At first, rescuing unwanted items from the reuse room was a way to save money. But over time, it became a place where I connected with my neighbours

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When I lived in inner Sydney, my apartment building had a dedicated reuse room for secondhand items. The room was officially named the Room of Unlimited Magical Recycling Possibilities, but most residents just called it the magic room. This name was fitting because often things seemed to appear there precisely when I needed them. I once walked in to find a reusable coffee cup, just after accidentally dropping my glass one in the car park.

In the magic room, our complex’s 650 residents could take whatever they needed and leave their preloved items, everything from furniture and clothes to stationery and crockery. When I took time off work to raise my kids, the room became a valuable source of things our family needed. It’s impossible to work out just how much I saved, but the impact was substantial.

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