Discovering a Clothes and Houseware Share and Getting Amazing Things For Free!

My son requested that I buy him a certain type of jeans, and today I posted in some local groups asking where I could find what he was looking for without breaking the bank, and not only did I get an answer to my query, I discovered a hidden (to me anyhow) treasure!

A friend of mine contacted me and let me know about this "community store" that someone started as a service for the community. She has a small storage space and people bring whatever they no longer want in their home, and people can come and take what they want or need, and it's all for free. They have so much available, and are constantly getting new things, so I was told there's no problem taking so many things; by bringing home a large amount, I'm making room for the new things that come in.

I am so excited by my score! Here's what I brought home:

A whole bunch of different pairs of jeans for Lee, but I wasn't sure which he'd like. (He's quite picky.) I also wasn't entirely sure of the size. He found one that he absolutely loves, a few that he likes, and a few that are nice but a bit too big, so will be put away until he grows into them. The few that he disliked will be passed on to others. I also brought home a few shirts, some he liked, and some he didn't. So passing on what he did not.

It was much easier to find girls' clothing, and I brought home an enormous amount. So many wonderful skirts, shirts, and dresses. I even got some costumes for my girls, plus pajamas. My girls loved everything I brought home and were so excited especially by their party dresses. The thing I'm most excited about? The perfect condition really thick Old Navy brand winter coat for Rose. A few of the pieces of clothing I brought home were a drop too large, so those went away in the closet until the girls grow a bit more.

Nearly all our wine glasses have broken (I broke the most recent one Saturday afternoon, by accident) and I've (shamefully) served wine to guests in plastic cups... I really wanted wine glasses, but didn't want to spend the money on them, so imagine my excitement at finding a set of six here! We wrapped them in scarves to take home, so now I also have a bunch of scarves that I'll either keep or pass on.

I also got a brand new, never used spiralizer/veggie chopper, that is quite good condition not to mention compact. My old spiralizer was bad quality and is mostly broken and hard to use, and hopefully this will work better. And of course it has the additional features which make it even better.

There were also silicon chocolate spoon molds, which I forgot to photograph. I can't wait to use them to make fancy desserts.

There were some great looking novels there as well, in addition to a cat's cradle educational book that I got for my son and he's really excited about. There were also 2 religious books which I didn't photograph, as well as a Star Wars sound book for kids.

I think what I'm mostly excited about, actually, is all the games I got. I've wanted to get board games, but they are so pricey locally, so the only ones we have are Rummikub (which I inherited) and Catan. We also are big puzzle fans. 

I brought home so many wonderful board games! We have Battleship, Stratego, Set, Tumble, a Ravensburger 500 piece puzzle as well as a 1000 piece puzzle. 

There are two board games that I am not familiar with, but seemed interesting and fun to figure out. And there was a set to make your own escape room adventure at home that sounds fascinating to me (and much cheaper than our local escape rooms).

My daughter who was with me saw some toys she wanted, so she brought home some stuffed animals and a Barbie and 2 pairs of kids' sunglasses and a ball for Snickers.

This came home in many reusable bags, including a pink duffle bag, another bonus.

And as I said, all free.

I'm amazed. 

And I can't believe I didn't know about this treasure beforehand.

I felt like I walked out of there with hundreds of dollars worth of things, if not more. 

If anyone who lives in my country wants to know where this place is, be in touch with me via email to pennilessparenting@yahoo.com.

Have you gotten any great things free lately? What were they?