Freecycle, do any of you Freecycle?

I've given away a 55 gallon fish tank with stand, a somewhat-working refrigerator, a garden bench, a magazine rack/table/lamp contraption and a roman column on Freecycle. I love it. I will forever freecycle.

I haven't taken anything yet, but I have requested books. Lots of people in my 'hood want to give away 100's of books. Who does stuff like that???

It was a great way to get rid of the Guinea pigs and all their trappings, as well as some very nice hardwood walk-through baby gates. I love giving stuff away. Rummage sales are way too much hassle.

I have used them, given stuff away on there and taken some items too. Its a wonderful idea and i do not have a bad word to say about the project.

I'm actually on a freecycle listserv, but in the year I've been on it, I haven't given or taken a single thing.

I guess if I monitored the emails more frequently, I might get more out of it, but I don't have that kind of energy.

I'd rather lay on my couch and eat cheese curls. But it's a great idea.

camlin said:

I guess if I monitored the emails more frequently, I might get more out of it, but I don't have that kind of energy.

I'd rather lay on my couch and eat cheese curls. But it's a great idea.

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I've found that you can't wait for the daily digest. If you're looking for something specific (books, bookshelves, a microwave oven...) you need to check the site at least as often as you check your email and AW.

it is worth checking frequently. In my area i have seen Mac's, laptops, washing machines, fridge freezers and even a car once. So its worth checking them emails.

Pamster said:

www.freecycle.org/

If you've not heard of it check it out, there is probably a group there in your area, I have to say I just got a few things over the weekend from two wonderful families I just had to post about it here and see if you've ever looked into it. It's a great thing IMO. We've been on the local list for a couple of years now, but I hardly post although I like to read the posts and if I see something that catches my eye I will try for it.

This weekend we replied to a message about a free computer tower and ended up with a great 60 gb hard drive, 128MB ram chip and a CD RW drive. The CPU was a 900 MHZ and not as good as the one we've got for our son but the pieces we assembled for him fixed the problems his system was having.

Then we replied to another message posted offering things from a failed garage sale, and I walked away with two awesome magnavox speakers with subwoofers, a Plug and Play DDR (dance dance revolution game with RCA jacks to plug into the TV directly) and six kid's movies, Charlie brown, two Thomas the Train videos, The Very Hungry Catepillar, Scooby Doo and one on golf for kids. And the final thing she gave us was a cool Spiderman two poster.

I need to list some things, because when you list offers, (At least our local group allows this) you can post a wanted post where you post about something you need. Some people ask for beds, I've seen people ask for washers and dryers. It's really a cool way to share with people in your community and to stop overfilling the landfills with items that still have use left in them.

Or have you just heard of this and are too anxious to reply to anyone's messages on the Yahoo Group or even to imagine going to pick up items? I was anxious at first but I got over it for Jackie's sake. The first item I got was a Dr. Seuss backpack.

And I really wanted the DDR for him, and the speakers for our home theater. They work great too, we can actually HEAR the things on TV now.

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I freecycle all the time. Things I have gotten:
Dryer
Refrigerator
Bricks that I made my walkway with.....
Bricks that I made my patio with...
Scanner/printer
Computer
Monitor
2 quilts
Vera Lang Fabric 102 inches wide..
Picture Frames
Couch
Dinning Room Set
TV
Outdoor Chairs
Laptop that was suppose to have a bad mother board, but it was just configured wrong... and I fixed it.
Oak Sectional Computer Desk
Oak Chairs
Last year a high end handmade furniture shop went out of business they posted on Freecycle so a lot to the stuff came from there and it went to the Historical Society in Town...


Things I have given away
Perennials (all the time) I have tons of them, so whenever someone wants them I tell them to come and get them...
Snow pants
Curtains
Lawn Mower
Bikes

Freecycle is good.... I got free bricks and free dunkin coffee on the same day... Life is good...

Siddow said:

I've given away a 55 gallon fish tank with stand, a somewhat-working refrigerator, a garden bench, a magazine rack/table/lamp contraption and a roman column on Freecycle. I love it. I will forever freecycle.

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No one got the one thing I've offered up - a five year run of Progressive Farmer magazine from the 1980's. I can't believe someone didn't scarf those things right up.

