Adventures in Buying Nothing

I have given away so much stuff on the Buy Nothing Group (and though other avenues). Here's a compilation of the strangest (to me) interactions and exchanges...

The piano:

We listed our electric piano, weighted keys, mounted to a stand. It's a full-sized, hefty thing. I included pictures and measurements in the post. 

Ultimately I decided to gift it to the sister-in-law of a friend of mine, whose daughter would like to start taking piano lessons. I don't know this sister-in-law, but a friend of a friend sounded like a good, reliable bet.

This gal shows up in a tiny car, just as Andrew and I are moving the piano outside for her. 

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "That's, like, a piano! Do you think we can fit it in my car?"

"Uhhh...probably not," I said. 

It's a piano.

"Yeah. I should have driven the SUV over."

It's a piano.

"An SUV would probably work better, yeah."

It's a piano.

So then she shows up in the SUV and is like, "Do you think I need to put my seats down?"

Turns out she did!

(It's a piano!)

But didn't know how to remove her children's car seats or put down her seats, so Andrew did that. And we loaded it into the back for her and...I don't know how she got it into her house.

The freezer:

I posted our 7.0 cubic foot freezer—with all measurements and specifications included. I even posted the model number with a link to the manufacturer's website where one could find even more information about it. 

I chose a woman who said she needed it because they "recently had twins and half a toddler" and she would love the extra space for bulk items and breast milk and things like that and I thought, "Yeah—this woman could clearly use an extra freezer and a nap."

Half a toddler, indeed.

So then she messaged me and posed the following query: "I am a few months postpartum. Do you think I can lift this freezer into the back of an SUV by myself? Or should I bring help?"

And I just...I mean...she gets points for realizing right away that she would need a bigger vehicle...but, uh...

It's a piano freezer.

I wrote back to her and said, "The freezer is only 70 pounds, but it is big. I can scoot it around my garage floor, no problem, but I definitely would need someone else to help me lift it (and I didn't just have twins). I suggest bringing someone to help lift."

"Okay," she said. "That's good information. I'll bring someone to help me."

(She wanted to pick up at a time when we wouldn't be home (see: County! County! County!), otherwise we could have helped her.)

The tools:

Today we cleared out a bunch of stuff from our garage. I spread it out on the driveway. I took a picture. I wrote up a post listing the items available...

• three tarps
• saws
• saw horses
• ladder
• rake

I can't remember what else I put on there, but my post was immediately removed due to "commonly used words." I immediately realized my error (saw, tarps, etc). 

So I rewrote it to be more descriptive. Still removed. 

So I rewrote it to be less descriptive. Still removed. 

So I posted it with only the words "garage" and "jetsam." Somehow still removed. 

I finally got it to post with the following text:

I’m starting to feel rather frustrated because my posts keep getting removed (algorithm, not admin, due to objects I’m evidently not allowed to describe)

• Coleman stove
• Extra swings with metal chain
• BBQ cover
• Tools

Please plan to pick up today

Andrew had to leave to run a few errands before I had succeed in posting, so I just got a message from him asking whether or not I had managed to "get the dangerous things posted."

"Yes!" I said. 

"Are people interested in you?" he wanted to know.

Then quickly wrote, "STUFF! NOT YOU! I'M INTERESTED IN YOU!"

But, yes, people have been interested in our stuff. One guy asked for a few things he recognized and said he was going to come over to check out what else was available. He ended up taking a whole boxful of stuff—very helpful!

And I have someone else on their way to do the same!

The saws and tarps are gone. If the police come to question me, I have names.

The food:

Being as active as I am in the Buy Nothing community, which has an ethos of plenty and abundance and generosity, I am often taken aback by the opposite ethos of scarcity, bootstraps, and complete and utter independence. 

I'm sure that sentence will offend someone, but it's not meant to.

I understand the principle of self-reliance, but I also think that we are given families and communities for a reason (the reason being that we need each other). 

For example, when someone offers up an entire pallet of toilet paper (in the middle of a toilet paper shortage, no less!) that would last our family for several years and no one else is claiming it, I take it. I am more than happy to go a few years without buying toilet paper (we literally finished off this bounty of toilet paper last year).

Do I think it strange that no one else wanted the toilet paper? Yes. 

Was it the world's best toilet paper? No. (But given its purpose...who really cares?)

Could it have been donated to a food pantry? Probably, but we looked into it and...sometimes those places are pickier than you might think. Like, we eat expired canned foods all the time at our house...but those can't be donated...which makes sense (and doesn't). You can't donate anything in a glass container...which makes sense (and doesn't). And for some reason the food bank information we could find at the time (deep, dark COVID days) insisted that hygiene products (including TP) be completely sealed in plastic (which makes sense and doesn't). And these weren't wrapped in plastic—they were in cardboard boxes.

So, anywho...we had five years of free toilet paper. Score! 

And now I have been trying to find someone who will go "shopping" in my food storage and this is trickier than I had imagined it would be. 

We have done a decent job of eating through our food storage the past few months but it has become clear that we are not going to eat two Costco-sized jars of strawberry jam before we move. We are not going to eat through seven jars of pickles. We are not going to use all those bottles of apple cider vinegar or mustard. We are not going to use an entire litre of soy sauce. And so forth. 

We have so many cans of Great Northern beans...

I have been reaching out to families in my ward to see if they would like some of my food storage (since we are moving and cannot possibly use it) and I have not had very much luck. 

The general response has been along the lines of "We don't take charity."

My flabbers have been completely gasted! 

It's not charity, friends. 

It's a jar of jam. It's a bag of popcorn kernels. 

It's nothing. It's sharing. It's saving me a headache, helping me out, emptying my house.

Might it save you a few dollars? Sure, but it's no remark on your ability to fend for yourself or otherwise provide for your family.

So interesting...