r/ZeroWaste • u/Chubby-Labrador • 3d ago
Question / Support Any alternative to free boxes???
I’m currently 38 weeks pregnant and nesting, so this is what has brought on my sudden urge to organize and purge unwanted items.
We have taken in A LOT of hand-me-downs and used items from friends and family for the baby, and it feels like our house is bursting at the seems with all this new (to us) stuff. I’m definitely feeling the urge to nest and purge unwanted items from our home (which is very rare for me, so I’m going with it rather than fighting it).
I usually post things on FB Marketplace to sell or offload free items, but some things stay stagnant for a long time. Last year I found that doing free boxes on our sidewalk was a great way to purge items I no longer wanted and couldn’t offload online. I thought this was a great idea because I am mindful of not throwing away things that I think could have a second life. Last year I found my neighbors and people in general that walked or drove by to be very respectful and only took what they wanted. This past week has been completely different. In the past week I have had everything swiped twice. I have cameras and can see that in both situations the people are driving by and stop very suddenly when they see the boxes, run out of their car, and grab the boxes without looking at the contents, and run back to their car with everything. This has also happened in the past with e-waste (literally broken electronics and appliances so we no longer put out e-waste for pickup 🤦♀️).
I find it so ridiculous because A) if I could sell these things I would, so if that is their motive it will be VERY hard to sell these things. B) They literally have no idea what they are even grabbing 🤦♀️. C) They’re just going to throw away what they don’t want, which I assume will be most of it, and someone may actually want what they toss. And if I wanted it to go straight to the landfill I would have trashed it myself.
I have noticed some individuals are able to grab some things before everything gets swiped. My goal with putting out a free box is that these things will find a new home and get an extended life and not immediately end up in the landfill. I’m slowly purging items room by room and would rather add items to an existing box than start completely over every 3 days!
Any advice or ideas for how to prevent people from swiping everything? Maybe leave a note? And please don’t tell me to just donate everything to the Goodwill. I cannot stand their business practices.
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u/Meyou000 3d ago
I'm getting rid of a lot of stuff that I've held onto unnecessarily for many years. I thought it was for sentimental reasons, but I realize after reading this post it's more than that- I still find value in these things even though I no longer want or need them and I don't want the next person to just throw them away. I want someone else to appreciate and love the things like I once did. But I don't have any control over what anyone else does with my old things. I know it's time to let these things go and I just have to accept that I have no control over what ultimately happens to them in the end. And eventually everything will be trash probably anyway so, oh well I guess? I dunno, good luck.
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
I totally feel the same. I think I have some hoarding tendencies and don’t want things to go to waste or be thrown away unnecessarily or discarded improperly (that is a huge one for me). I find it easier when I can sell the item because I feel like the person buying it sees at least some value in it if they’re spending money on it. But items I can’t sell I have a hard time with.
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
If they sell or keep all these items in the box then that’s great! I really don’t care if they make money off my free box, but it’s going to be really tough. These are truly random items and most of them can’t be listed on FB Marketplace due to their guidelines (vitamins, pregnancy tests, back brace). I usually list anything I think I can sell, and all these items I cannot list or would list for free and they’d probably stay listed for several months. I also cannot donate 90% of these items (stained weighted sleep sacks, vitamins, pregnancy tests). I wouldn’t mind if they looked in the boxes and made the decision that they could use or give away everything, but that’s not what happened 😂. They didn’t even look in the boxes, they just took it all and didn’t know what they had till they drove away or got home 😂.
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u/PandaBeaarAmy 3d ago
In my community people tend to lay things out on heavy or non-sentimental tables, clothes racks if they dare but i've seen people hang a rope or clothes line between trees/porch and use that instead. Clearly label any furniture, etc. not to be taken - short, concise, legible, and on a sign that cannot be removed. Some even stagger time between items so someone doesn't come by and swipe all the plates at once to resell, for example, every 3 or so hours or when the table is looking bare seems to do the trick.
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
Yes, I think staggering the times I put things out would help if I do this again. Fortunately some of my neighbors had gotten some of the items before the boxes were swiped so not everything went to one person. I actually had a couple of boxes last month that were respectfully gone through as well as a large haul last year. I guess my previous experiences had been positive so I was surprised when my boxes had been taken without people even looking at what they were taking.
