Are you familiar with the Yahoo group Cheapcycle. This has got to be the greatest discovery since sliced bread and E-Z-cheese in a can. Let me tell you about it.
This is a Yahoo group that espouses the philosophy that one man’s junk is another’s treasurers. You got an old lamp in your basement, needing to go to the dump? Well there is someone out there that wants a lamp, NEEDS a lamp and is willing to come to you and pick it up if it is free. Yes, curb side pick up service, for your stuff.
We have been using this “service” for a number of years and have gotten rid of many, many “treasures” including old bicycles, computers and parts, magazines, books, small furniture, big furniture, computer programs and the like. We have gotten needed items like computer parts, cooking items, a Nordic Track and other similar things.
One of the first things I did when we decided that LCNM might be the place for us, was to begin to follow their group. It is a very active community that makes tons of stuff available. I think it could be possible to furnish a house and outfit it with all the comforts of home just by watching the posts.
When you join you can opt to get individual posts as they are made or daily or weekly posts from the group moderators. We have found that the daily and weekly posts have the problem that items that are most desirable are gone by the time you see the listing. Items can go quickly so I opt for the individual emails and scan my Gmail account regularly for the treasures. Doing this in the recent past I have gotten a Laser printer and mp3 player. The early bird gets the worm.
One final note on this is the fact that you can post on the site looking for items. We did that looking for a small hard drive for a computer. Someone wrote they had one and we picked it up. Sometimes these requests go unfilled but most groups allow repeat posts on a biweekly basis so try and try again. Also some of the “cheapcycle” groups allow for you to charge a small price for items. This has been problematic as these group become sort of a flea market clearing house for items. What I have done in this circumstance is to simply block individuals who only sell items and this has eliminated the issue.
A practical example. Mrsfabp and CollegeBoy worked last week on clearing some of the junk from our basement/garage area. He gave me a list of potential items for freecycling. I put up 4 items on Saturday afternoon – a dorm size fridge that needed lots of cleaning, a dehumidifier, an electric chainsaw and an electric weed whacker. Within an hour, all 4 items were spoken for and across the evening I got 40 offers to take one or more of the items. Three are now gone and a fourth will be picked up by 3 pm today.
I love the convenience!
Here is a link to the main Cheapcycle site
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