Are you too much of a snob.......

martinedwards

to take a freebie?

I subscribe to a yahoo group called freegle. it grew out of freecycle.

basically the idea is one person has something they don't need, so rather than dumping it, they offer it free of charge to anyone who wants it.

yesterday I collected two bikes for my youngest kids. they needed a little tidy up, but now they both have bikes that are the right size for them and I can advertise their old bikes and pass them on.

total cost to me? £3.50 for a set of brake blocks.

I know some folks would be horrified at the idea, but over the years we've received and passed on about 8 bikes, got a full dining room set, several guitars and a kayak, and given away several beds and an exercise machine.

rainbow kirby

That's a great idea, particularly for things that children will end up growing out of quickly.

ruthloss

Anyone like to collect 3 ungrateful little urchins?. (Only joking)

Wish we had something like Freegle here.

Birneybau

Not at all. No problem with it.

sbsquarepants

Sounds like a great idea, the amount of perfectly good stuff I've thrown out over the years simply because I had nowhere to put it (live in an apartment) I'd always ask around first, but sometimes there'd be no takers - I'd much rather someone get a use out of it than bring it to the dump. I'd have no problem getting some stuff that way either generally speaking.

jimgoose

That sounds perfectly sensible to me. You'll find that real quality folk have no problem with upcycling, re-use, swapping, make-do-and-mend, that sort of thing. It's the cawbógs who wouldn't know class or quality of it leaped up and bit them on the left arse-cheek that have silly hang-ups about this kind of thing. :cool:

Mr. Incognito

It's only in the UK?

Nothing free in Ireland. We sell water ffs.

percy212

Our freecycle is called adverts.ie. Irish people don't like giving things away for free. If they are too lazy to sell something they drop it off at SVP.

anncoates

No problem with it but don't take much as I'm so crap at fixing things.

We put up a fair bit of free stuff on adverts for people to take though.

Links234

I'm an awful snob when it comes to some things, but that's a terrific idea, and if someone has something they don't need/want that someone else is gonna get use out of, great.

Mr. Incognito

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

It's only in the UK?

Nothing free in Ireland. We sell water ffs.

http://www.adverts.ie/free-stuff?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=Free+Stuff

Also

http://www.uswitch.com/water/price-of-water/

andy t

nothing wrong with free stuff,,, tis hard enough come by

kfallon

The great thing about free stuff is it's free!!! The more you take the more you save

I'd have no problem at all taking something for free and tbh this has reminded me that I have a black sack of clothes I need to give away too!

AnonoBoy

Is Jumble town still going?

I've had lots of furniture in my house over the years that I got free.

dr.bollocko

The trouble with the getting of free stuff and the collective consciousness is that it's human nature to think that what is gained too cheaply is esteemed too lightly.

Free / 2nd hand is bad, new is good. Don't fix things, replace them. New is good. Brave new world and all that.

orestes

There's a good system in Amsterdam for this kind of thing. Every residential part of the city has a designated night of the week where people can just leave stuff they don't need on the side of the street (furniture, bikes, all that kind of stuff) and everyone can just help themselves to what they want, whatever is left at a certain time in the morning is collected by the city and trashed. Drunken nights out can regularly result in a new sitting room set.

we have freedtradeireland.ie and Jumbletown.ie

both decent enough sites for freebies

Fiolina

There are loads of facebook buy/sell/swap sites where people give stuff away for free. I've got tables, mirrors, bikes, toys etc. I've also given stuff so it works both ways.

Mince Pie

Its a great idea but only problem I've seen with the groups in particular on FB is that some people will just snap up free stuff cos its free even if they have no use for it.

Fiolina

Mince Pie wrote: »

Its a great idea but only problem I've seen with the groups in particular on FB is that some people will just snap up free stuff cos its free even if they have no use for it.

That's true. I've also seen people giving away absolute crap like stained mattresses as an easy way to get rid of it.

topper75

Fiolina wrote: »

That's true. I've also seen people giving away absolute crap like stained mattresses as an easy way to get rid of it.

I just told them it was a 'map of Africa' and it was made that way.

MadYaker

Deleted User wrote: »

http://www.adverts.ie/free-stuff?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=Free+Stuff

Also

http://www.uswitch.com/water/price-of-water/

Have you ever tried giving away anything on averts? Never again.

on the river

MadYaker wrote: »

Have you ever tried giving away anything on averts? Never again.

