Freecycle Here I Come
Is your house like this? A basement filled with toys from years past? A child’ bedroom filled with toys, some played with, some not? Bags of clothes no one will ever wear again? This morning as I was looking for something in the basement, it hit me that it’s time to do a large spring cleaning. Those of you who follow my blogs or know me well are probably having a chuckle at my expense. When will I find time for this spring cleaning day I speak of? Yeah me too. But after reading this, you’re sure to agree it’s time.
Exhibit A: My son’s room.
We are not that family. We don’t buy toys every week or make periodic pilgrimages to Target for goodies to pick out. So how does this happen? I blame Christmas and birthdays and having over a dozen aunts and uncles. Mind you, the rooms in this house are small and narrow. Consider there is also a bed and dresser in this small, narrow room. Also consider only perhaps a quarter of these toys are being used, most sit and collect dust. Time to sort and give away.
This is a task for when school is in session, however. My son can’t bear to part with any toys, even the ones he had when he was a baby.
Exhibit B: The middle of our basement floor
In all fairness, I really do try to keep this all organized. Note all the giant plastic bins and dollar store storage bags? There’s just too much of it now. I must go through and freecycle everything we don’t use anymore.
Exhibit C: The rear basement wall
Submit for your consideration is our rear basement wall. Note: the old Pack ‘N Play which hasn’t been used in four years? See the putting green that is only green with mold and not fake grass? Perhaps by embarrassing myself by showing you these pictures I’ll go through all of this stuff and get rid of what we won’t use? Maybe I should have a Simply Thrifty cyber auction. Who wants to bid on the ravioli maker we inherited from my father who never used it either?
Exhibit D: The left basement wall:
Really, compared to the others this isn’t all that bad. We have our seasonal items here as well as wedding gifts we haven’t used yet. Lots of those boxes hold wine glasses. My sister in law gives us wine glasses every year. So we have about 100. The only thing keeping me from having a garage sale is the hurt feeling of my relatives after they spy me selling off their gifts.
Our house isn’t a bad size, but the rooms are small and the closets are tiny. Because storage is an issue everything goes into the basement. The thing is, the basement would make a great family or game room and we might even be able to build in another bedroom for when Grandma comes to visit. That’s not going to happen with all our stuff. Freecycle here I come.
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POSTED IN: Around the House
11 opinions for Freecycle Here I Come
Eliza
Apr 3, 2008 at 7:46 am
someone is going to love you at freecycle. :) I love that place, think I’ll have to look it up out here, got a lot of baby clothes I don’t need anymore.
Amy
Apr 3, 2008 at 9:03 am
This is the only advantage to not having a basement or attic - we have no choice but to keep things minimal.
Cheap Like Me
Apr 3, 2008 at 9:32 am
With ALL that stuff you could give it to charity and take quite a tax deduction. :)
I hear you on the kid’s room … we used to go through my daughter’s mountains and stuff and realize we had only bought the smallest fraction of it for her!
SusanChristine
Apr 3, 2008 at 9:42 am
I think I love you! My basement looks EXACTLY the same. I don’t feel so alone now. I have been donating a bag at a time to the neighborhood thrift stores. It’s a long process. Good luck!
AnneMarie Z
Apr 3, 2008 at 6:17 pm
just found freecycle and love it!
time to gather things and give them away!
I have space in my front closet that I put things in for give away. I am called by so many organizations to donate and there is always a bag or diaper box full of something to give away :)
Abdominal Exercises
Apr 3, 2008 at 9:56 pm
From the pictures that looks like a ton of stuff. However, like you said, at least you try and keep it organized with bags and storage bins. I like to play the game of Jenga with my closet and see how much stuff I can shove in piece by piece without it falling on me when I open the door.
Angel
Apr 4, 2008 at 8:48 am
Amazing!! your basement and mine are almost identical. the only difference is in our basement my husband went shelf crazy so everything is on a shelf. We still have way too much stuff. Spring cleaning is going to be big for us. Also, 90% of our kids toys are not from us either. That is what happens when you have the only grandchildren on both sides.
inthebuff
Apr 5, 2008 at 7:34 am
Here’s what you need to do to get rid of all that stuff. Move to Florida - the house next door to ours is for sale - the homes are really nice here, but they don’t have basements. When we moved here, we had a basement like yours. All that stuff went away.
BTW - I’ll take the ravioli maker.
Stephanie Chance
Apr 7, 2008 at 3:40 pm
How about a yard sale? You can use all the money you make to buy more toys! And more plastic storage containers. Seems pretty organized to me. My daughter’s toys were all over the floor, and I had to cut a path through to get to her bed. I shoved everything in closets and drawers and then went through a section at a time clearing out and organizing. We are having a yard sale next month. It’s a lot of work, but fortunately my sister-in-law’s mother is having one, so I can piggy-back on hers.
Robin
Apr 7, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Cheap Like Me has a point - you’ve got a nice little tax deduction there.
I tend to freecycle stuff that I can’t give to friends and I can’t donate for a tax deduction. I’ve freecycled baby items (which charities don’t take), old house paint, and items that are too big for me to tote to the donation center. The rest I give to those I know who need it, sell it (like old cd’s and dvd’s) or donate.
Mostly, I try very hard not to throw out any items that are still useful to someone.
Stephanie Chance
Apr 8, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I’ve heard it’s sometimes a hassle to freecycle things because people say they are coming to get something and never show. Or show up after you’ve given it to someone else and then want to complain. This is one reason I never tried to sell anything through our local bulletin board. You have to deal with the hassle of setting up a time for the person to come look at it and having them come over to your house when you don’t even know them. That’s why I wasn’t too keen on having a yard sale at my house, either.
Charity seems like the best way to go, because every deduction counts!
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