I have been watching our local Buy Nothing a few months and finally posted an item,a desktop globe. Sigh… now I remember why I stopped doing Freecycle and donate to ARC.
A few hours after my photo-less post, somebody said - “I’d love it and can pick up tomorrow!” Sounded good, so I messaged her my address and cell/text number. The next day she texted request for photo and condition, which I sent promptly. (I said good and was honest that it was a bit dusty… which I only noticed when taking photo. She said, “Ahh I really want it but I feel like I should let the next person have it becaue I don’t necessarily neeeed it. Haha! I appreciate you sending pics tho. Sorry to waste any time!”
It is nice she was polite, and there was indeed a NIL (next in line) who did pickup tonight. NIL lady did not request photo (which I would have added on day2 if no takers) and is happy to have it for her guest room.
@Colorado_mom - That’s a bummer. But I always include a photo/photos in my post. In addition, I include any information I anticipate people asking. For example, when I posted a fireplace screen recently I measured it and included that information on the post.
I think a good practice on the “free, buy nothing” groups is to state no holds, put items on porch, when it’s gone it’s gone. Update your post once it’s gone to indicate it’s no longer available.
Some people can just be difficult shoppers. I remember when my daughter had outgrown her plastic indoor slide, I put up a sign in the local supermarket to sell it (this was way before facebook markets). I had a woman call and come and look at it (it was in perfect condition - was only used inside). She said she needed to think about it and would get back to me. A day later another woman called. She came - very pregnant, with a toddler in tow, handed me cash, picked up the slide and carried it out to her minivan - all in five minutes.
I see the advantage of no-hold porch giveaways, but it seems like it could cause waste of time and gas. (But not as much as in the old freecycle days, before so much cellphone web access). On our BuyNothing, per moderator encouragement to help out people who are not watching Facebook constantly, some items get posted and the the giver does random pick (if multiple responders) after a day. Not sure I have any items valuable enough to justify that approach, seems like a pain.
Yes, it is definitely helpful to post pictures and dimensions. In my case above I thought perhaps a home-school family might be in need of a globe, would not be picky. I deferred posting photo because it requires a bit of a dance (photo on iphone, email to self, detach for use at Chromebook because I don’t do Facebook on iphone… BUT based on this discussion I just experimented with taking photo directly on Chromebook, and that would be easier).
What irked me is that the first BuyNothing responder did not ask for photo, just wanted to claim it for pick up the next day. This was my response after she declined - “OK. Surprised you responded so quickly and enthusiastically. Will check with Dana/NIL”.
Since I’ve been the benefactor of free items, I try to occasionally offer free things as well. I like the idea of giving away items to the local neighborhood, but have had such mixed experiences.
Usually, when I try to either sell, or give things away locally, I’ll always get questions about size, color, condition, etc., even when it was clearly stated on the post. Or the first person who claimed the item never comes. Or I’ll be asked to reduce the cost on a $10 item, that’s worth $25 used. Not worth the time, unless you enjoy the process.
It is so much easier to donate to a resale shop that has a charitable component. I have several donation boxes, and when they are full enough, will make a run.
I swear this is my husband’s thinking. I need to send this to my kids!
I am starting a slow clean out in hopes of a move within the next year.
My style/strategy: bring an empty box home from work, clean out a cupboard, fill box, take to Goodwill or offer up on free sites.
Husband’s strategy: first, do nothing. Then, buy more stuff. Then, take some of the stuff in the attic which we do not need (old furniture he planned to refinish over the last 3-4 decades) and bring it to son’s house down the road and put in his attic. UGH.
I am finding clutter cleanup gets slower and slower once you get the obvious stuff done. There is so much we probably SHOULD get rid of, but we have the space, and no move scheduled, so it’s harder to make the tough decisions. I have been shredding old paperwork lately. So 1 box takes awhile, but at least someone else won’t have to do it later.
If your house doesn’t feel cluttered and it’s not a health hazard and there’s nothing that screams, “Throw me out!,” then I think you’re in great shape. There’s no requirement to purge down to the bare minimum.
Same here. What I have been doing (even more so after helping friends with a quick downsize/move) is trying to organize/group things better by category. For example, trying to get most of the kid toys under stairs in unfinished basement. Hopefully that will make it easier someday when we do need to reduce more.
One of H’s friends came by yesterday. Like H, he likes to build/repair things and H offered to let him take some tools and other stuff from the workshop. We are not planning to move this stuff so this is a good way to get rid of some of it.
I agree. If I am having trouble deciding, it helps me to think someone else would actually benefit more from having “it” than I do. That helped me get rid of quite a few clothes as I was nearing retirement. (Of course now I’m working a little and I don’t have a lot of choices, but that’s fine).
My categorize strategy has paid off. One small bag of sentimental-ish items passed on to a good new home.
The Long Story: While on a neighborhood walk to day, I started chatting with a family I don’t know about their enormous sunflower plant. The daughter had a Tshirt for the middle school, and I asked if she’d like some old ones from my kids. I had been wearing them occasionally (I am small), but I have WAY too many Tshirts and had collected some of the old kid ones in daughter’s old dresser. I saw two elementary school Tshirts there too… and YAY, the girl was happy to take all four Tshirts. Win-Win… and it gave me a chance to talk longer with that nice family (who had been there 19 years), discuss her high school options.
I’ve pivoted to a “box a week” - or more - to Goodwill. I have access to boxes at work so I bring one home, when I have time, load it up and drop off to Goodwill At least once a week. I feel better about donating there than just tossing stuff in the trash. Most of it is not stuff we need but still in usable shape. How many mugs does one need? Also trying yo narrow down my cooking /baking items - I really don’t need 5 glass pie plates!
One of the cities nearby has a community center that focuses on helping the neediest of families. I saw in their latest newsletter that they were collecting school supplies and it inspired me to clean out a tote of things I had bought over the years that didn’t end up being used. I brought 10 packages of loose leaf paper, a gallon size bag of unsharpened pencils, brand new erasers, unopened kid scissors, new boxes of crayons and colored pencils and I even found a brand new LLBean backpack that I had monogrammed and DD thought it was too small. I used a seam ripper to remove the monogram and you couldn’t even tell it had been there.