Siddow said:

I haven't taken anything yet, but I have requested books. Lots of people in my 'hood want to give away 100's of books. Who does stuff like that???

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Surely many of them are RDCB's (bookseller talk for the infamous, ubiquitous Reader's Digest Condensed Books that aren't worth the 25 cents the thift stores try to sell them for) and outdated editions of college textbooks, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth! There could be an old "How to write best selling fiction" book in all the mess. Not sure what to do with all those other books... A question comes to mind, will your new house have a fireplace?

Devil Ledbetter said:

It was a great way to get rid of the Guinea pigs and all their trappings, as well as some very nice hardwood walk-through baby gates. I love giving stuff away. Rummage sales are way too much hassle.

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Also for pets, there's http://petfinder.com, I've yet to use it but it looks like a great resource for finding lost pets, listing a found animal, adopting pets, and finding new homes for pets that you, well, no longer want...I just put in my zip code for "looking for a dog" and at least a couple dozen dogs showed up, all listed by this county's humane society - I should give them some money or volunteer some time or something...

Have I bitched about my sister-in-law lately? We had an "extra dog" that someone had apparently put out in the neighborhood a year ago, it was a smallish female (maybe 20 lbs), loving, always jumped up on me and licked my hands and such. I didn't even mind too much when she did that months ago and then I thought "What's that smell?" Both my hands and my pants had dog poop on them from her paws. A few weeks ago she had torn open a box UPS had delivered for me, and she'd also been a source of ongoing friction between our two male dogs, so she (my sister-in-law) decided to get rid of the dog - she drove her to a newer, high-density neighborhood about five miles away and let her out (this is the way several other dogs have shown up in our area, and she's complained about other people doing that - I guess her thinking is it's okay to do that (dump a pet somewhere) as long as you don't do it where WE live). I think I heard her say she was going to get rid of the dog, but it didn't quite register in my mind. When she got back and told me where she left, er, dumped it, I said next time we need to get rid of a pet, I can list it online (with pictures, even!) and someone who really wants it will come and get it.

Where was I? Freecycle - I'm on two lists, the one in this rural cunty, (27,000 residents) and the one for the next county up from me. I see good stuff, but nothing I need. I got old junk computers and monitors - you can't give me a CRT monitor unless it's a humongous 21" and in good working condition, and I already have a lifetime supply of them (well, for the lifetime of the monitors, anyway). I've been on the lists for a few years, and only got a few books from one offer.

When I lived down in Knoxville, we Freecycled all the time. When we moved out of town, the Freecycle community there wasn't much to speak of with mostly baby clothes and occasional sports equipment. Where we are now? Um...I don't think there is even a Freecycle network for this area. I have been looking into Craiglist, though.

Oh wow! I just joined our local group! How cool!

Thanks Pamster!

Freecycle.

We used to call that, "setting it out on the curb."

Someone always takes it.

Isn't freecycle just a euphemism for "garbage picking?"

Actually, yes, I've put exercise equipment and large items on the curb. You'd be surprised at the people who drive around neighborhoods and then come back with a trailer.

I had a 5-piece wicker set that was supposed to be indoor furniture but I kept it on my covered porch until it fell apart. I mean this stuff was trash, not salvageable at all. I'd painted it a couple of times, had it out there for about six years, finally decided to toss it. Out to the curb.

Within an hour, someone had come along and taken it. Poor saps.

I wouldn't put anything on freecycle that belongs in the trash. My local list is really picky about that, you have to give an honest description of the item.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Freecycle.

We used to call that, "setting it out on the curb."

Someone always takes it.

Isn't freecycle just a euphemism for "garbage picking?"

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Although Freecycle just started in my area a few months ago, we've "freecycled" stuff out to the curb for years and always had someone take it. In my case, it's always decent stuff that we just don't need any more or have room for.

About two weeks ago I put out a love seat that my mother-in-law gave me when she got new furniture for our downstairs den. I'm in the process of re-doing the den and didn't need it any more so out to the curb it went. In less than five minutes, a single mom down the street stopped to get it - and she really needed it too. So she was happy, I was happy, and I got rid of something I didn't need.

It works, ya know

I just thought about this, and the way to freecycle and make money at it is called, "Rummage Sale."