For various reasons our house always seems to have had two of lots of things. Moving back from Greece only seemed to make that worse so my humans, or more to the point one of my humans, thinks it is immorale to 'over own' and is on a crusade to reduce the quantity of stuff they have hoarded up. The other human is rather resigned to the inevitable.
The 'clear-it-out' human has been at home all of the last 3 weekends. The resigned human has been away for two of them. The first weekend of there being just one human, loads of stuff went onto a website called Freecycle. People came to the door and left carrying stuff - most notably a couple of hundred flattened cardboard boxes, but lots of things did not go. They were claimed in super quick time but by people who obviously couldn't be bothered to turn up when arranged, and the human here got a bit disillusioned with the whole Freecycle experience.
Thus are we still manoeuvring our way around piles of appliances, small furniture, motorbike suits, a 12V esky (that's 'ice box' to the rest of the world), tools, kitchen equipment, a spare cat carrier box (yes that can definitely go), a table with lifting leaves and 4 folding chairs inside, and a nearly new electric stove.
Last weekend a pile of stuff got dragged to the bottom of the drive with a big improvised sign saying "TAKE IT IF YOU CAN USE IT". An hour or two later only the sign was left. That is the no hassle way to give stuff away.
Clearly no one had any use for the sign.
I am pinning my bed to the floor. The way things are going around here it might be on a conveyor out the door if I let it out of my sight.
We gave away quite a lot of stuff when we were in the process of downsizing . When the purchase of the little bungalow fell through and we ended up with a bigger house than we had sold, we had to buy more stuff!
ReplyDeleteBuying it again is kind of fun too. My humans bought a trailer yesterday.
DeleteMaybe try donating to an op shop - (charity shop for you poms) - or are they difficult to get to
ReplyDeleteLots and lots (books, kitchen stuff, clothes) has gone to Age UK (op shop) which F has supported for years, but they won't take appliances, and don't have a shop for furniture. Currently the humans are considering British Heart Foundation for the big stuff that hasn't moved. Even if we get nothing for it, they might at least benefit by its sale.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteOh I am sure your bed is safe, Tigger. For now. From one recent experience I know that there are an awful lot of time wasters on things like Free cycle and Gumtree and such. Seems some folk entertain themselves with viewing and enquiring and haggling - or even if it is free - leaving the vendor hanging at the end. Anyway, I hope the decluttering human feels that she's getting somewhere at last... hugs and whiskeries, YAM-aunty xxx
The annoying part was that someone would claim it within seconds of posting, arrange to pick up and then not show. F got in the habit of telling subsequent applicants to hold on a few hours and she would let them know. So a few bits went to second dibs people. We should learn to wait for all answers to come in and then not pick the first one. It simply means staying around all weekend. The biggest bits haven't gone yet (the nearly new stove in particular) and nothing will fell decluttered until it is out of the way. xxx Mr T
DeleteI've had similar experience with freecycle. But you get to know who's reliable and you offer to them. There are flaky people everywhere. If putting out on the drive way works, go for it. I've done both, met some lovely folks, kindred spirits, through free cycle. I've also received marvelous stuff, usually to replace items that wore out.
ReplyDeleteFreecycle should be a great community asset. We did like people turning up and telling us they wanted certain bits of charities (like half a roll of bubble wrap that a charity shop wanted for packing fragile stuff). That last made us save all the padded wrapping from our move and offer it to our local Age UK shop where it was welcomed enthusiastically.
DeleteHaving been genetically designed to DUMP IT , anything not in use, I am taking a WILD guess and picking the letter F as the letter that stands for the Dumper! the man in our house is resigned as long as i don't touch anything that is HIS. like 5 watches that do not work in the jewelry box, they are worth nothing, cheap to begin with. the batter to replace one cost more than a new watch. You may remember a few stories of the two of us dragging things to the curb with the same sign as yours. It works. someone once asked why i did not list the things on Facebook Market place. the reason is the same as yours. waiting for people who say they want it to show up ON time or at all, woo hoo and congrats on clearing what you don't need. this may be the year I take all boxes of Christmas stuff of Christmas past and drag it to the curb
ReplyDeleteYou guessed - F has always been a dumpit person. Any time her life hands her challenges she seems to respond by having an enormous clear out. 'Clear out' doesn't always deal with the challenge, but it seems to put her in the right frame of mind to face what does need to be done. Mr B is the exact opposite - insulates himself from life's challenges with a dense layer of hoardings. I wouldn't say he is coming around but he has conceded assistance in posting stuff on FB marketplace and various other online secondhand selling places. And he seems to enjoy watching the little pile of cash grow. They have promised themselves a slap up meal in a posh restaurant on the proceeds - experiences rather than things. xxx mr T
ReplyDeleteNo carboot sales near you Tigger?
ReplyDeleteNow there's a thing. There probably are but my humans are not programmed to think that way. They might have missed a trick, but they didn't have any real treasures of the kind you find Dave. Perhaps I could have employed my charm in the selling business instead of in shipping insurance (where it seems I am remembered fondly).
DeleteI like giving stuff away and clearing out regularly - both are equally cathartic. I hadn't realised you'd moved from Greece - oh, I'm so behind - where are you now then?
ReplyDeleteWe are back in our old house in Havant (Hampshire). We have our garden back.
DeleteNobby is wondering if he could come round and deploy his terrier teeth to good effect, shredding some of the stuff that's surplus to requirements...
ReplyDeleteYou are more than welcome Nobby, but Mr T is doing a fairly good job on his own so I can't say how much will be left when you arrive.
DeleteWe call them eskys too And we go from having to many to none at all and I have no idea where they have all gone. I suspect children leaving the nest pilfering syndrome
ReplyDeleteI used to love free cycle, but yes. The same issues of people not turning up was a constant theme
People are so rude
We like the idea of an annual 'put it out' day. Even better if other people rehome it before it is made into trash. It sounds like the day all the sharemilkers move farms in NZ - milking cows are on the roads all over the island. In Greece there was a community of people who made their livings out of rescuing, recycling, selling on etc, any stuff that was put out at the curb. Some members of society didn't like them but they do the job that vultures do in some countries. There, without them, we would all have been knee deep in our own trash and discards. Paw smacks Mr T (PS did you not learn to get on with your contraption? My humans built one out of stuff collected off the curb, a satellite dish, a homemade hammock and bits of old rope and I hated it too to begin with. It became my go-to place, my very own piece of furniture and I am sorry they left it behind in Greece, but F assures me that 4 other kitties are moving in there and they will enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteWe did the same after each move we've made, it feels good to get rid of stuff we haven't used in months but the cats made sure we kept their beds.
ReplyDelete