We belong to a group of individuals who are avid recyclers (or just plain cheap) called Freecycle. Thru emails you can post things you want/need or respond to other people's posts for stuff they are giving away....all free. Tho we have had some success in furnishing both Sam's new room and Brad's apt. (or should I say collecting furniture for future use) by responding and then picking up various items (nice desk chair for Brad, great Papasan chair for Sam) many times the descriptions of said items are, how shall we say....less than honest. We have traveled sometimes 10-15 miles only to become painfully aware that we are hauling away someone elses garbage; it has made us a bit more cautious in responding to posts. Free or not, some stuff is just not worth the effort it takes to pick it up....computer desks are NOT wood just because they are painted brown (for that matter, 4 wobbly legs and a top does not qualify as a desk), a working stereo should have actual sound coming out of the speakers and not be missing several control knobs (and a boombox is not necessarily a stereo)....sometimes it's OK to throw things away....REALLY!
Our children get quite a kick out of our misadventures on Freecycle...in fact, they have come to be slightly wary of the dubious descriptions of the treasures we require them to help us pick up. Our son Wilson does a much better job of describing their attitude towards our current foray into frugality in his latest blog post. Oh to be young and brilliant again :)
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4 comments:
It is too trite to say, "one man's trash is another man's treasure," but I will. If a person was unemployed (because this would take time) and handy, many of these things could be turned into something. Probably not something overly pragmatic, but something quasi-useful.
Actually someone should devise a way to grind all the organic parts into mulch and spread it about. The inorganic; plastic, rubber, etc, grind up for road base and the metal smelt into new metal. But that would be too smart on a grand scale.
Freecycle takes the place of that.
SOH
I guess Steve really is "the Master" as Wil says. Or maybe that's because he is so eco-friendly. Either way, we just love him, don't we?
I LOVE it! My father acquired a toilet seat somewhere in 1969 that managed to travel with him through TWO moves. We made terrible fun of him, until I was pregnant with my first son in 1996 (who turned out to be 12lbs. 4 oz. at birth.) While living large, I broke a toilet seat right off (during my descent). Sure enough, my father had just what I needed in his garage - never mind it was blue and the toilet was tan. It is still on there 12 years later.
Hey Wendy....we have the toilet to go with your seat!
...tho we have only had it for 2 years :)
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