Everything I gave/got on Buy Nothing last month
Bulk rubber bands, pretzels, Gucci Mane immortalized, 1977 CB radio book, a purple crystal...
Hello, friends. Welcome to the third edition of Curb Alert, the newsletter about everyday thrifting adventures in late-stage capitalism.
I’m keeping things simple this week: a listicle of everything I gave and got since the first week of July on my neighborhood Buy Nothing group, which now has upwards of 7,400 members and goes hard.
Since joining the group on Facebook last year, I’ve become obsessed. I’m hardly the only frequent flyer in the group, too, which makes me feel a little less freakish.
This list is not comprehensive. It doesn’t include all curbside or alley finds, for example. But I tried to include as much as I could remember. I went through my archived Facebook Messenger conversations to jog my memory. Many of the items I gave away originally came from other Buy Nothing members, so it’s a revolving door of trash and treasure!
What I Gave
• A few small N95s and two contact lens cases. (The masks didn’t fit. And as a contact lens wearer, it’s impossible to not accumulate piles of plastic cases over the years.)
• An velour jewelry box, plus haircare products
• One new 1-lb. box of rubber bands that came to me in a tote of crafting items from a relative. What would you do with one pound of a rubber bands? I didn’t know.
• A baby blue Adidas fannypack that I traded for a plainer but more practical black fannypack to wear at work
• Assorted knickknacks, vases and ceramic vessels, including this happy milk-chugging fella:
• Hair mousse and heat-shield hair mist
• Cardboard boxes and packing/wrapping materials
• Beads to a mom who wanted to make necklaces with her daughters
• A bag of men’s shorts
• Huge trash bag of clothes that didn’t fit me
• Kids’ puzzles and books, for a pregnant mom who was being induced the next day and wanted activities for her 3-year-old in the hospital
• “Revolutionary Witchcraft: A Guide to Magical Activism,” a book by Sarah Lyons
• A broken hot dog roller. Yup, the kind you see at gas stations. We got it from the couple who ran the only hot dog stand in our old town. (I wrote a story about their enterprise in 2019.) My partner Ben had vague plans to fix it up and get into the hot dog business. Instead, it sat in the basement getting grimier.
• 5 air-conditioners, all dust-clogged but working. They were abandoned by the previous occupants of our house.
• A bunch of hair scrunchies
• A vintage electric wok, to a professional chef who planned to use it for a hot pot and stirfry dinner
• A maternity dress and kids’ hooded towels
• Ugg boots and pink slippers that squeezed my toes
• Matching lamp shades
• A long scrap of beautifully dyed sari fabric, to be repurposed as headscarves
• "Shelf thingy" (No recollection what this was, but “shelf thingy” is how I referred to it in my messages with the recipient.)
• Big pile of bamboo window blinds that didn’t fit our windows
What I Got
• Necklaces for my kids
• A thick winter mitten with a built-in ice scraper at the fingertips (new with tags). I’m proud of myself for planning ahead to January … when I don’t want to be caught with nothing but bare hands and a debit card to scrape the ice off my windshield.
• Garlic press
• “Not For Truckers Only: A Straight-Talking Guide to the Exciting World of CB Radio,” a 1977 paperback by “Ink Slinger” (Otherwise Known as Larry Adcock). This is for Ben, who tinkers with CB radios and dreams of airing his own pirate radio broadcast.
• Tub filled with dozens of bathroom items. I was so excited to “win” this that I broke traffic laws clear across the south side of Milwaukee to get it in time before I had to pick up my kids from camp. The giver intended for the tub to get passed from person to person through Buy Nothing, with each recipient taking what they want before refilling with their own unneeded bathroom items and reposting. It’s a great idea. Unfortunately, the giver filled it with a bunch of skincare that expired as far back as 2007. Some of it had gone rancid. Expiration dates are just a suggestion to me, but it’s pushing it for me when an opened lotion or eye cream has been hanging around since before the first Obama Administration. Still, I was able to salvage some goodies and I’ll be refilling and reposting the tub as soon as I have the time to do a serious bathroom cleanout.
• Peanutbutter-filled pretzels, in a large plastic Meijer-brand tub. I acquired this in the eternal quest to find snacks my children will eat.
• A pink ceramic vase shaped like a clamshell. Very 1990s grandma’s bathroom!
• Cards Against Humanity, “GO” board game and a Gucci Mane puzzle with at least 120 pieces. (Why does a Gucci Mane puzzle exist? Who knows. It looks like someone special-ordered it, maybe during the pandemic puzzle craze of 2020.)
• Men's shorts and shirts
• A bathroom trash can & a big haul of kitchen/bathroom stuff, including unopened Ouai leave-in hair conditioner, rosewater toner, flour and spring roll wrappers
• Two opened bags of gluten-free stuffed pretzels that the giver didn’t care for but my kids approved
• Big round candle and fake potted succulent plant for my office
• Upholstery pins for a project my mom was working on
• #2 coffee filters
• Cheetos mac 'n' cheese (Jalapeño & Flamin’ Hot flavors) and other boxed fast-cooking grains
• Rhubarb from neighbor's garden
• Shower organizer
• Big heavy garden edging stones
• Many buckets of dirt, plastic edging and stakes for edging
• A soft lunch cooler
• Fresh romaine lettuce from the garden
• Hostas galore
• Fire pit. Solid and heavy. Score!
• Two booster seats. Since I have twins, I’m always looking for things that come in pairs. M & Z are still using convertible car seats with backs, but I’ll bust these out of the attic when they’re older. The booster seats had an accumulation of sand, dirt and Cheerios, so I handwashed the fabric covers, sun-dried them and scrubbed the plastic underneath. I even swabbed the crevices with Q-tips.
In the course of cleaning, I found a fake C-note, a Yu-Gi-Oh trading card and a purple crystal rattling around inside one of the retractable drink holders. I’ll take this as a good omen.
That’s it for this week. See you back here next week for more thrifty business.
In the meantime, stay adventurous and keep thrifting!