Freestyle !

[Richlist]

Anyone else used Freecycle ?

For those that don't know.... its a website where you can advertise items that you want to give away for FREE.

Some of the responses are quite unbelievable...

Can I provide photos, sizes, weights, can I help carry to the car, can I deliver, how old are the items ?.....for pete's sake........I'm giving them away for free. Surely the onus is on the recipient.

The tone of some of the replies implies a sense of entitlement.......as you can probably tell its not a world that I am familiar with.

I tried giving items to charity shops last year but they just made arrangements to collect and then failed to turn up.........British Heart Foundation. I won't be contacting them again.

I can see me paying the fixed £10 fee and having my local council take it all away. Such a shame as its all good serviceable stuff.

[Carryon Regardless]

 A couple of days ago I tried something a little different.

With years of collecting between the rest of the house there were well over a hundred DVD'c and CD's, many duplicates, many still as bought, unwrapped.

I took them down to the sailing club in a couple of boxes with a lable for folk to help themselves. In a couple of weeks I'll take what's left to the charity shop.

Some larger items go on Fleabay for collection only, if I get enough for a pint of Guiness it's worth the effort. A set of wheels and 2 part worn tyres got me £150 last week, hic.

 

[Melboy]

I work as a volunteer in a Cancer charity shop 1 day a week and I have done so for 7 years now so I am an "Old Sweat" at this business. It is extremely efficiently run and provides terminal care to cancer patients in the charities own locally run and financed hospital. ( Hospice).

It never ceases to amaze me the generosity of people when donating goods for sale to the shop. ( 1 of 8 locally ). However we do get a small percentage of people who are politely turned away when they offer goods fit for the skip only and they just cannot seem to grasp the fact that nobody would actually want to buy want they are offering. some are quite rude when informed of this and some accept the fact on explanation.

We have vans to collect goods like furniture, electricals etc. from home collects. Yes items are turned down by the driver's if they do not meet furniture regulation fire safety standards or are in poor condition.

Our other curse is shop lifter's. Yes, in a cancer charity shop we get the shop lifter's and I have escorted a few out of the shop by the elbow. I am big enough and ugly enough to handle myself as well at my tender age.

So don't give up on giving to a charity shop if you have had a bad experience. Talk to someone at the shop as people do to me  for advice.

 

[Mortitia]

I am a serial wardrobe clearer outer and donate most of my stuff the the Greyhound Trust shop a couple of miles away.  The staff are always up for unusual items including 2 office chairs, a fitball and a fleet of still in good condition suitcases we junked recently.  One suitcase with matching carry on bag went whilst I was still unloading the car!

For getting rid of furniture I find the Salvation Army very efficient and my local Bournemouth Churches Housing Trust turn up to appointment and clear away happily - even from upstairs.  There is something satisfying knowing someone will benefit from a settee that no longer matches the decor.

As for Evilbay - I put a chop saw on just before Christmas for collection only.  It was like new - still on Amazon at £150 and bidding started.  Ends up with some Irish person from Connemara with 0% feedback winning it for £67 and never paid. Grrrrrr!

[Richlist]

Couldn't give it away. It WAS all free but a combination of time wasters, people not turning up and frustration on my part led me to advertise it all on gumtree and eBay for a few pounds

Guess what.

As soon as it was no longer free, they were queuing up at the door for it.......My tip is sell it and if you want to donate to charity just give them the cash. It's a lot easier than trying to give it away.

Now it's all gone I can start to refurbish.

[kerbut]

I must admit after we moved last year and had to re-furnish our old home which is now our holiday let (16 weeks already booked for 2016 ) we used Ebay to buy most of the furnishings excluding mattresses which were new , it was interesting , we set a 60 mile radius for buyer collects , went to Devon for a very nice pine table ,another from Lymington , wardrobes from Queens Park , Bournemouth and Barton on Sea, etc all in pine, was a good exercise and met interesting people along the way  

[Mortitia]

Well done on the holiday letting Kerbut after that stumble at the outset!  My Airbnb is flying along - who'd have thought it possible to market a place online so you make more letting by the day than on an AST.

[kerbut]

Yes , we are defiantly sticking with it , the agent expects us to get 25 weeks this year , its empty at the moment so no electricity or gas being used (except what is being used when the thermostat clicks in and a light on a timer for security )  , first booking February. half term and then a few spaces through to October. It might be worth while you looking into the rates position on yours , we now have ours classed as business rates and now pay no rates at all and have just received a cheque from WDDC for £1700 for the rates we had paid this year.

  A friend of mine has a 3 bed house in the same village as ours in Spain and he is using Airbnb very successfully for lettings there.