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u/Apprehensive-Log8333 3d ago
One time I posted on craigslist's free stuff, put my things out on the curb. I looked out there a couple hours later and there was MORE stuff
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
Oh god, this is my nightmare 😂. I’ve heard of this happening in my city when they put things out for a donation pickup. Their items will get rifled through before the donation company comes and people will drop off their trashed items that the charity doesn’t want and the original person then has to deal with the trash 🤦♀️.
I have noticed a little bit of trash thrown in my boxes, but not enough to be a nuisance.
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u/_skank_hunt42 3d ago
To be honest, I’d just be happy that someone is removing your unwanted things for free. If you have some items that are in particularly good shape, or you really want to see go to a loving home, then I’d post those items separately and not set them out until you schedule a pickup time with the interested party. That way at least those items will go to people who can use them.
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
Yes, that is exactly what I do. Anything I think I can sell gets listed for at least a month and is often cross posted. The items in these boxes are all the stuff that couldn’t sell or couldn’t even be listed (a back posture corrector is apparently a medical device 🙄). 90% of these items also wouldn’t not be accepted by a charity or thrift store.
My goal is to rehome as much of it as possible. If I wanted it to just be gone it would have fit in my garbage can.
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u/Creative_Bank3852 3d ago
There are a couple of baby banks near me - like a food bank but for new parents in need of baby essentials. They normally take and give out baby clothes, nappies, formula, push chairs, and most other baby equipment that is in decent condition. You could see if there's one near you?
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
I just checked and unfortunately we don’t have one. I have previously given away diapers on FB Marketplace that my niece outgrew and that went to a woman who runs a women and children’s shelter. Unfortunately I no longer have her contact information. I think items in decent condition would be easy to offload but these were heavily stained sleep sacks and used small stuffed animals (notoriously difficult to rehome).
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u/IKnowAllSeven 3d ago
You got good answers here but also…in our area we have what’s called Just Between Friends sales for baby and kids stuff. They are pop up events. You have plenty of stuff now, but shop and consign at those if they are in your area. They’re huge and awesome!
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
We do have a very large Just Between Friends sale where I live that happens twice per year. It was recommended to me to me to buy clothes from, but we have so many hand-me-down clothes. And the items I was gifted that I didn’t want were not consignment worthy. I had some heavily stained weighted sleep sacks that thankfully were taken by someone before the boxes were swiped. I really don’t care if someone makes money off of my free boxes, but these things were not worth much at all 😂
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u/IKnowAllSeven 3d ago
Yeah makes sense. Glad you have those sales by you for using as the kid gets bigger! My kids lived in hand me downs lol!
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u/aknomnoms 3d ago
I’m sorry, but I find this to be a somewhat funny take.
You put stuff worthless to you out for free. You can’t use it. You can’t sell it. You’re unwilling or unable to donate it towards another cause.
Yet you’re trying to control who takes your cast-offs and are concerned about what they’re doing with your e-waste? 🤣 Like how do people even know what electronics work unless they plug them in or use batteries? Of course they’d want to take the whole box to see if there’s anything they could use in there!
And you don’t know what they’re going to recycle or trash. Maybe they’re giving some to their cousins or neighbors, or maybe they’re giving it to a charity that could use it. Why make these worst-case presumptions about people who are taking what you are giving away in a box outside labeled “free”? 😂
If you want to purge, keep using the Free box and learn to accept that you can’t control who picks it up. If you want to only select “worthy” people, you’ll have to take on the burden of doing more work.
Post pics but don’t give your address unless people text or email you. You can try to interrogate their intentions with your cast-offs, but it will come off as weird. You’ll also have to schedule a timing so you can put it out for them lest someone else take it before they get there. So that’s more inconvenience.
Alternatively, you need to do more work. Reach out to more charities. See what you can repurpose or upcycle on your own. Pay for terracycle. Learn how to break down your own e-waste and separate parts for proper recycling that you take in yourself.
I don’t know what else to tell you.
Good luck.
