they started experiencing genius-induced migraines already at six years of age, while normal genius children only get them at twelve years of age and children of a more inferior stock never get the pleasure of ever experiencing it. Right now they are studying at Stanford (started at age thirteen) and we hope that both of them will be posting on HN before the age of sixteen.
gautamdivgi 6y ago
Kids clothes is a major part here. My network of friends has kids older than my own. So they pass all the clothes down - some of them rarely worn. Obviously shoes, undergarments and socks are an exception. Almost everything else is fair game. We have rarely bought our kids clothes. On the flip side, we had bought a new crib when my first one was born. It lasted through our 2 kids and now with a family who uses it for her grandchild.
- Ma8ee 6y ago
  Why are shoes excepted?
  - CDSlice 6y ago
    Because shoes tend to wear out a lot faster than other clothes plus wearing shoes that are broken in to someone else's foot doesn't tend to feel all that good.
  - r00fus 6y ago
    My kid’s fav shoes are the ones from their neighborhood friend who’s a year older. Shoes are definitely acceptable or hand me downs
    - Freak_NL 6y ago
      Absolutely. My two year old son now wears a pair of second-hand shoes bought in a boutique that also sells used children's clothing (but only high quality items). It fits him perfectly. Before that a pair of practically unworn shoes with LED-lights in the soles was worn a handful of times; it fitted right enough, but in the summer a pair of Tefa sandals was much more comfortable. Some pairs of shoes see much more wear than others, and unlike adults, when kids don't wear a pair for a while because the weather is more suitable for other things (sandals or wellies) they'll often hit the next size up by the time they can wear them. So sometimes shoes will hardly be worn at all. And a pair of kids wellies must see at least twenty pairs of feet before retiring. I don't think these actually ever get to the stage that they are worn out: they just get lost somewhere on the way long before that.

zabuni 6y ago

I've seen very apolitical people do a buy nothing for kids stuff. I called it the great chain of baby stuff. Just last week a coworker dropped off some diapers that their kid grew out of at another coworkers desk who could use them. Cribs, toys, clothes, handed from one family to another. I've seen a crib go to three different families.

liveoneggs 6y ago
Our crib was on its 6th kid (I only have two) when I got rid of it. I assume it is well into the 10th by now.
cauthon 6y ago
What do politics have to do with it?
- adamjb 6y ago
  The project has a strong anarchist spirit. > The Buy Nothing Project is about setting the scarcity model of our cash economy aside in favor of creatively and collaboratively sharing the abundance around us
  - j2kun 6y ago
    Somehow this feels less like anarchy and more like a free market solution, where the market finally realizes that monetary value is not the only factor in rational decision making.
    - bgreezy 6y ago
      so you either don't understand free market theory or anarchism or both!
      - yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
        Insulting people is against site rules and doesn't advance the conversation. If you disagree with someone, explain whatever you think they're missing.
      - HenryBemis 6y ago
        Wikipedia on Free Market Theory: In economics, a free market is a system in which the prices for goods and services are self-regulated by the open market and by consumers. In a free market, the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government or other authority, and from all forms of economic privilege, monopolies and artificial scarcities. Anarchism.. in my definition, is the lack of a singular authority. Not to be confused with "chaos". I see this example (Buy Nothing Project) breaking the linear-ness of economy. Harvest, Build, Sell, Consume/Use, Discard. No re-use, no re-cycle. This is not sustainable, especially with population growing. We need to re-use. I don't think that anyone is doing (donating/giving away) to hurt the profits of XYZ company, I strongly believe that we all got so much 'garbage' in our home, things that we haven't touched/used for a looooong time, that as the Minimalists said (the first 120 podcast episodes - after Patreon I dropped them) "find this thing a new home".
        KozmoNau7 6y ago
        Circular economy is what we should be working towards, to get the most possible utility out of any given resource, rather than squandering them in the mistaken belief that there's always going to be plenty more where it came from. > "I don't think that anyone is doing (donating/giving away) to hurt the profits of XYZ company, I strongly believe that we all got so much 'garbage' in our home, things that we haven't touched/used for a looooong time" Both motivations are true for my girlfriend and me. We both want to make sure we don't get bogged down with superfluous stuff, so we give them to people who will appreciate and use them, but we also see it as an opportunity to not support corporations that do not have our (societal) best interests in mind. The less stuff we buy, the less our money is used for purposes we disagree with or even abhor, in many cases. By buying the few things we do buy from small companies with responsible profiles, that's another step towards our money going to better purposes. I don't really believe in the "power of the consumer" or "voting with your wallet" (both of which just lead to unnecessary consumption), hence why we try to buy as little new stuff as possible and prefer buying second hand whenever possible, but at least the little money we do spend won't be going (directly) to the exploiter's pockets.
  - adolph 6y ago
    Clearly they havn’t seen https://wonderfulloaf.org https://wonderfulloaf.org Once you see cash as a broad p2p communication method it’s hard to imagine an Anarchist seeking to undo it as it allows people to collaborate over space and time in so many more ways than barter or physical gift economies.
    - WaxProlix 6y ago
      They're not opposed to currency necessarily, as I read it, but a scarcity model which happens to be tied to the current paradigm.
    - eyelidlessness 6y ago
      Speaking as a former anarchist, saying it’s hard to imagine an anarchist not embracing ____ is folly.
  - smt88 6y ago
    I don't think "political" or "anarchist" are the right labels here. Anti-capitalist maybe? Unorthodox? Just because economic systems are politicized in our society doesn't mean it is inherently political to change your own personal economic system.

