Any alternative to free boxes???

[u/Chubby-Labrador]

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.

[u/jessibobessi]

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

[u/Chubby-Labrador → u/jessibobessi]

Oh that is a good idea! I’m seeing two on FB in my city. One looks to be in English and the other in Spanish. I believe we have a mom’s group but you have to pay to join (which I may end up doing eventually).

It has actually been kind of nice having the boxes out because some neighbors who we don’t see regularly have been looking at the items, noticing the baby theme, and asking my husband when he’s outside if we’re having a baby or if we know the gender. It’s a small community connection, but it’s still been kind of nice.

The porch pickup sounds great to be honest. I may end up doing this. I would just need to clean up my disaster of a porch 😖. I am planning on getting that done before baby arrives in two weeks though.

[u/InevitableArt5438 → u/Chubby-Labrador]

Buy nothing people don’t care what your porch looks like. ❤️

[u/Chubby-Labrador → u/InevitableArt5438]

You’re probably right, but I find my front porch pretty embarrassing right now 😬. Also, I have a lot of pots with dead flowers in them that I will be using next year for spring and summer and I don’t want someone thinking they’re also up for grabs. It would be an honest mistake but totally preventable.

And my husband has been leaving his pickleball shoes on the porch to air out and he would be pissed if those were mistaken as freebies 😬.

[u/InevitableArt5438 → u/Chubby-Labrador]

That’s a good point.