Maybe I'm a moron. Maybe I'm just unlucky or something. But, this is my second go-around on Freecycle, and let me tell you, I'm really, honestly not impressed at all.
Maybe it's because I'm in a big city (Chicago), or maybe I'm not looking at it the right way or something, but to me, all that appears to be offered is a whole bunch of useless junk (at least to me). I've not seen anything, thus far, that I'd have even a close interest in. Furthermore, a lot of the stuff, it's like, "Maybe I need that, but am I really going to call my brother to accompany me to go pick the thing up, waste my evening and his, for something as miniscule as that?" Further, there's just SOOOOOO much junk to weed through. It's like attempting to find a needle in a haystack, and really, I just have a hard time committing to doing something like that.
I understand the "penny saved, penny earned" idea behind it. I get that, totally. And I'm far from the person who needs to have everything new and fresh and, even, hip. I grew up wearing hand-me-downs and that was fine. But I just don't get it. I'll probably stay on there, only because, well, you can disable getting daily emails now. Occasionally, maybe I'll stumble on over and stumble upon something I want. But, really, I don't have high hopes.
Maybe all you freecycle vets can tell me what I'm doing wrong. WITHOUT being preachy about it being right and good and all that. ;)
In other news, I calculated out the cost for replacing the whole fence. All 200 feet of fence (believe it or not, we have that much fence around our city lot). It's going to be cost-prohibitive. So, despite two posts ago saying I think we'll replace the whole thing, that probably ain't happening. The one side is likely to get done, and that's about it. In and of itself, that should be a blast, let me tell you!
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4 comments:
Well, I DO find it a better place to GET RID of things than to find things. I love that I can post the small stack of mismatched ceramic tiles and or the 3'x5' white vinyl lattice and find it a usable home outside the landfill...
I live in a moderately sized city (50,000 or so), and it seems to be a good size for the freecycle community. I don't check all the time.. in fact, I don't get emails... I only check the website. I generally only check when I'm posting something...
I haave gotten more from posting "wanted" adds... I've only posted those for things that people generally have lying around useless like a pressure cooker or half bags of grout, but I have good luck there.
Don't know if that helps you...
On the fence... could you replace just the posts and rails, and keep the pickets? That's wht our neighbor did to their fence... the pickets were in pretty good shape still, so they kept them but replaced the structural part of the fence. You could then later add new pickets if you wanted.
I'll have to take a good look at the pickets, but I think, honestly, they're shot. I mean, they'll probably hold up OK, but they're really, really, really old.
That said, the posts are obviously the problem here, as far as falling down is concerned. Not the pickets.
So I hadn't thought of that, but I'll look at it...would save a lot of money, definitely. And some work.
I've always found Craigslist free area to be better for giving things away - but I've never found anything I wanted that wasn't already taken. In fact, I Think you have to watch it like a hawk to get anything worthwhile. I haven't tried freecycle yet, but it disappoints me that your experience isn't much better.
Anyhow, this goes with out saying - but its great to know that when someone else wants to do a project they can't afford, they don't just pop out the credit card or sign up for the latest Home Equity Loan. Its so much more satisfying to own what you have, rather than to share it with the bank :-)
I'm also a firm believer that Craigslist is a better way to give away things. By the way, nice site....any interest in swapping links?
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