FreeUse app

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Inspiration

This idea came with my personal experience. In day to day life we buy and stack lots of items(groceries/tools/spares/furniture etc ). Some times we only need a part of the stack (a can of coke, electrical accessories, spot lights, etc) but we have to buy the stack as its not available loose. At the same time there are others who need the same items but also in minimal quantity, but they also have to buy it from the supermarket. So, its a double waste, the one who already has access and the one who is in need but has to buy it again as its not available loose. And it goes on and on. As a result, lot of these items are stored and later are either expired or disposed off.

Our idea is to connect both these types of people and help them collaborate , so that they can reuse the items and reduce the waste.

What it does

Using this app you can post any item which is excess for you. At the same time someone who is looking for this items can make a search.

In our demo you will see Mary - In his kitchen she always has some items which are in excess or is no more required (cooking rum in this case) On the other hand we have John. John wants to cook the Christmas cake and he needs some table spoon of rum. But since you cannot get a small quantity of rum, he will have to buy a full bottle. The rest will go waste (as for Mary) How about a platform which can connect both of them? Here we introduce the FreeUse app (You can Freely Reuse the items , either share them or find one)

You can simply post your item by clicking on "I want to share". Fill in your basic details, add a picture of the item and click on add item. The app will automatically suggest your current address, modify if you need and submit. Voila, your item has been posted for sharing.

Similarly, if you are looking for an item. Just search your category. If you find an item. Click on "I am interested". It will automatically open a chat conversation with the poster. Confirm your pickup and complete the transaction by scanning the barcode of the posters cellphone.(There is also a possibility of manually closing the transaction). Here you go, your transaction is complete and the app will show you an estimate of how much did you save today. You can make some donations for the platform if you want (optional)

Thanks to the FreeUse app, John has helped Mary from throwing away the extra rum she had and he saved both his time and money avoiding going to the supermarket and again buying excess amount of rum.

How I built it

Below technology stack was used to build it - VS IDE Xamrin forms, C# Google cloud firestore Prism framework design pattern - MVVM

Challenges I ran into

The biggest challenge was to understand the customer experience and anticipate his actions. We had to do many rounds of design discussions to make the user experience seamless and simple. Thanks to our architect and developer Kunvar Singh who has excellent skills for converting a requirement into an MVP in no time.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Diamonds are carved under immense pressure. This goes true for us. We have been working under lot of pressure to materialize the idea. And it has brought the best out of us. The noble cause behind the idea is to help reduce the day to day waste and what we believe can bring a big impact to the society. And this is the belief that kept us going and going and kept us motivated. I feel we have evolved during this hackathon both technically but also mentally. Choosing the best , negotiating between options and time management have been great learning