Got it free - whatever it is??

[Joel_BC]

Quite a picture you painted, milkmansdaughter! Care to say anything about the sources that have been typical? (besides the people who were moving or downsizing)

Oh yeah, your post reminded me of direct give-aways. A guy once gave me a wood-fired cookstove after I'd done his household a couple favors. And last year I got a blacksmith's vise (also called a post vise or leg vise) from a friend on whose homestead it was lying around doing nothing.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Hi Joel,
Well, the cat is easy... Everyone gives away kittens...the kitten came from an old neighbor who suddenly had 3 sets of kittens at the same time.

We found a little kids recliner on the side of the road the same day our granddaughter came to visit for two weeks. The seat had a tear in it, and we fixed that with duct tape and put it out in the playhouse.

The rope hammock came from the property my old boss bought. He didn't want it and was throwing it out.

We got a washer and dryer, bedroom set, lamps, basically almost an entire house of furniture right after we bought the house. The brother of a friend of my husband's was a bachelor, with almost all new or slightly used furniture. He died unexpectedly, and the family needed the house cleaned out so it could be rented. They gave it all to my husband in exchange for him just moving it out of their way. (Our new house was close, and the family all lived out of state.)

My husband's boss is moving and has been unloading years worth of wood at our house, along with stuff he doesn't want to move to his new house (across state): a rocking chair, bar stools, a coffee table, a small food dehydrator that he never uses...

The free wooden shipping crates comes from the scrap pile where a friend works...

We've got other friends with chickens. One of their friends recently decided she no longer wanted chickens, and she gave them everything she had: dishes, food, straw, DE, chickens, roosters. They kept what they would use and gave us several chickens and two roosters because they now had more than they had room for. They also give us all their older chickens since she doesn't like to kill them (free food for us...)

A lady at church just bought a brand new potty chair for her granddaughter but the little girl won't use it. We have our grandkids here right now, and she wanted to get rid of it...

The camera was from a friend that I helped after his girlfriend moved out (and left him with their 2 yo to raise). Mine was stolen, and without even knowing it, he offered the same style of camera to me because it was one he never used...

The canning jars and canners both came from my old Pastor's wife when we moved. They had been given to them but she already had all she needed. The big canner is brand new with the original instructions inside...

One food dehydrator was from my brother because he got a bigger one to do venison jerky and no longer used the smaller one...

The rabbit was a gift to my grandkids for their birthday but was not a welcome gift for their mom, so we inherited it...

When we helped my two sisters move, they both gave their old computer pieces to our son. When others found out he liked that stuff, he was given all kinds of parts and pieces and he's been able to take them apart and make them usable ( at least for him- at one point he had 5 monitors all hooked up at the same time)...

Living near military posts and college towns, we've gotten many many things over the years that are just left on the side of the road when people move out of dorms, or move to new posts. When we lived in GA, we used to pick up stuff the military families left behind, would fix it up, and would resell it. (On many posts, people would just leave stuff for other families to pick up.)...

We've been given bags from church families of clothes that didn't fit their kids... many times, we were given clothes that still had tags on them. We took what we could use, and then passed them on to others...

I've got over 10 pumpkins on the deck for the chickens that were left over from a relative's fall festival party. She was leaving town on vacation, and wanted them gone...

We got all kinds of things from a friend who needed help moving out of a storage unit. She was throwing them out. We kept what we could use, and gave a LOT of stuff away. It helped quite a few people, and helped our friend. (She would have just dumped it all in a dumpster to keep from having to haul it away)...

We got an almost new 2 room tent from my sister when she moved cross country..

I got a LOT of metal shelving from the scrap pile where my son worked. The company had gotten new shelving. All that was needed was time to take it apart and haul it away. It took me two days, but there was over 200# (I think I had around 40 shelves, plus all of the supports, nuts, bolts...) of metal. Even if I had just scrapped it, it would have been worth my time...

The hooked on phonics and tablet came from another friend that I frequently helped. She was allergic to grass and trees so we often helped her with yard work. When her son outgrew the things, she gave them to us for the grandkids...

I've cleaned motel rooms and rental places (a friend would call me if his help didn't show up) and basements and attics for people over the years, and often end up with things left behind or no longer wanted...