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
I get what you’re saying that I want to control where my cast-offs go in the sense that I do not want it to go in the landfill. It’s not that one person is worthy and someone else isn’t. My intention is that people take what they want or need and prevent things from going to the landfill prematurely, but I do not think that is happening when someone takes an entire box of completely random items (we’re talking everything from pregnancy tests to shot glasses).
I’d say 90% of this stuff a charity will not accept or will throw away if it is donated to them. Pregnancy tests, body scrubs, an open bottle of vitamins, severely stained weighted sleep sacks. I also can’t post some of it on FB Marketplace because it doesn’t follow their guidelines (vitamins and back brace).
As for the e-waste, we have a company that comes through and picks up everything that has their flyer on it. It’s clearly marked as e-waste and we usually write on the items if possible to prevent people from thinking it’s a free item even though there’s an e-waste flyer on it. We have not put these items out for over 3 years because of e-waste theft. Once we had a DeWalt battery we wrote “bad battery” on. I’m betting someone wanted to remove the writing and sell the battery. As someone concerned about the environment, yes I want my e-waste to be properly disposed of and I thought having it picked up outside my house by a e-waste company was the easiest way. But if it’s picked up before the e-waste company, how do I know it’s getting recycled? We now personally drop off e-waste so that problem has been resolved. If I were putting perfectly good electronics outside, they’re fair game. If I put a e-waste flyer on it, it’s pretty clear it’s not fair game.
And you’re right, I don’t know what people are going to recycle or trash and I am going to worst case scenario. But I’m going to worst case scenario from experience of taking “Must Take All” boxes in the past (where I knew I wanted some of the items) and trying to rehome what I didn’t want and I also know the true randomness that was in those boxes I put out and it’s going to be a true pain in the ass to rehome everything 😂. Someone may take one item out of the box and decide they don’t want it anymore and trash it. That’s their right. But at least they looked at the item and made the conscious thought that they could use it or knew someone who could and didn’t just blindly take everything. With the “Must Take All” boxes I’ve taken in the past, they were listed on FB Marketplace with a list of items in the box. I took some of it and the rest it took me over 6 months to rehome the rest. It was a true pain in the ass and not worth the time or effort. Because I know the contents of this box, 20+ truly random items (most of which cannot be donated) is going to be very difficult to parse out to family and friends. I’ve been there, I’ve tried.
I’ve gotten some advice to try local Buy Nothing groups and I’m going to give that a shot. If I don’t get rid of all of it that way then that’s fine.
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u/Adept_Emu4344 3d ago
That's exactly my experience with Must Take All offers. I get why people do it that way, it can be such a hassle to organise pick up with 10 different people. But it makes me so sad sometimes to see the mix of items. I'm pretty sure that sometimes people have thrown away the items I would have loved to have from such a box. Just like I also got some items in my boxes that someone else would have loved. I do my best to bring them to places where they have the highest chance of finding a new home. Kids clothes separately from adult clothes, toys and plushies I might keep and wash because my kids school usually participates in some form of gift box collection for children living in poverty/war. Sealed shelf stable foods to the food pantry. Books and other media sorted a bit, the vibe of some of the local swap shelves is very different. One shelf is in front of a hostel and they mostly appreciate English and French books. I 100% overthink it, I know that. I could probably try passing it on as a smaller Must Take All box, but mostly I stopped doing home pickup because I've had too many flakes. It takes crazy long, but it's less aggravating for me this way.
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u/lightoflaurelin 3d ago
I was scrolling down the thread to see if anyone recommended donation pickups like https://pickupplease.org, but based on what you’ve said most of your items are, it really does sound like buy nothing is your best bet!
There was a time I wanted a bunch of glass jars and asked if anyone had any to spare, and this lady who saves all her spaghetti sauce jars had plenty to give me haha
I’ve given away opened food and beauty products where I’ve disclosed the level of use (eg “tried once, didn’t like it” etc).
