Furnishing Your Home for Free

There is a functioning gift economy in Brussels, and most newcomers never find it. People give away furniture, appliances and kitchen equipment for nothing — not to sell, but because they are leaving and would rather it went to somebody who needs it.

Buy Nothing Brussels

The Buy Nothing Brussels group is the main one. Members post things they no longer need and give them away — sofas, desks, cots, crockery, plants. Nothing is for sale and nothing is expected in return.

It is not a marketplace with a price of zero. The ethos is sharing rather than transacting, which changes how you should behave in it.

Timing

Brussels empties and refills on an academic and institutional calendar. Late June and early September are when leases end, contracts finish and whole flats are given away at once. If your move is flexible, the difference in what is available between mid-August and mid-September is remarkable.

The rest of the free economy

• Departing colleagues. Ask around the office in May and August; people are often relieved to find their furniture a home.
• Donneriez / Weggeefhoek groups — the same idea in French and Dutch, often more local to your commune.
• Kringloopwinkels and Les Petits Riens — not free, but very cheap and well sorted, and they deliver larger items.
• The street, on bulk-collection days. Perfectly good furniture appears on pavements the night before a collection. Taking it is normal here.

Give back, and say thank you

The economy only works because people keep putting things into it. Bring a small chocolate, or just say thank you properly — it costs nothing and it is why the person gives to the group again next time.

And when you leave, post your own flat rather than skipping it. Somebody is arriving in the week you go. See leaving Belgium for good and disposing of old clothes.