#Gifting #Money #Save #Community
As the saying goes, it is better to give than receive. This is the basic premise of a Gift Economy; a mode of exchange where valuables are given without expectation of immediate or future rewards.
Recently, there have been several initiatives that have been created, promoting these random acts of kindness locally, within communities, such as The Buy Nothing Project and The Freecycle Network. The purpose of these groups is to advocate gifting unwanted items to others who may need or want them within your community. Besides the wonderful feeling that giving to others provides us, there are many other benefits to joining a hyper-local gift economy. What are these benefits you may ask?
Get Rid of Your Clutter!
Looking for a reason to declutter your house? Getting rid of your unwanted stuff is a major reason why people join hyper-local gift economies. Because it is local, you don't have to contend with hauling your unwanted goods to thrift shops; people in your community will come to you, or you can meet them near by. Another bonus; you know who your belongings will go to.
Save Money
Remember when I said that giving is better than receiving? Obviously giving to others is awesome, but getting things for free is nice too, especially when it can help save you money. Everything from clothes to kitchen goods, you will be sure to find it through your hyper-local gift economy. Its like a treasure hunt; you never know what you will find!
Get To Know Your Neighbours
A hyper-local gift economy is about much more than giving and receiving; Its about connecting with your community. It is a way to get to know your neighbours, meet new people, interact with locals, and give back to your community.
Cut Down On Landfill Waste
One major driving-force behind a hyper-local gift economy is to help reduce unnecessary waste in our landfills trough reuse and upcycling. So often, perfectly good items with a lot of life left in them (such as furniture) get thrown out because people don't know what else to do with their unwanted things. Gifting is a perfect solution to this problem, because, after all, one person's trash is another person's treasure.
How Do I Get Involved?
Hyper-local gifting economy groups can be found online, such as The Freecycle Network. Many groups can also be found on Facebook. You can find a local Buy Nothing group through Facebook by searching here or start your own group here. There are also many other groups created by individuals for their communities too, so be sure to search!
Are you a part of a gifting economy? Please feel free to share other groups or initiatives!
What Girls & Guys Said
Opinion
1Opinion
Hilarious.
When something is free, the receiver does not value it. Just a little cost and it is worth so much more.
the idiocy of your statement.
Does a person have a use for something? Do they enjoy using it? Then the price tag doesn't matter. The idea that it needs to have a monetary cost attached to it to have any value to a person is fucking ridicolous I enjoyed a certain sight at work today on my lunchbreak, a simple stop and taking a look at the scenary and I loved it, it wouldn't be any more valuable to me if I had to pay to see it.
@Waffles731
Let me guess: You have never had an economics class.
I have actually, and my grandfather taught economics at the university of Utah in salt lake
Monetary wise, something is worth what people will pay for it, but there are other kinds of worth to an item than monetary
@Waffles731
Then you would know that everything can be mapped to economic value.
I read a funny story years ago about this group that gave away free turkeys at Thanksgiving. People were lined up around the block. They ran out. The following year, they charged $3, which is a great deal for a turkey. The line evaporated.
'Then you would know that everything can be mapped to economic value.'
Economics say yes, sociology and psychology say no
@Waffles731
Sociology and psychology are as worthless as astrologers.
that's really funny considering that economics gets lumped in the same group by the hard sciences...
hell, Economics is at the very bottom of the barrel sciences wise. A physicist or engineer is more likely to respect Psychology or sociology than economics
@Waffles731
I am an engineer. I am awfully good at physics too.
Then you would obviously know that economics is about the softest science there is, hell some branches of psychology are pretty hard such as neuropsych or biopsych
Furthermore its prudent to piint out that if sociology is useless then economics is ad well considering that it is merely a subset of sociology that focuses on only one part of human society
@Waffles731
Boy, you are stretching it.
I am not, that's what economics is, just a subset of sociology that focuses so let on the economic aspect of human society
@Waffles731
Are you sure you've had economics? Because you don't sound like it.
I have,
Very cool! I'll have to look into this