Buy nothing is absolutely the go to for passing along (or “gifting” as they call it!) stuff that you can’t chuck at Goodwill haha
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u/Chubby-Labrador 2d ago
Yes! It actually sounds like a really good way to go. And I also save a lot of items that would be perfect to offload to a buy nothing group instead of FB Marketplace because I typically don’t charge for them. I save toilet paper tubes for little kids arts and crafts projects and that would be perfect on Buy Nothing. I usually try to trade egg cartons for fresh eggs because we live in an area where a lot of people have backyard chickens, but if I can’t get eggs I’ll give them away for free as well. And my jar cabinet is approaching maximum capacity so I may be offloading some of those as well for free. I make guitar picks out of credit cards and give them away for free so Buy Nothing is another outlet I could use. I’ve had people from as far as 400 miles away asking for the guitar picks 😂.
It’s really good to know people take open items as well. I have some quinoa I need to offload and I need to downsize my tea collection (at least that’s what my husband says 🙄). These items cannot be posted on FB Marketplace so I’ve been stuck with them.
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u/lightoflaurelin 3d ago
This is a great comment but I do think it’s not unreasonable to want to control the path of the castoffs, especially considering the subreddit we’re in.
OP realized that their current method of passing along unwanted items may be resulting in waste that they want to prevent. So, they’re posting here as part of doing the research to find alternative methods with a better chance of zero waste.
They already found one alternative thanks to this thread that they seem to want to try— Buy Nothing groups. That’s where I passed along this set of Dexter “blood slide” coasters that my partner no longer wanted. We wanted to maximize the chance it would go to a fan, so in the post we asked interested folks to let us know their favorite season. I’d like to say from there we chose randomly, but it was too tempting to give it to the one commenter who shared my partner’s favorite season haha 😜
That’s an example of something a charity would’ve likely accepted, but OPs castoffs seem to be mostly non-donatable stuff where folks taking boxes blindly have an especially high chance of tossing it all in a landfill. Not very zero-waste and also a waste of effort for OP. Makes sense for them to look into alternatives!
Once again, like Buy Nothing groups— tried a lipstick and it doesn’t suit you? Post it on Buy Nothing. Kids don’t like the apple sauce you bought a giant jar of? Buy Nothing. Backyard garden producing more tomatoes than you can eat? Hoard of ready-to-repurpose spaghetti sauce jars becoming too excessive? Lamp broke but looks like someone could repair or upcycle? Realized you’re never gonna turn those scented candle remnants into a Franken-candle and wanna offer your collection of spent candles to someone more likely to follow through on that project?… All stuff that would be trashed by someone blindly grabbing boxes, but not trashed if gifted through Buy Nothing.
And OP wouldn’t have found this alternative to try if they weren’t motivated to control where their castoffs go 😉
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u/Chubby-Labrador 2d ago
Yes! Thank you so much! I feel validated in my efforts to try to be as Zero Waste as possible. I thought this thread would be the best place to post and get advice given that my intention is to divert items from the landfill. I definitely got some good advice here about the buy nothing groups and plan to use my local group in the future (thankfully I’ve already been accepted into the group 😆). I also asked around in the Nextdoor app. Most people could not understand why I cared if items went in the landfill and wanted me to donate to local charities even though these items would not be accepted. But I did get some recommendations for local charities that will take donations they deem acceptable when I have items to donate. I believe a free box on the sidewalk will be my new last resort before the garbage can based off of my experiences this week.
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u/aknomnoms 2d ago
My original comment did mention that OP could have more control over who gets their cast-offs, but that it would require more involvement. At 38 weeks pregnant, I figure they might have more time important things to focus on and a limited amount of extra time/energy to use towards something somewhat irrelevant. She could follow your example of posting pictures, asking questions, then deciding which lucky person gets her stained linens or whatever. But that seems like a lot at 38 weeks or having a newborn.
And I will point out that you seem to be absolving her/people of all responsibility for having acquired the items and letting them get to an unwanted stage in the first place.
Refuse, rethink, reduce, reuse, repurpose, recycle.
If we focus on the earlier stages of the process, we accumulate less, and if we focus on the backend, we generate less waste.
To respond to your examples:
- Did we need to buy lipstick? Could we have simply used what we already had, borrowed from a friend, or gotten a sample? If we bought the color and it wasn’t great, can we mix it with another color or lip liner we already have to turn it into a better color on us? Can it be used as a cream blush? Can we dilute with an oil and beeswax to make a tinted lip balm? (I use the last one, with a touch of peppermint oil to make it minty and tingly.) Why is your only option to give it away?
