Freecycling

We bought this house 1 year ago next Tuesday (man time flies) and shortly after moving in we took the small gravel in our backyard and piled it up in preparation to re-landscape. We got a professional to come in and give us an estimate, but we were simply in too much debt with no extra cash. Part of the professional treatment involved removal of the gravel. Over the months we've toyed with the idea of Dad taking the gravel for personal use, Dad helping us haul it to the dump, putting a bucket full in our trashcan each week, and offering it on craigslist. Annoyed with it I mentioned on Facebook that we wanted to get rid of it and a friend recommended a site called Freecycle. I looked into it, joined our local Albuquerque group and listed it.

Freecycle is a way for people to offer items they no longer want/need to people in their local area for no cost. You can either post that you have something to offer or you can post that you are looking for something. You can even post items that need work as some people are looking for projects. Well, within 6 hours of posting there was one reply. Within 24 hours of that we received another reply. After staring at that pile in the back for almost a year we finally have the means to get rid of it. If you have things you are planning on donating I would recommend this. I have nothing against donating it to GoodWill or Deseret Industries, but from the viewpoint of someone looking for a bargain, it's much nicer to get something from someone directly for free rather than having to pay for it at a second-hand store where you have no idea what it's been through.