My Adventures on Freecycle...

[catknit 144]

So given our lovely visa mishap...I'm moving to Delhi. [Yeah, yeah, yeah all the aloo paranthas I want and hot as hell - I've heard it all!].

I'm trying to get my stuff down to the bare minimum for a lot of reasons. I don't want to take up huge chunks of my parents attic and [truth be told] I want to physically move as little as possible. I'm just not a fan of carrying furniture and boxs all over creation.

My methods on reducing have been a 2 prong attack - sell the sellable and give away the rest. Anything that lasts past two listings and two weeks on craiglist goes to freecycle.

I thought, perhaps, nice gently used furniture would go and go quickly. I had nice pics, measurements, a run down of the life of the furniture....yeah, not so much. It lingers.

Board games, kitchen items, decorative stuff - again, not so much.

Then I hit the proverbial response email motherload. Wrapping paper and craft supplies! Honestly, within 10 minutes, 15 responses for the craft supplies. Within 15 minutes, 8 responses to the wrapping paper. This to me is weird. Very, very weird. I'm still getting responses to the wrapping paper days later.

Do you freecycle and if so, what do you go for?

[catknit 144]

nm

Edited June 13, 2009 by milo75

[one...two...tree 2,762]

lol@wrapping paper.

We usually try to give things we no longer need to friends and family first, but there's always St. Vincent De Paul, the Salvation Army or Goodwill.

We tried to donate a baby car seat to Goodwill but they said they don't take big items so they referred us to St. Vincent De Paul. They'll even give you a receipt if it's worth for you to itemize on next year's tax return.

[catknit 144]

I circulated "the list" with friends and family first.

The wrapping paper thing was beyond strange - it was all these women swearing to take the stuff sight unseen immediately.

I'm starting to think there is a wrapping paper cult.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I circulated "the list" with friends and family first.

The wrapping paper thing was beyond strange - it was all these women swearing to take the stuff sight unseen immediately.

I'm starting to think there is a wrapping paper cult.

probably.

[Mags 112]

Although I understand the generosity on giving away a used child car seat, I must stress that people should never buy a used one. With a used baby car seat you don't know its history or whether or not it has been in an accident.

Cars seats that have been in accidents should never be used again, never mind how small the accident was.

[Ban Hammer 13,332]

Although I understand the generosity on giving away a used child car seat, I must stress that people should never buy a used one. With a used baby car seat you don't know its history or whether or not it has been in an accident.

Cars seats that have been in accidents should never be used again, never mind how small the accident was.

you read my mind

[MrsCat 6]

I circulated "the list" with friends and family first.

The wrapping paper thing was beyond strange - it was all these women swearing to take the stuff sight unseen immediately.

I'm starting to think there is a wrapping paper cult.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Although I understand the generosity on giving away a used child car seat, I must stress that people should never buy a used one. With a used baby car seat you don't know its history or whether or not it has been in an accident.

Cars seats that have been in accidents should never be used again, never mind how small the accident was.

What about car seats that haven't been in car accidents? I understand the safety concern, but I think most people can tell from examination whether a car seat is still usable. I believe that most fire stations will examine a car seat for you.

[Alan D. 0]

Do you freecycle and if so, what do you go for?

I used freecycle a couple of times ... then I noticed one day that there were these freecycle bums ... this couple with a big pickup truck showed up and took something from me. then when i posted something else they showed up again and tossed it in the back with a giant pile of other stuff..

I was thinking that's probably all they do is go get the freecycle stuff and resell it.

can't complain I suppose but I think these guys were cornering the market on anything at all of any value.

nowdays, it's goodwill cause I like those receipts.

[Mags 112]

Although I understand the generosity on giving away a used child car seat, I must stress that people should never buy a used one. With a used baby car seat you don't know its history or whether or not it has been in an accident.

Cars seats that have been in accidents should never be used again, never mind how small the accident was.

What about car seats that haven't been in car accidents? I understand the safety concern, but I think most people can tell from examination whether a car seat is still usable. I believe that most fire stations will examine a car seat for you.

Steven, you just can't always tell by looking at it. Even a firestation expert can't tell you a car seat's history...AND people aren't always honest when it comes to selling seats.

You're honest, I have no doubt. But Billy Bob Buckteeth might not be - he just wants money for the seat.

I understand that car seats are expensive and many people don't have much cash, but you should never put your child's safety at risk for a few bucks, nor at the say so of another.

[catknit 144]

Do you freecycle and if so, what do you go for?

I used freecycle a couple of times ... then I noticed one day that there were these freecycle bums ... this couple with a big pickup truck showed up and took something from me. then when i posted something else they showed up again and tossed it in the back with a giant pile of other stuff..

I was thinking that's probably all they do is go get the freecycle stuff and resell it.

can't complain I suppose but I think these guys were cornering the market on anything at all of any value.

nowdays, it's goodwill cause I like those receipts.

Part of my issue is I have no truck for the big stuff - and getting any of the charities to pick up here is impossible or at least virtually impossible. If a freecycle bum wants it - more power to them, at least I say this now due to my short timeline to get the stuff out!

[caybee 21]

I've tried to Freecycle two things so far. The first was a large office desk from work. It was in good shape -- I was tempted to take it home myself. I got one interested person in a week's time, but it was larger than he wanted. We carted it off to Goodwill, and they were happy to take it.

The other was a support pole embedded in concrete in an ugly five-gallon bucket that had been spray-painted bright green. We'd had my husband's free-to-air satellite dish attached to it, and we didn't want to move the bucket-o-concrete when we moved. I had a reply within an hour of posting. An elderly couple wanted it -- husband had a bad back and couldn't dig a post hole, so their dish was propped up and taking up much of their porch. I was at work but told them where to find it, and it was gone by the time I got home that day. I got the nicest e-mail from the wife later, tickled to death to have that dish off her porch. You just never know what someone will want.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

I used freecycle too before we moved to the US. A few things took several days for a response, but I got rid of everything other than shoes (well, I got one "odd" response on the shoes, so declined and instead brought them to a charity shop). I even had someone come to our 5th floor appartment with stairs only (no lift) to get a cracked 6 foot aquarium! The responder had a female name so I warned her to bring a strong man with her as aquariums like that with gravel are very heavy. She said not to worry, she is a funeral director and used to carry full coffins! She had no problem carrying the aquarium downstairs on her back, I was impressed.

[catknit 144]

The mind reels with what a funeral director would do with a 6 foot aquarium...ugh.