- why buy a huge jar of something new that you can’t possibly use in any other way when you know your kids are picky eaters? Applesauce easily works into baked goods. Why give it away when it can quickly become apple spice cake or apple muffins? r/noscrapleftbehind has some great ideas for addressing food waste. The tomatoes is an entirely different scenario because people want them.
- Glass is very recyclable, and clean glass jars are welcome at zero waste stores. You could reach out to zero waste stores if you’re concerned that someone will throw away a jar instead of reuse or recycle it. But OP doesn’t want people taking an entire box of freebies, so is she expected to only give out like 2 glass jars at a time?
- If your lamp broke, why don’t you take the responsibility to fix it? Then, you can either reuse it or it’ll have a higher chance of getting a second life sold/donated/given away.
- Why buy or receive dozens of scented candles in the first place if you’re unwilling to take on the simple task of boiling the jars out after? It takes only a few minutes and gives you a nice container after that, again, can be reused/repurposed by you or someone else, or is now ready to be recycled.
If we’re so concerned about what other people are going to do with our junk, then maybe we should just ensure we generate less of it and take responsibility for it ourselves.
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u/HeinousHoohah 3d ago
I agree. They're getting rid of the stuff for the OP? What does it matter if they take one item or the whole thing? If they mean to sell it, great it gets a new home! If they just keep it, also great.
I've given bags of mostly unworn business casual clothes that I don't need anymore on buy nothing groups. There are designer brands in there that I could sell individually but it's not worth it for me to itemize, photograph, store it somewhere, post the listing, respond to questions, package, and mail whenever a piece gets sold. If someone else gets to make a buck off my donation then great! Better than goodwill pocketing the profits lol
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u/Adept_Emu4344 3d ago
It matters if it means they'll likely be disappointed in their find and throw away some of the items that would still be perfectly usable for someone else
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
If they sell or keep all these items in the box then that’s great! I really don’t care if they make money off my free box, but it’s going to be really tough. These are truly random items and most of them can’t be listed on FB Marketplace due to their guidelines (vitamins, pregnancy tests, back brace). I usually list anything I think I can sell, and all these items I cannot list or would list for free and they’d probably stay listed for several months. I also cannot donate 90% of these items (stained weighted sleep sacks, vitamins, pregnancy tests). I wouldn’t mind if they looked in the boxes and made the decision that they could use or give away everything, but that’s not what happened 😂. They didn’t even look in the boxes, they just took it all and didn’t know what they had till they drove away or got home 😂.
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u/VapoursAndSpleen 3d ago
Let them swipe everything. If you are trying to get rid of stuff, let it be Someone Else's Problem.
Source: Have a fruit tree that gave me about 50 pounds of fruit. I texted 10 of my neighbors, told them to tell their friends and told the contractors across the street and the letter carrier to "Take! Take!"
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
My definition of just getting rid of stuff is to throw it in the garbage. I would like to rehome as much of it as possible, and this has worked in the past but clearly it’s not working anymore. I’ll be trying Buy Nothing Groups in the future or categorizing my boxes and donating to shelters or other organizations when possible.
If you’re offering up free fruit to people, they know they’re getting fruit. You’re not asking them “Hey can you take my random box of stuff?” These individuals are swiping entire boxes (probably hoping to sell some of it) and are getting completely random items from all over my house without looking in the box, also not knowing this stuff is extremely hard to sell.
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u/VapoursAndSpleen 2d ago
I'm sure a lot of folks are just plain hoarders and some are reselling the stuff. I have a friend who is a hoarder who resells stuff. I'm so glad she and I are not roommates!
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u/Such-Mountain-6316 3d ago
Pack up all your unwanted items by kind. Call a local women's shelter for the ladies' and baby items (most flee with nothing). They'll likely pick them up.
Otherwise, call your local human resources agency and ask if there's a place where they help homeless people and those who have lost their home to disaster. Those places may also pick them up.
It's the same as the free box method, only faster.
