Tuesday, July 15, 2008

FreeCycle - inaugural loot

I joined my local FreeCycle group. Yes, it's one of those groups where folks offer up stuff for free with a goal of reusing and repurposing stuff rather than buying new and thus, keeping stuff out of landfills. Personally, I'd love to see some of stuff the girl has outgrown (and are still in good condition) go to good use. Like the 3 seasons of t-ball and softball stuff I shelled out new money for only to watch my girl squat on the infield and draw circles in the sand or pick dandelions in the outfield. I'm also looking to get the girl a bike--at this point I've figured out she needs activities where she's somewhat engaged a hundred percent of the time.

I haven't gotten the gumption to put up an Offer or Wanted post yet, but I've been checking out the other Offers. There's definitely stuff I expected to see like a tricycle, toddler swimming pools, bookshelves, entertainment centers, and couches. And the good stuff goes fast--so far I've gone for a gas grill, a foodsaver, and two bottles of Andy Warhol cologne, but I was too slow.

What surprised me was some of the specific stuff folks have Offered: a 5 oz. bottle of Worcestershire sauce, ironing board cover, hair dryer diffuser, an open can of baking powder, a Eurythmics CD, cookie tins, Hawaii Islands Entertainment coupon book, a used maternity bra, hangers, wool cap for a child, fax machine that "needs work", and a plastic Looney Tunes figurine display (no figurines, just the display). Some of this stuff (I'm looking at you, open can of baking powder) doesn't seem worth the gas driving to pick it up. And some of the stuff is so crazy specific like that Hawaii Islands Entertainment coupon book. But what do I know? Most of the above stuff was Taken.

Including that broken fax machine.

Anyhoo, I picked up my first freecycle loot--it took about 5 e-mails and 20 minutes of driving to pick them up:


Worth it? If you don't think so, throw a little mojo my way for a kid's bike or gas grill, would ya?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Janet had to unsubscribe to FreeCycle because she signed up for email posts (a big NO-NO).
We had a garage sale upstate to dump some junk...we made $28 (and it cost $30 for the ad)-OUCH!!

No Scrolling said...

Freecycle! You know, there's been some interesting litigation over the name:

http://tinyurl.com/62j5ms

Ok, maybe it's not so interesting, except to me :)

Pound said...

ok honestly- not worth it. i coulda used the eurythmics cd though HAHA.
i'm all for reusing, but a lot of the stuff really isn't worth the time and effort- ya i'm talking to the baking soda too. and maybe the andy warhol cologne :P