It’s Pay It Forward on steroids. In 2013, Rebecca Rockefeller and Liesl Clark had a novel idea. They started Buy Nothing Project that year, creating a chain of events that would explode into a worldwide phenomenon. The concept of the project is simple – let anyone ask for anything and receive it – for free. 

Want a pair of earrings? Just ask. Need tickets to a concert or a sporting event? Just ask. Members can ask for anything and, if someone else is willing to give it up, receive it. There are some caveats though – there can’t be any bartering or trading, everything has to be legal and there can’t be any strings attached. Cherri Christiansen, who started her San Diego-based chapter in 2014, explains, “If someone is offering a mug, there’s no need to say I’ll trade you a hairbrush or I’ll give you this for that coffee mug, everything is gifted freely.”

She adds, “We grew to over 1,000 members within the first couple of years. We actually hit almost 2,000 and at that point, the group became so big, we split into smaller, more hyper local groups.” Not bad for having started with just one person in the group.

Rockefeller and Clark co-founded the project, which stems from a passion for volunteering and sharing. Clark asserts, “Most of us do have things we’re regularly throwing away or passing it on, whether clothes kids have outgrown or we’re an older couple and we want to downsize or simplifying and want to get rid of excess things or your dog dies and you have the materials and you’re not getting another dog.” It makes more sense than tossing them out onto a junk pile.