The "Bag A Week" Club

Yesterday I got rid of some ancient jigsaw puzzles via my Buynothing group.

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I’ve been doing a carload to the thrift stores just about every week. It is getting toward the end of my mother’s house (not the end, NEAR the end) I have almost an entire garage of stuff including some furniture that MIGHT go to the consignment store or if not, to the buy nothing list.

I’m getting a little tired of the thrift stores as their prices have really gone up this year and while it does help their organization, I like to contribute stuff to also help the community.

I’ve given away some Christmas stuff but I know there is still more in the shed outside. I have a whole set of crystal (water, wine, flutes) that my friend got in Europe (I think Prague) but they are very small compared to what Americans would set a table with. I have moved them to many states, but it is time to give them away

So yes, quiet on this list but not in life.

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And this counts as getting rid of stuff. I have a boatload of fleece fabric and even though I made some blankets and gave the away to immigrants 2 years ago, I still have a boatload left. Children’s hospital asked for tied blankets. I don’t really like to make them, but I got a group I belong to do to them as a service project. I will prep/cut them into 2 matching pieces about 1.5 or 2 yards and then on March 15 we’ll meet to cut and tie them.

And I’ll get a lot of space back!

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What are tied blankets?

I’m assuming she means the fleece blankets many of us made with our kids in like the 2000’s where you have two rectangles or squares, cut like a fringe on the edges and then tie those off making the two pieces into one.

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Yep, that’s what Children’s hospital wants. I think I have about 60 (YES 60!) yards of fleece (although not all has a matching back piece) so we can make about 15-60 blankets.

Oh the space I’ll gain! At my old house I had a room that looked like a mini JoAnn’s store. Here I have a room for crafts, but not as big and I don’t want that much stuff.

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Shredded several old tax returns and supporting documents. I still have the required 7 years, but these were from several years before that.

My Ridwell pickup is collecting towels this week. I have 2 bags of old towels in good shape, I just don’t need that many.

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I’ve been helping to clean out a relative’s place. Just a small one bedroom apartment, but oh my there is soooo much stuff. Thankfully there is a liquor store with free boxing, a welcoming thrift store a few miles away, various charity clothing bins around town… and big dumpster. Much stuff has also come back to the family vacation condo, at least for now.

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I started prying lids off old mostly used cans of paint that H has had stored in our garage for years/decades in case he needs to do touch ups :roll_eyes:. Many were already dried out solid chunks. Others I poured into cat litter and left out to dry. Then all can be disposed of with household trash in our landfill. It’s a start to the big garage clear out.

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Are you sure the paint can be disposed of if dried? Here you have to take it all to recycling (and any store that sells paint has to participate in recycling). Some other things like varnish have to be taken to special recycling places.

Here the recycling centers will take oil based paint but will tell you to dry out the water-based latex ones and throw in the trash. They refused to take the 5 gallon bucket of latex paint that the previous owners of the house left in the garage… it was a beast to dry! :laughing:

(These owners left a lot of junk in the detached garage and conveniently “forgot” to leave us a key at closing. My husband disposed of some electronics that were in that pile… then we got a call from the seller’s realtor that they wanted the rented Dish equipment back. :laughing: Sorry, folks. Shoulda cleaned better before moving!)

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This weekend I got rid of a perfectly good full bed set. In great condition metal headboard and frame and a next to new pillow top mattress and box springs. We upgraded one of our guest bedrooms (that our daughter/husband stay in) with a new queen bed and mattress.
While I knew that the full set was worth some $, my main priority was to just have it GONE. Posted it on our neighborhood FB group and it was pending in 15 mins and picked up and put our door an hour later. A dad and his 16 year old son came and got it and the son was getting the set - finally getting out of his childhood twin bed. He was SO excited.

Win win. The family got a next to new bed set and I didn’t have to lift a thing and cleared the room for the new set! Would have not been worth waiting around for someone to offer $40 bucks for it. People like FREE.

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That’s a great story @abasket . One of the reasons I love Buy Nothing and neighborhood FB group giving is knowing that someone really wants/ can use what you no longer need.

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I have one they can have!

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Every morning I get an email announcing FREE things that my neighbors are giving away – from Nextdoor or Patch or one of those. I usually click on it to see what’s there. I’m amazed when I scroll down that people are trying to SELL things for like $2 or $5 – things like costume jewelry, out-of-date clothes, old shoes. Why bother, for goodness sake?? No one wants to pay money – even small amounts! – for your unwanted junk.

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I have seen comments that seller charge a very low amount to ensure the buyer indeed shows up at a precise agreed to time for money exchange. I guess psychologically freebie stuff less valued(?)

Those sellers (like me) probably get tired of having the freebie stuff out on the front stoop, not picked up. Sometimes it involves bring it back inside out of the bad weather at night etc.

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I don’t disagree with you but I also have to wonder if this is how desperate some households are for $. To try and sell even the most basic or imperfect or “cheap” items to make a little money. I think that is definitely the case on some of our neighborhood groups.

We all have to decide where we draw the line on giving away/donating or trying to make some cash for our unwanted products.

I think the same when I see over the top prices for items.

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Yes.Thats what it says on the landfill/ recycling center website. This was all latex paint. There are some mostly full oil based paints that I don’t want to deal with at the moment that I may have to take elsewhere. I feel like they will be hard to dry out in cat litter and I hate the smell of them, even outside. Or that may be an H job.

When we cleaned out the basement before moving, I took all my half cans of latex paint and left them open in the shed for a few days (far enough away from the house that we did not smell it). They hardened enough to go in the regular trash. The cans of varnish I just left for the next owner (they had been used in the house and matched trim.)

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I had a lovely mirror I owned for probably 20 years, but never took out of the box. I gave it to the first person who requested it, for free. BUT, I waited days and didn’t get a response from him, so I said I was moving on to the next person. Next thing I know I get a note saying they’d been in the hospital with their new baby. THAT was a valid excuse :slight_smile:

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