FreeCycle

Combining two full households yields a lot of extra stuff! At Erica's suggestion, I registered at FreeCycle.org, an online clearinghouse for things that people no longer want. You join a list for the region in which you live, and you can post an OFFER or a WANTED notice. (There are strict guidelines -- no money is exchanged, items are picked-up by the taker, no pets or kids, no matter how much they might annoy you at any given time...) The person making the offer may choose from among the respondents, without having to justify.

I got rid of many things, including some pretty nice stuff (a standing gas grill and a nice dresser that none of my kids wanted) before I left Lancaster, so I could avoid moving things we didn't need. However, I've also joined the list for our county here, mostly to get rid of stuff that was already here, but also moving boxes and some smaller things that I had brought but we discovered we couldn't use. We're still sorting and weeding out, and I'll keep making offers.

I've been amazed at the variety of offerings and requests; when I had a lot of broken pieces of old brick pavers (left over from my patio project), Bill was skeptical that anyone would want them, but a guy came and got them all -- boxes full! One woman came to get a few small things from Erica's earlier years (after Erica had claimed what she wanted), and she mentioned that her husband had lost his job and they were trying to come up with Christmas presents for 12 grandkids. Since the time of my post, Erica (who was still at my house), had weeded out more things, and she offered the woman anything else that she wanted. Bonus for everyone!

Last night, while (finally!) trying to clear the dining room table so that I could set up my sewing machine, I moved a plant to a wobbly set of plant shelves and knocked over the plant at the far end (think dominoes). Pot, plant, and wet soil hit the floor (and baseboard heater), and I struggled not to go ballistic. Bill had earlier suggested that we could cut down on the plant population, so I asked him to be specific about what could go. Around midnight, I posted an offer for 4 different kinds of plants (including a photo of one we couldn't identify), and requests have poured in this morning! Some plants have babies or offshoots, but we have 3 full pots of aloe, which I can divide as many ways as there are requests. (I asked people to prioritize, in case I had multiple requests. Some people follow directions better than others, so those who didn't specify a preference will get aloe.)

Step-by-step, we're getting this place in order, which makes us both happy!