GRATIS
Find and offer free items in Guatemala.
Most things given away in Guatemala leave a house on moving day: the wardrobe that will not fit the new apartment, a fridge replaced by a bigger one, the cot a second child has outgrown. Then there are the leftovers of a building job: rubble for fill, spare concrete blocks, a few sheets of corrugated metal that someone in Villa Canales can use to roof a shed. Some of it is new and unused, most is pre-owned, and none of it costs anything but the trip. That is the cost to plan for: whoever takes it carries it, so check the measurements and line up a pickup before you call.
Moving-day furniture, outgrown baby gear and building-site leftovers:
those are what people give away most, and each asks a different question. With furniture, it is whether it fits. A wardrobe or a three-seat sofa has to come down the giver’s stairs and go up yours, so ask for height, width and depth and measure your own doorway first. Anything you would check before paying for it in furniture or appliances deserves the same look when it is free. With baby things, it is age. A cot, a high chair or a bag of clothes sorted by size is an easy yes; a car seat with no date label and no history is the one free item worth turning down, and the baby section explains why. With building leftovers, it is quantity and access. Rubble is only useful if you have ground to fill and a truck to carry it, and with a stack of concrete blocks or floor tiles, ask how many pieces there are and whether they come from the same colour batch, so they match. Animals do not belong here. A litter of kittens or a dog that needs a new home goes to adopt a cat or adopt a dog, where the people who answer are looking for a companion rather than a bargain.
A free fridge, an old television and what they still cost:
nothing given away here carries a price, but almost everything has a cost. A fridge or a washing machine needs a pickup and two people to lift it, and an old tube television weighs more than most people expect and is hard to get rid of a second time. Before you accept something large, think about where it goes if it does not work out. Most of the rubbish from the capital and fourteen surrounding municipalities ends up at the Zone 3 dump, and a sofa you took and cannot use is headed there too, at your expense.
Mattresses, appliances and free items with a catch:
ask to see an appliance running before you load it. A fridge should feel cold inside after a few hours plugged in, which is a good reason to ask the giver to switch it on the morning you come. A washing machine should fill, turn and drain. On a mattress, fold back the edges of the cover and look along the seams for small dark spots or shed skins, the signs of bed bugs, and smell it for damp. Particleboard furniture that has been wet swells at the edges and will not hold a screw again; solid wood with a few scratches is worth the trip. Be wary of a free item that needs money first. Nobody giving something away needs a deposit, a transfer “for shipping” or your bank details, and a listing that asks for any of those is not a gift. Go to collect in daylight, and take someone with you if it is heavy.
Giving away a wardrobe, a cot or a pile of concrete blocks:
photograph it where it stands, in daylight, and put the measurements in the first line. Say plainly what is wrong with it: a fridge that cools but drips, a sofa with one sagging cushion, a drawer that sticks. Someone who comes from Tecpán or Santa Catarina Pinula for something free will accept a fault they knew about and resent one they find at the gate. Say which floor it is on, whether there are stairs, and whether they need to bring help and a vehicle. Offer a pickup window rather than “whenever”, decide whether it goes to the first person who confirms or to whoever needs it most, and say which in the listing. Share the full address only once a time is agreed. And take the listing down the moment it has gone, so nobody sets off from Villa Nueva for an empty garage.