Do you ever get things for free or give away things for free

[Aummernight77777]

I do both

I dont get anything free but I have given away nearly new baby things such as bottle warmer, car seat, baby clothes etc (which was spare at my home for visiting children and was no longer used / outgrown).
Punch bag, desk, whatever is in good condition.

Also some clothes i hardley wear, I put them mostly on NDN site for free.
Also i give to charity shops if they want them.

We have had 3 beds and a sofa for free and i have got rid of things like beds etc for free. It is a great way to reuse things that sometimes have little value. I would never resell something I had for free for money.

I get free things from and give to my daughter in law - other people’s stuff is often more interesting
I give to charity shops

I give a lot away. There is a great donation hub near me and I send any unwanted things there. I also buy specific things for it.
I got some free veg from a neighbour with an allotment last year.

I do- I got my bed from my friend when she was getting a new one, my daughter's bed when my sister's colleagues child outgrew it.
I even got the dog free because the people who bought her decided they didn't actually like dogs and gave her to me.

I give a lot of things away on Olio and to charity.

Pretty regularly; we have a local eco community Facebook group where people offer items for free, when I have a clear out anything large or niche goes on there (I take smaller more resellable items to the local charity shop).
I collect things every so often too, for example when I needed a piece of foam to make a cushion for the top of a wooden toy box a lady on there had exactly what I needed. Saved me from buying a new piece and saved the foam from landfill.

I’ve used Olio a bit, I donate most unwanted bits to charity shops, occasionally I’ve advertised eg a fridge for free on the local Facebook page.

Got plenty of things for free. Had no choice when marriage broke up and ex left me and kids homeless. Had no furniture or white goods when I found a new home. Ever since I’ve learnt free/second hand items can be just as good. I’ve passed on things I got for free as well. Lately my son has had comments how nice his coat is (charity shop). I searched it up and it’s a designer coat. It looked new plus he liked it. I wasn’t aware the brand was designer as never heard of it. He’s currently walking around with a £200 pound coat bought for £10 in a charity shop.

Lots, but most memorable was my pram /pushchair plus bedding , then princess bedding for 2 single beds and curtains which went to a mother and 2 daughters expecting a third escaping domestic violence moving from a shelter into a flat, i wasn’t expecting a letter but a few weeks later it came saying how delighted her girls were with their bedding. I’d called women’s aid to see if they wanted it and they had jumped at it and mentioned they needed other bedding too, I did include a brand new sheet for the single beds and for the pram as I thought it would be lovely to have new ones. She wrote one more time including a picture of her new little one in the pram and two smiling preschoolers, in a card that just said thank you

Not day to day (other than things like food bank donations). But when I moved house I gave loads away for free!
The last time I got anything for free was when a neighbour gave me a load of frozen food her cat didn’t like. Unfortunately my cats didn’t like it either and as it’s frozen you can’t really donate it.

I don't really get things for free but do give away things. When I sold my house I gave away settee,and bedroom furniture and garden furniture. I left freestanding dishwasher, washing machine and dryer too. I knew it was pointless paying for storage as my ongoing house purchase had been delayed. I will happily give things away

Yes! Our street WhatsApp is quite active for this, especially with stuff kids have grown out of or furniture people don't want anymore.

I'd rather get something second hand and keep things out of landfill, and I don't need the money from selling things, so why not give them to someone who'll make use of it?

Yes I'm on two great local Mums WhatsApp with about 500 people and often give stuff away or get free stuff like kids wellies or books.

All the time, and it's quite weird to think that anyone doesn't?

I do both, constantly. Big local WhatsApp group in my part of London, it's brilliant.

We do both.

I have had things for free from friends and family in the past, often when people have been clearing out or moving house. I have also reciprocated.

I donate things I don't need/want to charity shops, church jumble sales etc. too.

Yes, both - charity shops, freecycle, friends, family, neighbours ... Surely everyone does this?

I give things away for free.

I used to also take things if given away for free (olio, gumtree etc). I figured it was good to reuse things rather than buy new. However, I read so much pearl clutching on MN from people who had given things away but were offended the person taking it could have afforded to buy new, weren’t going to use it the way they wanted it used, weren’t going to offer it back at some time in the future … etc. Even people saying similar about things they had sold. I decided it wasn’t worth it.

For similar reasons I also used to fund and run an anti-food-waste community pantry, but read such vitriol on here from people saying they should only be used by families who were using food banks, name-calling anyone using them to reduce food waste. I kept it going until Christmas but shut it a couple of weeks ago.

Never receive things for free but will give things away on local FB groups (Ebay & FBMP are awful to deal with nowadays).
If it doesn't go, it gets taken to the charity shop

Hand me down clothes for DC - they were passed down to my kids and I passed them on to friends and neighbours (with previous owner's agreement).

Have passed on furniture, toys, books too.

I give away quite a lot to our local homeless service, and collect clothes for it, and buy food etc for its food bank. There are a lot more female users now.

We also do give-aways on our garden wall, in a banana box, like going-out-of-date tins or unwanted items/ spare food and toiletries we won’t use up. Someone took the whole box once. Including the box.

As for acquiring things: yes, free samples at the dentist’s and the dermatology department! Which went to the homeless service …

According to my olio stats, I have given away 169 things and received 43 in the last 5 years.

I also drop stuff at the charity shop, put in our local book box and street WhatsApp group

I contacted our local animal rescue as I had a freezer drawer full of frozen dog food my dog could no longer have, and they were very grateful for the donation. I dropped it off to them but many have volunteers who will collect if you can't do that. Worth asking

I'm forever putting things on our local freebay Facebook group. Less hassle than taking it to the charity shops who are a bit random about what they take and when.

Once a week the group allows people to request specific items. I go through the requests and see if I have any of the items to give as it is a great way of me decluttering.

I don't tend to get things free because there tends to be an element of hassle involved, and we don't need to budget really so I can't be bothered. But we might occasionally pick up a book or toy from a box of free things left outside someone's house.