xwdv 6y ago

Feel free to send me your children’s Lego Bricks.

seibelj 6y ago
They should be donated to kids who want them ;)
hanniabu 6y ago
I attribute a large part of my accelerated development in logical thinking and problem solving to link n logs, tinkertoys, legos, and knex.
- xwdv 6y ago
  Indeed, many of the absolute cerebrals I know today played with these construction type toys when they were young.
- yrimaxi 6y ago
  Can confirm. Right when my wife got pregnant I convinced her to listen to classical music and the binaural beats extracted from world-class chess champions for optimal early-fetus neuroplasticity. We weaned them off of breastmilk at one years of age in order to feed them Brappdu™, a proprietary (sadly not open source yet) super-food for toddlers (500% more nutrient-rich and 800% more cognitive-enhancing than breastmilk!). Legos™ at two years of age were, of course, no-brainers to me and the mother, as we are both engineers. We also made sure to plenty of empathy-boosting roleyplay with them, so that they can better interact with the kids their age (they need to learn to manage their future subordinates). All of this was a huge success: they started experiencing genius-induced migraines already at six years of age, while normal genius children only get them at twelve years of age and children of a more inferior stock never get the pleasure of ever experiencing it. Right now they are studying at Stanford (started at age thirteen) and we hope that both of them will be posting on HN before the age of sixteen.

gautamdivgi 6y ago

Kids clothes is a major part here. My network of friends has kids older than my own. So they pass all the clothes down - some of them rarely worn. Obviously shoes, undergarments and socks are an exception. Almost everything else is fair game. We have rarely bought our kids clothes. On the flip side, we had bought a new crib when my first one was born. It lasted through our 2 kids and now with a family who uses it for her grandchild.

Ma8ee 6y ago
Why are shoes excepted?
- CDSlice 6y ago
  Because shoes tend to wear out a lot faster than other clothes plus wearing shoes that are broken in to someone else's foot doesn't tend to feel all that good.
- r00fus 6y ago
  My kid’s fav shoes are the ones from their neighborhood friend who’s a year older. Shoes are definitely acceptable or hand me downs
  - Freak_NL 6y ago
    Absolutely. My two year old son now wears a pair of second-hand shoes bought in a boutique that also sells used children's clothing (but only high quality items). It fits him perfectly. Before that a pair of practically unworn shoes with LED-lights in the soles was worn a handful of times; it fitted right enough, but in the summer a pair of Tefa sandals was much more comfortable. Some pairs of shoes see much more wear than others, and unlike adults, when kids don't wear a pair for a while because the weather is more suitable for other things (sandals or wellies) they'll often hit the next size up by the time they can wear them. So sometimes shoes will hardly be worn at all. And a pair of kids wellies must see at least twenty pairs of feet before retiring. I don't think these actually ever get to the stage that they are worn out: they just get lost somewhere on the way long before that.