20 Aug 2013

One Man’s Trash. How to Post Free Items

Okay, time for some true confessions. We’ve had a pile of clunky, less than great stuff in our basement, waiting to be freecycled for a long time…I’m gonna say at least 6 months. It was the type of stuff that was just too bulky and in some cases, junky, to load in my car and take to my usual donation place. But posting on freecycle just wasn’t happening for one reason or another. I was just about ready to call a junk removal/recycling company when my husband said – “No, I’ll just put it on freecycle.” – something I’ve heard many times before. Well, there’s nothing like a little home demolition (I mean improvement) project to light a fire under you and make it happen! We have some major (and majorly dirty) work happening in our basement, which made us really want to get anything and everything we could out. Let’s learn how to post free items.

If you’re not familiar with freecycle, it is an amazing resource that allows you to post free items you’d like to give away and connect with others in your community who would like to take those items off your hands. Since it’s all free, there’s not as much back and forth communication as in the case of selling an item, say on Craigslist. With freecycle, you can either connect with a single recipient who responds to your post, or you can simply put the items out on the curb and let people know that’s what you’ll be doing. That way people can just drive by to take a look, and hopefully take your items.

The stars finally aligned for us and the urgency of the basement work combined with amazing weather (helpful if you’re planning to just leave stuff out on the curb) and we finally moved all of our freecycle items out to the curb. My husband posted it, including some pictures we had already taken when planning to post them before. Our random pile included an open box of (ugly) floor tile, an old, bulky, slightly broken table, felt pads for a different dining room table, a crate of 1980’s Legos, a louvered door, and some old empty photo albums. I knew the Legos would be popular, and sure enough, they were the first item to go – scooped up by a lady walking her dog. No, I wasn’t stalking our pile, I just happened to be near a front window when it happened! But much to my surprise, by the end of the day, every single item was gone, including the broken table!! I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience…except for the fact that it took us months to actually do it! Next time we accumulate stuff to let go of, I know we will be more proactive with our curbside freecycle strategy.