Trash to Treasure at the BULK HOUSE Swap

The only thing better than decluttering your house of all the things you never use is finding stuff you actually need… for free. That’s the entire premise behind the Bulk House’s semi-regular Swap events. For those of you not familiar with The Bulk House, it is the center of the sustainable community in Beijing specializing in organic, low waste home products and social events like the swap that promote better sustainable living.

The swaps are completely free events and work like this. If you have things you no longer use you can bring them to The Bulk House ahead of time or during the actual swap meet, and they will sort them into categories, then on the day of the swap you can show up and rifle through the piles and boxes of second-hand goods for your own personal treasures to take home. No money ever changes hands and if you didn’t donate anything you can still come and collect any items you may need.

So what kind of stuff ends up in the piles? Just for fun, the other editors sent me on a scavenger hunt to the most recent swap. They asked me to find 8 items.

Pair of Shoes: Success! There were so so many but I went ahead and took this brand new pair of teeny tiny baby shoes for my friend!

Decorative Pillow: Half a point. No actual pillows but I found a T-shirt with a cool design that could easily be turned into a pillow cover to refresh my Ikea throws. (I’m probably not going to do that though. I will just wear it.)

Kids Bike: No Bike BUT my friend Tal spotted these super cool 1990s retro roller blades.

A Pot with a Lid: Success! Soup anyone?

Bowl from Annie’s: No luck on this one, sorry. I guess everyone takes advantage of their free pizza return policy!

Musical Instrument As I was arriving, I saw someone walking away with what looked like a guitar popping out of their suitcase but I didn’t snap a pic so it doesn’t count. Instead, we found a Christmas bell. It was missing its clapper (that’s the technical term for the piece that makes it ring) but they didn’t say a working instrument so I’m counting it!

A Children’s Book With No Tape on it: Check. This children’s Japanese workbook.

A Bilingual Book: Pride and Prejudice anyone? It’s a classic in any language.

A few other cool finds, not on the list. A spice mortar and pestle, a pair of earrings, and a sandalwood comb.

Random Things that made my friends and I happy: A German library book…Someone has racked up some serious fines! A best-of Yanni cassette tape for those of you Brooklyn hipsters wandering the ‘jing. A dartboard with only 2 darts! Because sometimes you just can’t commit to the full game.

Overall it was crowded but a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Don’t worry if you missed this one! The swap events happen several times a year and the best way to stay in the know is to follow The Bulk House on WeChat. Scan the QR code below.