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I am not the biggest tree-hugger on the planet but I try to do my part to recycle things--especially when it is easy for me.  One of the Christmas presents that my wife and I decided on for the family was some new furniture for our "home theatre" room (okay, just a room with a big TV :biggrin: ).  The furniture being replaced was a black leather couch and loveseat that we bought when we got our first house over 20 years ago.  It was discount furniture because we had no money at the time but it was real leather.

I was struggling with what to do with these two pieces of well-used furniture and the thought of paying the dump to dispose of them was not appealing.  I decided to place an ad on CL and offer the two pieces of furniture for FREE.  Snapped a couple of cell phone pictures and posted the ad at 10:53PM last night.  By 8:30AM this morning, I had 4 people who wanted the furniture.  The second person picked up the furniture at 3PM this afternoon.  I just pulled the ad and I had a total of 8 people who wanted the furniture; one from almost 150 miles away!  I suppose that I could have asked a nominal amount for the items but that furniture did not owe me anything!  I'm happy because the old furniture is gone, a guy who needed some temporary furniture until his stuff gets moved up here from Florida is happy and it did not cost me a dime! :happydrinkers:

My whole point in telling this tale is that in this tough economy there are a lot of people with a lot of needs.  If you have old household items or other stuff that you need to get rid of--please post them on CL before sending them to the landfill.  It's easy, it doesn't cost anything and you might end up helping someone out who really needs it!  A very easy to pay it forward!

 :drinking: Tim :drinking:

There is always a local charity that will be glad to take these items also. We have been giving to Restoration Ministries for years in this area. I call them up and tell them to come and get it. If you don't want to have a garage sale these places are perfect for getting rid of your used usable items.

We have a service called Freecycle in our area and it's also in many others.. just check Freecycle.org I think it is..

You can't charge, but if you want to get rid of something or look for something someone is giving away... it's free to post.. I've used it many times to give items away that are not junk, but I didn't need any more..

It's pretty cool!

That's very encouraging to hear, Tim. There are definitely people in need out there.

We like to donate items like that to our local Habitat for Humanity.  They have volunteers that will come and pick up your donation at no cost to you.  They then sell the items for a nominal cost at their resell-it shop.  The proceeds go towards their program to build homes for needy families.  Great organization and they will even give you a receipt for a charitable donation on your income tax.  They are a fantastic organization.

I have friends that get old furniture for free or cheap at garage sales and either paint or decopage them into useable art.  Then they sell it at local places and craft fairs..  Kinda a Shabby chic look if you will.  I am all for finding uses for things, and the older furniture was better made and higher quality than much of whats out there.  I am actually in the process of having the backseat of my friends '83 baby puke yellow mustang turned into a love seat.  Which I will get to just as soon as I finish 27 other projects...

That is also a great idea.  Our local Habitat does not have a ReSell-It shop.  I have visited one though and they have a lot of good stuff.  I actually bought a tampon/napkin vendor to go with my condom machine at the ReSell-It shop in Bay City.  It was NIB and I got it for $45.00! :biggrin:

 :drinking: Tim :drinking: