The Buy Nothing, Get Everything Plan [NF Review]

The Buy Nothing, Get Everything Plan: Discover the Joy of Spending Less, Sharing More, and Living Generously by Liesl Clark and Rebecca Rockefeller

Inspired by the ancient practice of gift economies, where neighbors share and pool resources, The Buy Nothing, Get Everything Plan introduces an environmentally conscious 7-step guide that teaches us how to buy less, give more, and live generously. At once an actionable plan and a thought-provoking exploration of our addiction to stuff, this powerful program will help you declutter your home without filling landfills, shop more thoughtfully and discerningly, and let go of the need to buy new things. Filled with helpful lists and practical suggestions including 50 items you never need to buy (Ziploc bags and paper towels) and 50 things to make instead (gift cards and salad dressing), The Buy Nothing, Get Everything Plan encourages you to rethink why you shop and embrace a space-saving, money-saving, and earth-saving mindset of buying less and sharing more.

Goodreads

Review

I hadn’t heard of the Buy Nothing Project til I began reading this book. While it’s a little different from what I usually review, it caught my eye when I was poking around Netgalley. I requested it because buying reducing my purchases of new stuff (especially plastic and single use items) is a goal of mine for 2020. I don’t buy a lot of stuff but I know I can do better – not jumping to ‘new’ or ‘plastic’ when I do need to purchase something.

[Buy Nothing] is a philosophy that holds that the key to a joyful life of meaning and abundance on a healthy planet is to pursue every possible alternative before buying anything one wants or needs.

Loc 112

Seven Steps

I started reading with a dose of skepticism. Is this book going to be fluffy or practical? The first part of the book is a bit removed from what I was looking for. After the first three introductory sections, the authors lay out their seven step plan. They describing the logic behind the action, relate anecdotes and reflections on the step, and suggesting concrete actions to enact that step.

1. Give
2. Ask
3. Reuse & Refuse
4. Reflect
5. Make & Fix
6. Share, Lend & Borrow
7. Gratitude

Implementation

At the beginning, I thought “Okay, this book is more about sharing once you’ve already stopped buying and less about the initial step of ‘buying nothing'”. The first two steps are give and ask. These are interesting and good ideas, but to my way of thinking, they didn’t address how to ‘buy nothing’ in the way I was hoping for. However, the steps and suggestions proposed do eventually get to the practical points which were of most interest to me. The book contains a lot of anecdotes, especially at the beginning, but they provide context for the actionable ideas shared later on. I particularly liked the lists (ex. “10 Things to Reuse Instead of Toss”, “50 Things We Never Buy”) that gave me ideas for some of the niggly purchases/waste I hadn’t yet resolved – such as giving away parcel packaging.

Community Minded

The book also has a more radical tone than I expected. The main takeaway is about supporting community connections through sharing. As the authors note, participating in a sharing economy rather than participating in capitalism has some inherent radicalism in it. I wondered whether the authors would address cultures that have sharing-based economies, or how women are often expected to give, give, give, or how poverty intersects with these ideas – and they do. I appreciate that their ideas aren’t just framed for one type of person.

People who are struggling financially are bombarded with societal messages that their poverty is shameful, something to be hidden, and we internalize the message that only the financially well-off are “givers,” while those with fewer resources are inherently “takers.” […] Despite the fact that we all have needs and wants, and an innate ability and desire to both give and receive, there are no prescribed ways to do this on equal footing, person to person.

Loc 552 and 559

This seven step plan hinges on idea of being able to participate in a hyper local sharing economy, where you can give and ask for items you would otherwise purchase. There are thousands of Buy Nothing groups organized on Facebook. I found and joined the one for my area. It only has around 40 members and isn’t very active. Other groups in different parts of the city have over 1,000; the authors point to 500 as the sweet spot for a successful sharing group. My sister joined the group in our hometown – it has 600 members. So your mileage may vary. The notion of fully participating in a sharing group may be idealistic for some of us, but I also found it inspiring. You have to start somewhere! You can see if your area has a Buy Nothing group here.

This Buying Nothing paradigm shift has grown internationally, and scaled quickly, because it’s filling a deep need that’s been missing in our collective consciousness: the need to share, to connect, to conserve, and to strengthen our resilience through community.

Loc 2940

The Bottom Line

While the sharing economy may not be the most practical option for readers looking to reduce their environmental footprint by purchasing less, The Buy Nothing, Get Everything Plan offers many concrete ideas for changing your everyday consumption while strengthening your community.

Further Reading

• Buy Nothing Project
• Article from HuffPost