I've also picked things up at the local dump, or outside recycling boxes, or next to trash cans on trash day. Many things get thrown away because they need a very minor repair, or a relationship breaks up, or because the kids left it or outgrew it. I pick up all kinds of things, often for other people. They in turn often later return the favor with something they found or no longer need...

OK, so... if you count time invested, much of it isn't technically free, but most of it was just a matter of going to pick it up and getting it out of someone's way...

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Oh, and our son's piano was free too. It was donated to the church, and is in beautiful condition. Our son used to practice on the church piano all the time because we didn't have one. The first two people it was offered to refused it because it was too heavy to carry up steps to their apartments. We had a ramp at our house, and then we had a beautiful piano...

And I forgot to mention plants: Truly admire someone's garden or flowers and you'll often be offered free seeds or plants when it comes time to thin them out. If you keep your eyes open, there are very often elderly people not too far away who need help with some yard work or work around the yard. Often for a few hours of very enjoyable fellowship on both sides, you can end up with different plants that enhance your yard and come back year after year. We got some flowers one time years back when we found a tiny overgrown cemetery and started to clean it up. As we were cleaning, and clearing brush, we found some flowers that really needed to be thinned out. We found out later that the caretaker was very sick and hadn't been able to clean the cemetery.

(Edited to add plants...)

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Oh, and the kids used to get stuff all the time from a dumpster by a storage rental place. They came home one day with two big black trash bags of old VHS movies. We still have a vhs player so they had many hours of old movies.

 

[Beekissed]

Oh, Joel, great thread!

OK I get free stuff ALL the time, and tend to also give stuff out freely too.

Just a few of the free things received in the last year: a LOT of wood, a washer, dryer, bedroom set, couch, chair, 3 quilt racks, 2 quilts, shelves, a coffee table, old computers (my 18 yo is pulling them apart and making them work), a rope hammock, a potty chair (for my granddaughter), clothes for the grandkids, a fake leather child sized recliner (needed some TLC), a rabbit, several chickens, two roosters, a cat, pizza tokens for free pizzas, a Canon DSLR camera, a hooked on phonics set, a big tablet with books and cassettes for my 5 yo granddaughter... Oh, I could go on and on...

We've had lots of stuff come here, and go out free again like my Pacifica to my son, clothes, wood, furniture...

I've never been able to GIVE away more than I receive...

Ps 13:6 "I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me."

Edited to give credit where credit is due!

Same here....the more we give away, the more that comes to us. And it comes in convoluted and charming ways that always have me shaking my head at how God worked it all out.

It's always pretty amazing.

 

[treerooted]

I didn't mention free stuff from family either, but looking around my living/dining room that's what all the furniture is! Now, that kind of free stuff only works if you have family that our giving things away, but I've realized now too that not everyone accepts those kinds of offers because they want their own stuff. I completely understand, like maybe one day I'll replace my kitchen table with a nice harvest table.

But buying couches...it never occurs to me. I've never bought a tv before. A lot of stuff I have is from my grandparents and parents, and even if things are mis-matched (looking around this room again lol, they definitely are!) I guess I don't care enough to actually buy furniture. My older sister is the opposite, she bought a new house in a new subdivision with all new furniture etc. I guess a lot of that is the type of consumer mindset you have.

 

[NH Homesteader]

My furniture is pretty much all from my parents or grandparents also.

We also got a sawmill for free, when a family member passed. We got an almost brand new hot water heater from the school I used to work at. DH just got a free snowmobile he knows he can fix for cheap. I'll think of more...

 

[Britesea]

But buying couches...it never occurs to me. I've never bought a tv before. A lot of stuff I have is from my grandparents and parents, and even if things are mis-matched (looking around this room again lol, they definitely are!) I guess I don't care enough to actually buy furniture.

We call that style of interior design "Early Attic and Contemporary Cellar"

 

[Joel_BC]

We call that style of interior design "Early Attic and Contemporary Cellar"

I can relate.

 

[treerooted]

So guess what? I got some free stuff today!

Went to pick up a large water tote found in the online classifieds (great price, I'd been keeping my eye open for them...going to use it for rainwater collection), and when we got there I was talking to the lady and she offered us a coffee table and floor lamp. Both nice, using the lamp right now

We also picked up stuff from a couple auctions today, but of course that's not free. Though some of it practically was, like the garden stuff for $3.