The top 5 ways I score great free stuff

The Top 5 Ways to Score Great Free Stuff

I’m going to let you in on my secret top 5 ways to score great free stuff. I have landed some amazing free finds over the years. My free hauls include clothes, furniture, electronics, home decor and more. Some of my greatest finds include a beautiful antique ladies sewing chair from England, an amazing rustic wooden trunk, and gorgeous vintage apothecary bottles from Belgium. It’s always so amazing to me what people just give away. But the reality is we all value things differently. I love old things, they hold so much history! I also love free stuff because…well, does that really need a reason?

How I got started

I hopped on the antiquin’, pickin’, and junkin’ bandwagon when I started my business in 2015. Well, really, I can trace my start back to the 70’s when I was a kid buying antiques with my mom. The first thing I remember her buying was an amazing old roll-top desk. We went back and looked at a few times before I helped convince her to get it. She then went about stripping it with all kinds of toxic chemicals, but never actually never finished it. It was a staple in our TV room, unfinished in all its glory. After she died the desk went to my brother and his mother-in-law had it finished for him. Look at this beauty.

But my hunting really took off just a few years ago when I started tagging along to yard sales with my good friend, Angela. I was an instant convert! I still can’t believe how much great stuff I’d been missing out on all those years. (Yard sale FOMO, it’s a real thing!) There are some great finds and free stuff to be had yard sale-ing. The old saying about one person’s junk being another’s treasure is so true! You can completely re-do your whole house and wardrobe in one season of yard sale-ing. I even have an app on my phone with a map to guide us, #yardsalenerd, #yardsaleFOMO.

But I digress, back to the top 5 ways I score FREE stuff.

I score free stuff for my own use, but I also fix and flip a lot. Flipped furniture is one of my best sellers. Free furniture has the highest profit margin because you are starting with an awesome base that just requires elbow grease, your time and a few accouterments (like paint, hinges etc). I wish I’d captured all my treasure transformations, but I have really sucked at taking before and after pictures. However, I’m working on it, and do have some posts over on the Before & After page.

So you can see why I am always on the hunt for free stuff, and so should you. So let’s get to it, here are the top 5 ways I score great free stuff.

Get the word out to friends & family. I get a lot of great stuff from people I know! I’m the go-to person for stuff people don’t want, but don’t want to throw away. I’m also the one they text when they see something on the curb that I might like.
Speaking of curbs….they are a treasure trove for the taking. Some cities and neighborhoods are better suited to this than others – but there is guaranteed to be something near where you live if you keep your eyes peeled. Here in Portland, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t see something curbside. I’ve had to stop picking stuff up because I am out of storage! The end/start of the month is a great time to look because people move in/out during this time.
Troll end-of-day yard sales. People in our neighborhood load up the curb with all the leftovers, free for the taking. You can also try and negotiate with a yard sale owner to pick up and haul away their items at the end of the day. The crappiest part of hosting a yard sale is being stuck with stuff at the end of the day. You are all tired and you still have to load it all to donate! Do them a favor and offer to take it for them and keep what works for you, donate the rest.
Join your neighborhood listserv like Nextdoor, Buy Nothing, and Rooster. Free items are listed all the time – and it’s a great way to meet your neighbors. Again, you’ll become the go-to person in the neighborhood.
Facebook Marketplace has free items! Just search for “free __” in the search bar. Check out other Apps and free sites like Freecycle and don’t forget your city’s Craigslist “free” listings. Set notifications on your phone you are alerted when new free things are posted.

I’d love to hear your tips too – share in the comments!