Listia Stories: Family, Friends, Survivors & Creatives

Each week we bring you stories from Listia members about all of your experiences and the friendships you’ve made. Members whose stories are published here on the blog receive a unique Listia All-Star Badge, 5 Listia stickers which will arrive in the mail & 100 bonus credits deposited into your Listia account. Email your entries to Ilove@listia.com

Visit usmithbiz on Listia

This has been a tough 2 years for me. I lost 3 family members on separate occasions, broke my left big toe (my most favored foot), almost lost my only son, ran into financial difficulties and fell into a depression. My broken toe further limited my mobility from what it already was with my chronic, severe arthritis of the knees. I live alone in a high rise for the elderly. I found myself spending hours in my bed, bored to tears and mourning my lost family members. I could not afford to order online movies and I don’t own a television. Occasionally, I would peruse Facebook in an attempt to alleviate the boredom. That, at times, seemed only to add to my emotional stress. Anyone who does Facebook knows what I mean. However, one day this past June, I spotted an ad on Facebook that read, “Listia – Auctions for Free Stuff”. Free stuff?! That got my attention and I decided to look into it. I have tried other auction sites and didn’t find them to be of much interest: I couldn’t afford most of the items on them and what I could afford, I did not want. The Listia website was user friendly and I immediately found items that I could use. I won the second auction that I bidded on and fell in love! This is really FREE STUFF! Well, then a thought occurred to me. I wanted to show my living family members that, although I may not stay in touch as much as I would like, I do think of them often and love them dearly. Listia could make it possible for me to get thoughtful gifts to send to them: something tangible to show how much they mean to me. My tight budget, impaired mobility and long distance from them no longer had to be a hindrance. With Listia, I can get beautiful stuff to send to them that they can hold on to — not just paper cards that tend to get thrown away. I have now begun bidding on items for friends also. This has helped me to recover from my mourning and focus on the living. Lying in bed is so much more exciting now. I’m hooked on Listia and I have been telling everyone about this great find. Keep up the great work, Listia. I love being a part of the Listia online family.

 

Visit cshakely on Listia

It was a typical cold day in October and I was suffering from cabin fever, being cooped up in the house for a weeks at a time because its too cold to go anywhere. So one morning, I got on my computer and decided to check facebook, and this woman I did not know sent me a invite to a site called Listia. At first I took a glance, and was sort of  apathetic towards joining, not knowing that it would be the beginning of a beautiful and interesting relationship 🙂 I started out like everyone does at first, getting my feet wet and living and learning what to do and not to do. I have met some great friends on here,who I see in outside of Listia at times. There is so much Listia has  to offer, and I love to look into all categories when shopping. It is hard just to browse, you always catch your eye on something spectacular or useful.  I just received a glittery red long formal gown that looks like you could wear it on the red carpet at the Academy Awards-and it was free! Listia is a amazing marketplace, and you can learn so many techniques on being a good seller /buyer that can help you in real life as well. I have improved my life, and found my passion in life with Listia…so thank you for all you do and I look forward to logging in and seeing what is hot on the auction block!

 

Visit organicgrandmadi on Listia

I joined Listia to get rid of the clutter that seemed to develop a life of its own. My husband said he hoped to live to see the day when our house would look the way it used to, with a place for everything and everything in its place! As we are both disabled due to exposure to a toxin, I secretly doubted it. My goal was to get enough credits to get Amazon cards so I could get a commercial first aid kit for our kids’ new business–still saving. What I got that was totally unexpected–whole network of supportive friends! I am daily amazed at the caliber of caring & kindness that abound here! I have to include the Listia help desk who patiently and fairly provide support to all of our millions of questions. I’ve developed a whole new circle of friends–besides the opportunity to give our “clutter” to people who can use and work toward my own goal even when I am stuck in bed or a wheelchair. It’s great to feel useful again!

 

Visit blindman0208 on Listia

My name is Jason and I am 100% blind due to trying to help a female that was getting beat by 3 males and I tried to stop them and I was jumped by all 3 guys. They ended up breaking my jaw and my nose and I ended up taking a bullet to the head which left me blind. Since then it has been really hard to find ways of getting stuff I need and want and to find new friends. But thank GOD for a program called JAWS which is a screen reader that reads to me what’s on the screen and a great site full of awesome people. Now thanks to Listia I can get garden seeds to plant for food, I can get home and kitchen supply, I can get phone accessory stuff for my computer, stuff for my kids which is really important to me and so so much more stuff and it is all free. That helps a lot since I am now blind and disabled. And Listia works really well with my JAWS program and my voice over on my  iPhone. I can not state how thankful I am that I found this site and gave it a try now I spend most of my time on here looking thru all the great auctions and starting up conversations with people and I have met and made so many new friends because of LISTIA. I spend hours telling my other friends about the site and suggest to them to give it a try that they would fall in love with it. And I just wanted everyone to know how much impact Listia has had on my life in such a short period of time.

 

Visit WendyE1 on Listia

I LOVE jewelry. I’m an entertainer who wears brightly colored clothes onstage, and I always want my jewelry to match. Needless to say, this can get pretty expensive! Well, discovering Listia has saved the day because there is sooo much jewelry available on Listia. It’s so much fun scrolling through all the auctions! I create a list of items I like and then watch the bidding for each one as it progresses. I’ve won dozens of pieces of beautiful jewelry! To earn credits, I round up unused things lying around my house and put them up for auction. It’s rewarding knowing my unused items are going to people who really want them. I enjoy being part of a large community of like-minded people who want to swap their stuff….it saves us a ton of money, and of course, it’s also great for the environment. So thanks for your awesome website, Listia…..you’re the best!