Mad Yaker always pays for what he/she gets.

Yaker a snob ? never

just has high standards when yaking

dxhound2005

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

It's only in the UK?

Nothing free in Ireland. We sell water ffs.

percy212 wrote: »

Our freecycle is called adverts.ie. Irish people don't like giving things away for free. If they are too lazy to sell something they drop it off at SVP.

Some people like to make stuff up just to have a go at Irish people. Of course we have something similar, it was even mentioned in the OP. Freecycle.

https://groups.freecycle.org/group/freecycleDublin/posts/all

GenieOz

MadYaker wrote: »

Have you ever tried giving away anything on averts? Never again.

Once, the person wanted me to meet them half way (60mile drive) and when I refused gave stink saying I was so uncooperative and I could stick it.
I was giving them away for free, I'm hardly losing anything

DavyD_83

percy212 wrote: »

Our freecycle is called adverts.ie. Irish people don't like giving things away for free. If they are too lazy to sell something they drop it off at SVP.

more of an issue of Irish ppl being suspicious of things being given away for free. In my experience, If you put something up for €10/20 on adverts it'll generally get more interest than a freebie.
Think we convince ourselves it's a bargain rather than something somebody else is throwing out. And the Irish love a good bargain!!

CruelCoin

I hate it.

You can spot people who frequent these sites.

Their homes are invariably full of cheap plasticky ****e.

Bit of pride man.

Murt10

CruelCoin wrote: »

I hate it.

You can spot people who frequent these sites.

Their homes are invariably full of cheap plasticky ****e.

Wrong.


They take them and sell them on adverts/donedeal.ie

Santa Cruz

Common enough in North London now to see furniture etc. left outside a house with a sign "free to take away"
I know people who furniture their accommodation with stuff gathered from the freebie sites. It gets them started and they can upgrade when they have the funds

WilyCoyote

Deleted User wrote: »

http://www.uswitch.com/water/price-of-water/

You had my heart going there for a second Whoopsa. I had read the link as www.USwitch.com. Thought I might have been able to swap the old lady.

kingtut

This is not a new concept at all, there are many websites, facebook groups and other sites that do the same thing.

I have used these sites myself and think they are great, the amount of times I pass a skip which appears to have brand new items in it that are simply being thrown away is incredible! That being said I have yet to remove something from a skip

Menas

MadYaker wrote: »

Have you ever tried giving away anything on averts? Never again.

I am with you on that one.
I have given some free stuff away but seen it up for sale the next day on adverts.
Have had people say they will turn up to collect but never show. I was even dumb enough to deliver one item to someone who said they could not travel only to be told on delviery that they did not want it any more.

Grrrr.
St V de P get my stuff from now on.

FullblownRose

I have a couple of household items from the free to take away sites. Sometimes they are a bit worn out but useable and sometimes they are as good as new. I was delighted to recieve them. Some people renew their furniture quite often and if they can't give it away and don't want to sell it it would only end up in a landfill site or somewhere like that. And it delays the recipient in buying a new item (or helps them if they can't afford to) so it slows down the rate of manufacture which is hard on the environment. We live in a throw away culture so it is no harm to prolong the life/ use of things a bit.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

Irish Guitarist

I have no problem with using certain second hand items. I have loads of second hand records and CDs. I never got any of them for free though.

I thought about using Freecycle to give some stuff away before. I'm suspicious though that someone would end up robbing my house. The idea of telling someone on the internet that "you can collect those items after 5.00 PM, I'll be away for the rest of the day" doesn't sit right with me.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

It's only in the UK?

Nothing free in Ireland. We sell water ffs.

What? Water is free in Ireland, it's one of the few countries I know where you don't have to pay for it.

Menas

Emery Stocky Vine wrote: »

What? Water is free in Ireland, it's one of the few countries I know where you don't have to pay for it.

There are plans in place to fill that revenue gap!

There's a noticeboard where I work where unwanted stuff is offered for whoever wants it, sometimes skills are swapped too. The last skill swap I noticed was a few weeks worth of lawn mowing in exchange for someone painting a shed or something like that.

I've put a few things up that I wasn't even sure anyone would want - duvet covers and old steel pots - and they were snapped up by a girl who used the pots for planters and the duvets as material in patchwork quilts and crafts. It's nice to see things used to death instead of so much waste.

Makes perfect sense.