For those having trouble with the app, look to see if your neighborhood or town has a free or buy nothing Facebook group.

The downside is that as these have become more popular, it's become harder and harder to claim anything remotely decent. My neighborhood group is flooded with comments by the same 10 SAHMs within five minutes of a new posting. Half the time people are just addicted to free, and you see them give away the stuff them claimed a month ago again because they didn't actually need it. And so many people flake out on picking up that now people have bizarre demands when giving away.

Trash day honestly seems like a better bet if your commute or daily dog walk takes you through a nice neighborhood.