A post giving away a box of newborn clothes, an offer of mosaic tiles for someone’s art project, and an ask for plastic grocery bags for kitty litter are some of the recent posts on the Kingfield/East Harriet/Tangletown Buy Nothing group on Facebook that has over 3,000 members.

Free items like these will be available throughout the neighborhoods on Saturday, in conjunction with the Kingfield Garage Sale.

The Buy Nothing Sale essentially runs itself, with members adding their location to an interactive Google map and setting their own times for the May 10 sale.

Around 35 houses are participating in the free sale during the late morning through early evening and the Kingfield Garage Sale has 57 houses participating from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

A Google map of the Buy Nothing sale locations on May 10.

“As somebody who lives in the neighborhood, I end up bopping around looking for the free sales, stopping at the garage sales too, spending money,” Martha Garcés, the admin for the online group said. “I personally feel like there's room for everybody and it works really well.”

The neighborhoods-wide Buy Nothing group was launched in 2020 by Garcés after she joined the Bryant/Bancroft group across the freeway and wanted to form one for her own neighborhood. Most Buy Nothing groups that reach 3,000 people have splintered into smaller groups.

“I have just never wanted to do that,” Garcés said.

The group’s resistance to splintering and the socioeconomic diversity in the group are the two biggest reasons Garcés said for maintaining the large group.

Buy Nothing was started on the West Coast. The intention is to create hyperlocal groups to enable people to build relationships with neighbors through the exchange of items and goods and services for free and to ask for the things that you need (that’s where asking for plastic bags comes in).

In Buy Nothing groups, people can give or ask for goods, services, and people’s time. People are also welcome to show gratitude.

“It’s not about the stuff, it’s about the community,” Garcés said.

Heather Piper, another member of the Kingfield-area group, encourages people to join their neighborhood’s Buy Nothing group.

“Our community comes together no matter the needs or wants,” Piper said. “​​Where there is abundance, we have each other’s backs. Where there is need, we look out for each other.”