“Free” category on Craigslist to be renamed “Haul away my old, bulky, broken crap for free.”

About 2 years ago someone posted a child's outdoor plastic playhouse for free on Craigslist. Since I lived only 2 blocks away I went to check it out, and discovered that it was in brand new condition (with the exception that it was missing the play portable phone). This was a $185 playhouse, they said that they bought it only a few months ago but that they had to have it gone before they moved. Since I lived so close they even offered to put the house in their pickup and drive it over to my home for me (I would have had to grab a friend and carried it otherwise). Over the years I have found some really good things on CL (for free, or really cheap) but this was by far my best find.

I had some really nasty old air conditioners that I replaced. They didn't even work, and they were about thirty years old. I had thrown them in the yard and was dreading the day I had to deal with loading them on a truck to go to the (expensive) dump.

A couple of days ago, a guy knocked on my door and asked if he could have them. Of course, I gladly let him haul them away. Turns out they have copper wiring in them that can be sold. You never know...

The local freecycle mailing list is the same way. There used to be some really good stuff on it, now it's broken this and 1/2 used packages of that.

Who are you to say what nobody will want?

I gave away a broken TV to an eager Freecycler whose teenage son was taking an electronics class in high school. They were going to see if they could fix it as a class project.

Gardeners building raised beds will go ga-ga for free clean dirt, scrap lumber ("old decks") and/or landscaping rocks.

People going to Burning Man are often looking for ratty old couches to bring along so they don't end up ruining a perfectly good one.

People going camping are often looking for firewood. Some people even still keep their homes warm with it.

If I were filling something with concrete, I would certainly be interested in concrete chunks to take up some of the volume so I wouldn't have to use as much new concrete.

Our landfills are full enough. I think it's admirable to try to find a new life for things that may at first seem to be worthless. You never know what "crap" will be just what someone is looking for.

Here's my free story. When my husband and I moved into our house, there was dryer in basement that tumbled but didn't heat up. We posted it on CL and it was taken by a guy whose father has alzheimers. The father was always a "fixer". He still remembers how to fix things (or figures can still figure it out). So they pick up broken stuff for him to fix. It fills his days and he doesn't wander off and get lost as much now.

I just think the author is just ignorant to the uses of some of this stuff. When my sister got married and was moving out, she had me and my brother grab these two old beat-up couches from a neighbor's trash. Her in-laws own an upholstery shop and they fixed up those couches to pretty much brand new condition for free. Seeing it on craigslist, one might assume it was just "junk" or "garbage" because they were pretty bad looking, but to you never know what connections or situations there are where someone might want it. Deeming something "useful" is a value judgment, and as many people have commented so far, a lot of that stuff it very useful to other people.

My husband checks C/L almost daily, because DIYers often end up with leftovers after doing a project, and will give it away. He gathered enough free cinderblocks to save quite a bit of money on a foundation he had to build. We are in the building business, and when we have leftovers that we can't use, we also offer them on Freecycle or bring them to the Habitat Restore. Also, whenever we put anything of any kind of metal out for bulk trash pickup, it gets picked up anonymously, before the truck comes around. I feel like we're probably missing an opportunity........

The picture with the bag of ropes and sharp objects looks like it would be great for a budding vampire slayer. 

I completely disagree that the Free Stuff category in Craig's List is useless... Like many other commenters have pointed out, you just never know what will be useful to someone. I also agree with the other commenter that we should all be more mindful of trying to avoid filling up our landfills with more junk if items can be re-purposed.

When I moved into my new house, I inherited a bunch of really old, battered furniture from the previous owner. It was so dilapidated my first thought was to take it straight to the dump. But my aunt just so happens to be incredibly talented when it comes to fixing up and reupholstering old furniture... She took an old footstool that looked like it had been in a fire and completely transformed it into a beautiful piece of furniture for just a few dollars worth of fabric and batting. A lot of times furniture still has "good bones," and there are plenty of talented people just like my aunt who really CAN use the stuff people give away for free on CL.

