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By Mike Barclay of 10 Cents Worth
How many times have you bought a new appliance and tossed the old one? Nothing was wrong with the old one, you just didn’t have any need for it anymore. The key word in that last sentence is “you.”
Mike Morone, who lives in New York, has come up with a revolutionary idea to take all the old items we’re throwing away and offer them to others. It’s called “Give Your Stuff Away Day” and it is this Saturday, May 15.
What happens is people put the junk they typically would throw out on the curb for neighbors to peruse, grab or swap. Suddenly the old toaster that you were going to toss is now in the hands of Mrs. Smith down the street – not in the local landfill.
The process has its drawbacks, which Mike himself told me, but he’s convinced in the long run that this will ultimately shrink landfills and promote a less wasteful society. There are drawbacks, however. Leaving stuff on your curb for a weekend looks messy and if the idea catches on you’ll see an increase in traffic. “Think of Christmas – a wonderful time of year, but messy,” Morone says. The event could also increase in waste management costs from people leaving things on the curb for pick up.
Mike’s idea for a set weekend to swap is new, but swapping is old hat. Freecycle.org has been around since 2003 and has grown to more than 7 million users that post and request items for free exchange. I’m a big Craigslist.com fan as well, because they not only have a “free” section, they also have a “bartering” area where you can exchange items and services. If you pay close attention to what’s going on in your own area you can often find (or even create) a “Really, Really Free Market.”
If Give Your Stuff Away Day is something you want to happen in your area, it’s up to you to coordinate it with your community. Give Your Stuff Away Days are organized by word of mouth. What could possibly be better than making the world a cleaner place, making new friends AND get things for free? I’m not sure I can think of much.
May 11th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
I like Freecycle, but we’ve had great luck posting on Craigslist. We cleaned out our shed and backyard last week and posted on the “Free”section on Craigslist. Within a day, 90% of our stuff was gone. We had about 40 lawn chairs (don’t ask), an outdoor shower, and a complete swingset picked up. It didn’t go in the landfill, and we were thrilled!
May 11th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Im all for craig’s list too. Things you really really don’t think anyone could want, will go lighting speed away when posted on craig’s list.
May 11th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
If you’re already hauling your old stuff out to the curb, why not slap a price tag on it and have a yard sale? At least you’d make money.
May 13th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
I live in a city where a large college is located (I live in College Station, TX). The school is Texas A&M University – and the student population just in the town (not counting all of the other TX A&M locations – locally and throughout the US – there is even an A&M in Qatar in the Middle East – who knew!!!). The reason I am telling that is because one particular idea has really caught on like wild-fire here and it could definitely be done anywhere. It is done on Craigslist and what everyone does is this: when they have items to get rid of, they put them out at the curb, and then they post what everyone calls a “CURB ALERT” and they include the address. Some people put in details about the stuff they put out, and some people just say “curb alert” so it is still up to whoever wants it to go by and see if there is anything they want. But “CURB ALERT” has come to mean “HERE IT IS, COME AND GET IT!”. It does so well that when our family has done this, there are usually tons of people who show up to look through the treasures within a matter of minutes! It is also unbelievable what stuff (some really good quality, some junk) that the kids leave behind when they graduate or just move home for the summer – we have gotten some really nice stuff during the month of May!!! If you start this in the town where you live, I would easily step out on a limb and say that I GUARANTEE it will be a success in your town as well!
You can either get items that you need yourself, or items to donate to some good cause, or even to re-sell at your own garage sale if you want to.
TRY IT!!!