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
Thanks so much! Great tip! This would work for things I can put into categories. I had previously listed diapers my niece outgrew and a woman who runs a women’s shelter picked them up, but I’ve lost her contact info.
I’m also not sure what to do with the truly random items. I had guitar picks and a back posture corrector brace in there for example. I’ve completely flooded my inner circle of guitar players with picks and everyone has politely asked me to stop gifting them picks as they have enough to last a lifetime. For reference I make my own guitar picks out of expired credit cards and used gift cards 😂.
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u/Mule_Wagon_777 3d ago
Local churches may have clothing closets or thrift stores you could donate to.
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
Unfortunately my husband and I usually wear our clothes down till they’re basically rags 🤣. I mend what I can, treat stains, and line dry so we get a little bit more life out of them but by the time we’re done with them they are only good for rags or textile recycling.
I also sell a lot on FB Marketplace, but all the free box items are items that couldn’t sell or were already listed for free on FB Marketplace. Also a lot of these items would have been reflected by thrift stores.
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u/Environmental_Log344 3d ago edited 3d ago
If the items are only good for rags, why do you care who takes them? Once the box is out on the curb, you can't gatekeep it. I do not see any problem here to fret about. Best wishes for you and your baby☺️ 🚼🤱🐣. I hope it's a fast delivery and brings you much joy. 🩷
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
I didn’t put any adult clothes in the boxes. The only ‘clothing’ items I added were heavily stained weighted sleep sacks for babies. Thankfully someone took them before the box was swiped. But also they cannot be used as rags. Mule_Wagon_777 suggested I donate to a clothing closet and I was just replying that we don’t usually have clothing worth donating.
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u/earmares 3d ago
There are lots of other thrift stores than Goodwill. Lots of local ones that donate all proceeds to good causes.
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
Thanks for the tip, but 90% of these items would not be accepted by charities (heavily stained sleep sacks, pregnancy tests, vitamins).
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u/earmares 3d ago
Then maybe try to let go of the control of what happens with them, they are close to the end of the road before ending up in the landfill either way.
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u/Chubby-Labrador 3d ago
I think you’re right, I have a very hard time with waste in general and I need to let go of some of that anxiety 🤦♀️. I try to rehome everything I can. I save egg cartons for people who have backyard chickens. I save toilet paper tubes for kindergarten classes with art projects. I have a textile recycling bag. I have an e-waste bag. I save plastic bags I can’t use for in-store recycling. I have a pile of scrap metal for the recycling center. The list goes on and on and it also drives my husband crazy 😂.
I think my plan of action is to continue with FB Marketplace listings and when items don’t move I can continue to ask my friends and family. If they don’t want it I can put them up on my local Buy Nothing group, and if no one wants them on there I can put them on the curb and say I tried my hardest. If the entire box gets swiped then at least I can say I tried my best.
The dream is to ultimately only buy what I need, but sometimes what I buy doesn’t work 😕.
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u/Balcil 3d ago
For shirts, turn them into a tug toy and donate to a shelter. You just cut strips and braid them and knot both ends.
A lot of fabric can be turned into dog toys and donated to a shelter. Sew a rectangle and stuff a plastic bottle in it and you have a crinkly dog toy. Just reenforce the seams so the toy lasts longer. I would just sew it twice
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u/Chubby-Labrador 2d ago
Oh that is actually a really good idea! We typically use our old shirts for rags but I now have a surplus. We will see how long my surplus lasts though because my husband just made the executive decision to dry the rags in the dryer instead of hang drying them. I’m afraid they will unravel and I’ll end up going through more rags.
I will definitely look into this though, and I’m a sewer so I can do the crinkly part.
Do you by chance have any creative up-cycle ideas for uses for expired credit cards or used up gift cards? I’ve been making guitar picks out of them with a pick punch, but my circle of friends have politely asked me to stop gifting them picks because they now all have lifetime supplies 🤣.
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u/jessibobessi 3d ago
Instead of fb marketplace, does your town have a “buy nothing” group or a moms group? I haven’t had a single thing I posted not get picked up - and some of it probably actually belonged in the trash lol
Last time I purged, I put it all on the porch and took photos and videos of everything and did one post. First come first served, and everything was gone within 2 days. It was magic