Freecycle (Merged Thread)

judderman62

grannybiker wrote: »

Sorry to hear that.
Mr Grannybiker's been on a 2 day week for the last 5 weeks, = less than 1/2 pay. They've just gone back to 5 days, but the old finances have taken a bit of a battering.
Good job we don't go in for excessive Christmas overindulgences!

thanks GB :beer:

hula-hoops

I didn't miss the irony and I am very surprised that our local Mod did - considering he spends his Saturdays in the town square on an environmental awareness stand informing people about carbon footprints, etc.

YummyMummyBigBummy

hula-hoops wrote: »

Someone who still doesn't understand that Freecycle is about keeping things out of landfill (and not just about begging from the neighbourhood because you spent your Giro on fags and booze):

does anyne have any nappies please siza 4~5 size please i have 4
nappies left til tuesday and 3 kids wea nappoes in this house. if anyne
can plz help me i will be truly grateful.

I felt like offering to send the instructions for how to make and fold cloth nappies from old towels (as my Mum did in an emergency) but figured that this wouldn't go down too well.

Are we being a bit judgemental here? :whistle: Not everyone who has 3 kids and asks for stuff on Freecycle is on benefits, neither do they smoke fags and drink booze.
Maybe your offer to advise on making his/her own nappies could have been a lifesaver for him/her and been exactly what they needed and could have been a 'light bulb moment' for them. Or maybe not! I don't know.
Maybe we should start by offering the best free thing anyone can give away and that's good advice? After all, isn't that what MSE is about? Helping people?
I hereby make a pledge that if I read any 'Wants' on Freecycle and can offer them good advice instead then I will do it. Anyone else fancy joining in my pledge? Or do you think I will just end up looking a bit sanctimonious? I did it once before when someone posted a wanted ad for a water butt; I told them that the civic amenity site had plenty of large plastic containers there that could be easily converted, but they never replied.
What does everyone think?

BrandNewDay

And, I know this is the Green moneysaving board, but not everyone can use cloth nappies. They require a great deal of laundering.

hula-hoops

YummyMummyBigBummy wrote: »

Are we being a bit judgemental here? :whistle: Not everyone who has 3 kids and asks for stuff on Freecycle is on benefits, neither do they smoke fags and drink booze.

If you had followed my previous posts on this thread you would know that this 'wanted' came from a family who are well-known on our Freecycle board. They proudly tell us about their benefit collecting, and their shopping habits are also well-known to all the members of our board.

They actually have 5 kids under 6 which I personally (and I don't expect anyone to agree with me) find irresponsible both in terms of the environment and in terms of quality parenting.

Going off-topic, but in order to adopt our child, my husband and I have had to jump through hoops, prove that we are not dependent on the state in any way, shape or form and smoking/excessive drinking would be an instant no-no.

hula-hoops

BrandNewDay wrote: »

And, I know this is the Green moneysaving board, but not everyone can use cloth nappies. They require a great deal of laundering.

A bit of soaking in a bucket and then chucked in the machine. Not much more effort involved than regular laundry.

Morty_007

Oh please could we not argue here? This is a FUNNY thread!

BrandNewDay

hula-hoops wrote: »

A bit of soaking in a bucket and then chucked in the machine. Not much more effort involved than regular laundry.

If you have more than one kid in nappies, it's a lot of laundry. Not a lot of hard work, but a lot of running of the machine. If you have a typical cheap Indesit or Candy or whatever, that machine will break down within a few months of that sort of use.

frugalpam

Hello all :j

Oh my goodness, it's sounding just like the old days on here :rotfl: :rotfl:

welshsue

I am actually a moderator one one of the freecyle groups and have now started to reject the excessive wants.
It got to the point where people were asking for specific models of cars and laptops( someone even asked for one to replace one lost on a train - have they not heard of insurance!) 3 seater leather sofa in cream and basically everything to furnish a house including carpets!!

The latest wants seem to be sky plus boxes (I believe these are being asked for as they can sell them on), as if anyone is going to give one of them away.

It seems to be worse around christmas time as people try and obtain their presents for free. We had one instance where a couple were going round in a white van collecting freecycle items and selling them on. They were even bragging about how much they made! banned immediately...

I do reject an awful lot now and sometimes get abusive emails from these people as they can't see what they have done wrong.

Sad when something as good as freecycle attracts people who think they can make money out of it.