Local "Gifting" Sites

We have a freecycle site for our city, and we use it pretty regularly to give things away. It's amazing some of the things that people really want.

Those are really nice gifts, but I was actually thinking about the other extreme. I have offered some things that I never expected people to want and then got messages almost immediately from a handful of people. Sometimes it made me so suspicious that I would ask why they wanted it, just to try to avoid enabling a hoarder. 😁

My favorite example was a huge plastic tub that blew into my backyard during a windstorm. It was an insert for a two-level water feature, a little pond you would put in your yard using a pump to recirculate water. I kept it for almost a year, using every possible opportunity to ask all of my neighbors if they had lost it, but I could never find out where it originated. I was at a loss, and then it just hit me that I should put it on freecycle. Within hours, I was contacted by several people who all provided interesting details about why they wanted it. I gave it to a woman who was going to build a backyard pond for her pet turtles.

Another time, I had finished off a bunch of projects around the house and had collected too many small cans of paint and stain that I had used to test colors. I felt horrible about just taking them to the transfer station for disposal, so wasteful. So I put them on freecycle, and a woman who lived just a few blocks away was eager to have them for some sort of crafting that she does.

I do think that some people may be hoarders, and others may try to resell. But if that concerns you, I've often found that you can figure that out pretty quickly with a short phone call. Some people have a really clear and detailed reason that they want the item, and that usually shines through immediately. Frankly, I'm more concerned about the hoarders than the resellers.