Our local Freecycle members have been good to me recently.
A few months back my gas cooker decided to bite the dust. The oven wasn’t heating to the correct temperature (or anywhere even close), one of the rings would only work on very high and would go out as soon as I tried to turn it down, one ring wouldn’t light at all and a third ring seemed to adjust itself willy nilly. It was as if gremlins had taken up residence in it. I put out a wanted ad for a new (to me) cooker and, Robert's your mother's brother, a reply came in that same day. The new cooker’s still going great guns and will no doubt be passed on to yet another Freecycler when I eventually give the kitchen its planned make-over and it'll no longer be needed.
Next up came a ceramic hob - exactly what I want for my new kitchen and a saving of around £150. I responded, they said I could have it and LM went off to pick it up for me. That’s now in a storage cupboard awaiting the day when it’ll be put into use.
Last week I received a gorgeous rug for the lounge. Hand made out of 100% pure New Zealand wool, in exactly the right colours for my living room with a pattern that combines traditional with modern. I couldn't have been more happy had I chosen it myself. Even DD2 loved it when she saw it - she thought it made the living room look much more homely. She's right, of course.
Zara the dog - now rehomed - had relieved herself both back and front on the original rug so many times that no amount of cleaning was ever going to make any difference. It stank and was faded. Yuk! The lady who let me have it even delivered it for me, apologising for the frayed corner as her puppy had taken a nibble. The said corner is hardly noticeable and is hidden under the sofa anyway, so not a problem.
The same lady also gave me a beautiful red vase full of cream silk flowers.
Beautiful, isn’t it?
I’ve also received an extractor fan, a breadmaker, several books and an aloe vera plant.
But it’s not all been receiving, I’ve also offered a few things. My perfectly good but unused sun lounger found a new home; lots of kitchen bits and bobs and a framed mirror went to a lady who was starting over from scratch; a very comfortable clean mattress and topper went to a single mum who needed a new one for her son; a huge, unused make-up set went to a teenager who thought it was Christmas again; a dozen or so large terracotta pots went to a man who’d just got his first garden; and a box of books found a new home.
Anything that keeps stuff out of the landfill has to be good and Freecycle is, in my opinion, one of the best things to have come out of the Internet.
Sharon J xx
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2 comments:
Funny that you would write about this today.
I started to have a yard sale in spite of the 106 degree temperature. I have been hording many things from a condo I kept in Marin so that my son could go to a better school system. We lived there during the school year and eventually stayed the summer.
It rained. It not only rained, we had thunder and lightening. It doesn't rain in California in June. The storm just self assembled like the storms do in the Midwest. No one forecast it.
As I was covering my treasures with tarps, a reporter from the local paper who was scurrying about getting public opinion stopped. She asked what I thought about the rain. I said, "The Lord works in mysterious ways". Sensing my sarcasm, she asked me if I believed in God. I said, "That's personal and none of your business. Next you'll be wanting to know if I had sex with Cindy McCain in college". "Did you have sex with Cindy McCain", she asked. "See. I told you", I said.
Next came the Reverend from the Baptists church. "How's it going, Reverend", he smirked. "I get the message", I said. "Why don't you bring some of your flock over and take this stuff away." They left a few moments ago.
The Marin idea was a bad one as well. It seems that the rich are less tolerant and more adept at claiming that everything that they have is better. Diversity doesn't exist in their communities for a reason. My son ended up graduating with scholarships here.
It was a good day.
Until this year, I'd never heard of anybody having a yard sale here but they seem to be increasing in popularity now. I guess the fact that so many are having to tighten the belt means they'd rather earn a few pounds on their stuff than just donate it to charity or give it away on Freecycle. They're still not regular occurrences, though.
It's a shame you had a storm through yours. We can plan as much as we like but the weather will always do its own thing. A friend has arranged a celebration bbq for today with 40 guests expected only it's REALLY windy so I imagine the food's going to get blown off the tables (assuming anybody actually turns up in this weather, that is).
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