CraigsList got my back

I used to count myself as frugal but despite my best intentions with FreeCycle, I've been struggling with it. For one, I've been impressed/perplexed/disappointed at the frugal Offers: tvs that are "heavy" and need repair, open bottles of Worchesterchire sauce or hot sauce, plant cuttings, pantry foods with "some past the expiration date", etc. Or probably more impressed/perplexed/disappointed that these items are Taken.

Occasionally there are some really good Offers, like a gas grill, tools, chair mat, or sporting equipment, but those go pretty much immediately. It seems you have to be constantly monitoring FreeCycle to snap up a good catch.

Another downside is you can't post pictures because of the limitations of the simple, volunteer-run server. One is allowed to post a link to say, a photo site like flickr, but most freecyclers aren't that sophisticated or want to bother linking a photo of a bottle of hot sauce. This is kind of pain when you're interested in something like a bookcase or table, and you can only go by a description like "white oval table with decorative edging". I can picture a variety of images from classy to cheap to downright cheesy.

And finally, I haven't been able to justify the gas and time to pick up say, old issues of Reader's Digest or that state map of Utah, which kind of defeats the frugality purpose. And frankly, it works against the environmental aim of recycling/reusing with the extra driving.

So though I was hoping to get a bike for the girl from FreeCycle, I decided to go with CraigsList. To me, it still attains my goal of recycling/reusing, plus I can check out the pictures and the prices aren't too bad. Check out this beauty I picked out for $30:

Picked it up and finally (finally!) got the girl on her first bike. The trick on teaching her to ride at a later age of 8 was pushing her from behind uphill so I could keep up while keeping her balanced. But she soon got it on her own...

Hooray!

I'll keep trying with FreeCycle but at least there's CraigsList as a solid backup.