The author's main gripe seems to be that he's having to spend more time digging through what he considers to be worthless CL postings. Well I say, good! More free stuff for the rest of us! ;-)

I usually enjoy Wise Bread's blog, but this post REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. First of all, I won't even delve into the whole issue of "who are you to judge what's junk" because many posters above have already done it far more eloquently than I could have in my currently irritated state. As people have pointed out, you never know what someone can use, and if it gives the item a chance to stay out of a landfill, isn't it worth a try? My city is very liberal on what we can put out at the curb, so when I list something in hopes that someone else can use it, it's not because I want someone to "haul away my old, bulky broken crap for free." In fact, it usually takes MORE EFFORT for me to list the item on CL and answer emails about it than it would for me to slide it a few yards down my driveway to the curb. I go to the extra trouble for the benefit of the environment, not for selfish reasons. Besides, I'm always AMAZED at what people will take for free. To date, I've never had anything not taken, and on the few occasions when I've deemed something not even worth giving away, someone who was picking up something else has spotted it and asked to take it. (The best example was a cheap assemble-it-yourself armoire that was missing the doors, both drawers were broken/missing, it had some gross oily/greasy "gunk" on it from something in the garage that leaked, and it may have even had some moisture rings from wet glasses and such. I wasn't going to list it and I was amazed that someone asked for it but happy it was saved from a landfill). So after that I just don't even bother trying to guess or make value judgements on an item. Obviously toe nail clippings is a ridiculous example, but most real items have some usefulness to someone, so I say it's worth a try.

The next point I'd like to make is that by complaining about having to sort through listings of what you deem "useless stuff" to get to the "good stuff" you come across as extremely ungrateful. I mean, do you expect to get wonderful things for free and not have to do a little work for it? Before CL and Freecycle, people might have been "dumpster diving" to get these gems. Now that's gross (IMO). So I'd say I'm pretty grateful that all I have to do is read through a bunch of "useless" posts to find some great free items that I can really use. Now MAYBE I could agree with your complaint if people were misrepresenting the condition of the items, but if they're stating it's broken or missing parts, and even posting pictures, then what do you have to complain about? It's not like you're making a wasted trip to go pick it up. Honestly, if my children made a complaint like this, I'd tell them they're acting like spoiled, ungrateful brats and tell them that's not how I raised them.

My final question is, what does this post have to do with "living large on a small budget"? I usually come away from Wisebread posts with some nice thoughts or ideas on how to make the most of my money. The only messages I come away with from this post are, "Don't bother checking CL for free stuff, it's a waste of time" or "If you're going to list stuff on CL, don't list junk".

It sounds to me like this is a personal rant masquerading as a useful blog post. I hope it will be the last one or I'll be unsubscribing. I have no use for people who lack gratitude. No one is forcing you to use CL. Reading this post (and subsequently being so irritated that I had to have a little rant of my own) has been a huge waste of my time and energy. I'm really disappointed.

Yes, one man's trash is another man's treasure, but crap is crap no matter who has it.

You're not getting the point of the post. Instead of people legitimitely trying to help out or keep things from the landfill, they are posting on CL in hopes someone will take trash off their hands.

The "Free Firewood" section always gets me. It comes in two forms

1. construction or remodeling junk that people can't get rid of, like picture 2 in the post. It is expensive to take that stuff to the landfill, and my city expressly prohibits you from placing "construction lumber or products" in the trash and will not pick it up. So people are trying to unload this any way they can, and of course they are trying to get rid of it through CL or freecycle. Construction lumber is almost always pine or fir, which burns very quickly and is not a good choice for firewood. The paint gives off toxic fumes when burned and there will also be LOTS of nails left over after the fire. Not a good thing for feet or the environment.

2. trees that you have to cut down and haul away. What happens here is people get an estimate from a tree service and don't want to pay that much, so they are trying to sucker someone into doing it for free. The last one I read said "must be insured and know what you are doing". Hmm, if you're that concerned you better hire a tree service.

This is just one example - I think you are being way too cavalier if you think there's no such thing as junk, even if it is for free.

...you said "I have no use for people who lack gratitude. No one is forcing you to use CL."

And who exactly forces you to A: Read Wisebread, and B: Rant for 5 minutes?

Seems like this is a pot and kettle situation to me.