We are buying too much junk...
http://freecycle.org/
Let us get into giving (& getting) stuff for free in our own towns. Protect our environment.

This is the most convoluted post I've seen in a long time.

Yes. But I'll vouch for freecycle. It's a great way to give away and get anything. I've been able to give away old magazines, kitchen stuff, and other stuff that I wasn't using. And I've been able to pick up a laser disc player, a huge entertainment center, a cable modem, and lots of other stuff all for free.

They work thru yahoo mailing groups, and include an area of a city area or two. My local "cell" contains two local suburbs/towns, has over 1500 members, and gets about 100 messages per day.

It's a great way to reduce waste and make sure "useless stuff" gets used.

Cool. Sounds like a good way to meet other hippies.

Damn, I was hoping for a Free Cycle.

Ironically, I'm sure you could probably get one through the site.

What about this one?

You win.

They're a little too anal about some of their rules, however. There are instances where they just don't make sense.

The worst is when you post something, wade through the frantic "Me, me, me!" emails to pick a winner, and then they never show up to get their stuff. I hate that.

That's not the worst. How about the one where they do show up to pick up your couch with their Geo Metro and expect you to load it into your own truck, drive 30 mins across the county, bring it into their house, move it around until it's in the right place, and then have them decide they don't really like it and you can take it back (except you don't and just leave).

Winner.

I've actually had really good luck on both sides of the trades so far. No no-shows and very friendly people at the pickups. Once, on the big entertainment center, the person knew it wouldn't fit into most cars or even trucks, so she volunteered a friend with a large truck that helped me move it 5 miles down the road to my garage for $10.

Yikes! Screw that, it's free for them to pick up, not for me to deliver. You are a very polite and patient person, though, and I salute you.

Reference is Page 33, Worldchanging - Alex Steffen (book).

Thanks. I was trying to pay it forward, but she was really trying my patience. She was on her cell phone virtually the entire time and her kids were running all over the place. I'm really not certain what she thought this whole thing was.

Time to revive an old thread. Anyone else still using this. I know I am.

Picked up the following free in the last year:
Harmony USB Remote - small contact needed to be adjusted - has worked fine even after dropping it several times over the last few months.
Realsitic Optimus 2's - speakers circa 1972 - they still sound wonderful with their CLOTH surrounds
7" Widescreen Portable DVD Player - all it needed was a small spacer below the spindle - an east fix for sure.
2 Desktop computers - 1 had a 120GB hard drive and another had an 80GB drive - all complete systems

So, needless to say I have had great luck. Wonderful people tp meet. I recently posted about some kitchen cabinets my parents ripped out of their kitchen. My mom wanted them out of her garage as the new ones were going to be in ASAP, So I told her about freecycle - posted it for her and arranged for picked. I told them before they came over that they would need a LARGE truck as there were many cabinets. Everything went fine and they went to a family that could really use them. I'll be using them after my yard sale.

Nice haul. But what have you given away?

We use it often to get rid of stuff, to great success.
Have yet to look for anything, but we're in a "purge" mode these days.

I am a new member of a very LARGE family so just about everything of any worth goes to them that we don't need. After our yard sale we will DEFINATELY be posting some as we have been spring cleaning and have a LOT of stuff.

Before freecycle we brought stuff to Goodwill. But then I have heard stories of SOME of the people that work there. They take the cream of the crop or they send it to their new website so it does not stay local. I am not a big fan of this.

I usually donate stuff to my local humane society. They have a thrift shop and the money goes to help animals. If its nothing they can sell I give stuff away in the free section on craigslist.org.