I’ve had a lot of luck (and flakes! a few flakey people, but we’ll touch on that later) posting on my local Buy Nothing page on Facebook.
If you aren’t a member of that type of page, search for a group that has your town name and “buy nothing” or “free page”. ‘Buy Nothing’ is a way of life, “free pages” can be full of scams, but generally, in your community you can find something that works for you. To join, you often answer a few questions about Local Landmarks, or your general address… If you agree to the rules of the page, etc., a Moderator will approve you and let you join the group.
There are different rules and norms for each group, but our page likes to indicate “porch pick up” when the giver won’t be around, or doesn’t want to deal, but encourages actually meeting the “neighbor” face to face to foster the spirit of community.
I have given away a juicer that I listed *in full disclosure* might or might not work… and maybe someone just wanted it for parts; but I was sick of looking at it gathering dust in my pantry. I’ve given away kids toys and knickknacks, answered ISO (“in search of”) calls for families in need, and just regular people who didn’t want to give money to a store, but instead, meet a neighbor. I’ve *asked* for a floor lamp (and what a lovely one I got!), said ‘yes! I’d love to be considered for those Pokémon cards your older son is giving away…my 4 year old would love them’.
The whole experience is fun and feels great. OK, maybe not the *whole* experience… there are flakey sorts out there, and sometimes, even I jump at something that maybe I don’t actually want and have to navigate my way out of it. But, with more involvement, it becomes easier to see who might be wasting your time or how to gracefully move on to the next interested party, without stepping on any toes. Overall, meeting people and giving & receiving free stuff with neighbors had been an awesome experience, and at the risk of revealing my “secret source”, evangelizing about these sites brings awareness to a pretty neat movement, that if it can’t totally change our materialistic consumer mindset, it can shift it, to a very cool environmentally and neighborly better place.
— Summer
Summer Darrow is a writer and graphic designer based in eastern Washington state.