I have an idea. Is it a really bad one?

[springgreensunshine]

I want to hire a hall somewhere, collect up people's unnecessary possessions and let other people come and take them away for free.

The whole purpose of this would be so that things could find a useful home, and people could get something they want or need without needing a brand new one. Not to make money or anything, just pass things on.

How do you think I could make this work? I don't want to end up with a village hall full of junk I then have to take to landfill.

I was thinking the things have to be useable, maybe each person can only donate 10 things. If things are completely free do you think people would come and take them away? I wouldn't care if people came and took 20 things each, at least the things would be getting used.

Looking around my house I could donate 2 garlic presses (we have 3), lots of decorative indoor plant pots, they seem to be a favourite gift in our family, a spare ironing board, lots of kitchen plastic tubs (with correct lids, we just have way too many). The kids have some toys, like a random plastic superman figure, some odd Paw Patrol figures, jigsaws, again I wouldn't mind if a kid came in and took 10 toys away, at least they are being played with by someone new.

Critique my idea please, I want to know everything that might go wrong so I don't end up with a van load of everyone else's unwanted rubbish. I guess the biggest risk is that everyone gives and no-one takes, but I figure in an average sized town there will be enough people who will take things if they are free.

I put stuff on my garden wall with a sign that says "free".

I think I have a magic wall...

Hmm, lots of things I hadn't thought about.

I wouldn't mind if people took things then sold them on. If they can be bothered with the hassle of marketing and selling a plant pot for £2 then good for them. But I guess other people might mind.

Nothing larger than a dining room chair I think. I hadn't thought of that. And nothing that needs more than one person to carry it.

No electrical items or sharp things like knives.

I think I could find enough people to help me organise. I would just go for categories like Kitchen, Toys, Decorative, Tools.

We would have to vet everything while the person is dropping it off and make them take away anything we didn't want. That might be the most complicated thing.

I was going to say swap shop too. You could give different value tokens for small med large, no cash involved. Or keep it simple - bring one, take one. Maybe optional extra of buy vouchers for xx pence to yy charity?

We just do a bootfair for all our friends and family's unwanted stuff. Sell it really cheap to begin with, and then as it starts winding down, give everything away for free. Any money raised goes to charity.

Op you could organise a yard sale in your road if suitable.

Garage sale in the UK^

Not sale, I mean giveaway.

Do you know what? You should do it. It might be a bad idea but there's only one way to find out. What's the worst that could happen? A few harsh words between some people and you're left with some junk to tip.

I wouldn't worry about people taking stuff to sell on - that's their problem, isn't it? I wouldn't have a limit on what people can take if your intention is to get rid of everything.

I think it could work. But I'd defo try on a small scale first. Have a few rules: Only things which still work, no junk. Items taken away are at recipient's own risk - you take no responsibility. Market it as a "green" thing, call it something like "Another man's treasure"? Perhaps there are some green organisations you could team up with to make it happen.

You would just end up having to pay to dispose of everyone's shite at the end of the day !

I think what you might end up with is people coming and taking things to sell themselves. People who don't actually need the stuff.