The Secondhand Market for Free Stuff Report: Still Going Strong

The phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” is only true because people are ACTUALLY THROWING OUT TREASURE.

I’m not even talking about paying a deep discount for these items. No, I’m talking getting this stuff for free.

Yes, free. Costing exactly zero dollars.

People will just… give me stuff. For free. Absolute strangers will either leave me stuff to pick up or coordinate with me on when they can give me them. And that’s not including my neighbors who make it a scavenger hunt for me.

Boston in particular is fairly well-known for its trash treasures. I’ve discussed them previously on my blog, as have the Frugalwoods in neighboring Cambridge. Going back even further in Boston trash history, you’ll discover one of our greatest museums was founded thanks to a trash find. That find: the, uh, “transcendent and compelling portrait” rescued from the garbage trucks in the early 1990s. That portrait, “Lucy in the Field with Flowers,” inspired the grand Museum of Bad Art (MOBA). Look under the “Theft” section on their Wikipedia page. It’s absolutely perfect gold.

Not even quarantine can quell Boston’s established record of amazing garbage finds. In fact, it seems stronger than ever, especially around my town (which is FILLED with the ultra-rich).

My Beautiful Free Stuff

Besides furnishing my apartment with mostly-free stuff, most of my possessions in general were gotten for the same amount of money. Besides my electronics/appliances, I own very few things I actually paid a decent price for.

Most of this is thanks to me always being on the lookout for cool stuff. I prefer to exercise by walking or biking, which lend themselves well to exploring wealthy neighborhoods.

In the last month or two I’ve found several items that I’ve brought back with me, including:

• Books!!!
• A small shelving unit
• A purse from a luxe luggage set
• An ironing board
• Mugs
• Tennis rackets
• A waffle iron
• Very fancy Halloween decorations (it’s less than 3 months away!!)

Some of my most favorite finds ever include the three things in this above photo: the 37” flatscreen, the massive print of Audrey Hepburn, and the comfy red armchair. The armchair I picked up a couple years ago when a guy wanted it out of storage; the print I actually rescued during the chaos known as Allston Christmas (an rather infamous Boston tradition). My most exciting find this year is definitely that TV, which came WITH a Roku stick some guy was giving away for free. He actually threw in the Roku stick unexpectedly because “it was too slow,” which is an issue I have yet to run into. I used to catch up on Schitt’s Creek and the Sarah Connor Chronicles that both come through – again – for freeeeeee. (Notice a trend here?)

Another venerated find of mine includes this floor lamp that’s at least five feet tall. Now that I think about it, I’ve only actually paid for two of the six lamps I own. Not that you’d guess if you ever came to visit, because all of this stuff is in excellent condition.

So Good It’s Scalable

When I first moved here and started noticing all the free stuff for the taking, I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Why would anyone just give it away when that’s hundreds – even thousands – of dollars they’re tossing aside? Especially now in 2020?!?

My working theory is that people are bored enough in quarantine to go through the stuff they’ve had stored for eons. They’re also so rich that they don’t care about selling this stuff themselves. Why bother when you pull in mid-six-figures and live in a two million dollar house? It’s much more convenient to give it away or, better yet, just leave it on the curb for someone else to nab. Plus, why deal with the headache of coordinating a pickup? Just haul it to the sidewalk and boom. You’re done.

But just because the rich people are too lazy to sell it doesn’t mean it can’t be sold, period. I say this from experience because I’ve been super successful at selling the things I discover are being offered for free or are being thrown away. This is despite not looking for a side hustle or extra money in particular; I just couldn’t bear to see it go to the trash. Why contribute to the overflowing landfills when we can reuse and recycle?? So I don’t mind doing that at all while alerting someone else to a cool deal I found.

The extra cash doesn’t hurt, either.

Just to give you an idea of what I’ve found and flipped, here’s some of the items in such great condition that I sold them easily:

• TWO bikes (well, sold one and I donated the other, which I’ll get a sweet tax receipt for anyway)
• A luxe luggage set (same one I got my purse from)
• A 9 drawer dresser
• A 3 drawer dresser
• A top-tier microwave

My general rule of thumb is to pick stuff I can easily see someone buying at an upscale flea market. If it’s an item that’ll fit into that environment, it’s one that will be taken off my hands real quick. There’s A LOT more I’d pick up if I had a bigger home/got serious about selling free stuff.

With flipping I could make a lot more money doing this if I wanted to; I’m hoping this can inspire someone else to do the work, as it takes zero money to start and is practically the most environmentally-friendly hustle you can find. Just make sure you’re awesome at social distancing/sanitizing and you’ll find yourself awash in great finds.

How Do You Find Free Stuff?

As long as you’ve got a good eye for spotting quality, you’ll do great in flipping free stuff or getting awesome stuff for free. There aren’t that many rules to it either. Find an item you like, make an online ad for it, sell it to someone and make a profit.

There are two main ways I find my things: online postings and curbside surprises. No, I don’t rifle through trash cans for any of this stuff; I’m not that gross. No, I like my methods much better.

If you want to go the online route, there are several sites that offer things either for free or at an extreme discount:

Craigslist

The pioneer of free stuff and… well, everything else. I check this out to catch anything Boomers want to post about but don’t know any other site than CL. Added bonus: Craigslist has a cool map feature where you can see what free stuff is closest to you.

Freecycle

I love this site for its sole goal of keeping perfectly usable things out of landfills. Yay for eco-conscious swap sites! If you’re planning on flipping what you find they ask that you give a heads up to the person you’re picking it up from, which is a very fair rule I make it a point to follow. You can even request free things if you’re looking for them, which is how I got a bunch of free embroidery floss last summer.

LetGo

This site trends young with a lot of active users, and one that has a selection of things I don’t see on other sites. Maybe half of the things I’ve managed to sell was via this platform, where I get by far the most interest in my postings.

Facebook Marketplace/Buy Nothing groups

Full disclosure, I don’t use Facebook so I haven’t personally used either. With that said, it’s a phenomenal place for anything you could possibly want/need.

Nextdoor

I’m kicking myself for not using this sooner. Nextdoor is a social network like Facebook but specifically for connecting you to people in your neighborhood. I got a ton of interest in the things I posted for sale on the platform, which I only started exploring recently. It’s also got an amazing setup for buying and selling things, including a toggle that lets you sort solely by free stuff. And the free stuff is all good stuff.

If you’d rather go offline with your finds, there’s two main places I’d suggest hitting up: wealthy neighborhoods and your local thrift stores. The thrift stores are self-explanatory so I’m going to focus on the neighborhoods. My biggest tip is that you should cruise around the day before trash day. People are already hauling stuff to the curb anyway and figure they’ll do the same with some great furniture or electronics.

Things I WON’T grab from the curb includes anything fabric; there is zero chance I’m risking bedbugs. The few times I’ve accepted fabric anything in the past (main examples being a couple down pillows, a duvet, and a crocheted blanket) were from kind older women living in very expensive, meticulously clean houses. These items did NOT make it outside before I snagged them and ran. Like the Frugalwoods point out, you need to use your best judgment. The savings and profits are cold consolations if you don’t approach this smartly.

What’s something you want to get for free for your home? Start thinking of this now and manifest that shit!