Green Minded Wallet

I had a fabulous frugal weekend. I worked on my screenplay, rode my bike, and hung out with the neighbors at a birthday party. But I also happened upon some great frugal finds. On Saturday when I was heading north to go for a bike ride, I saw some signs for a garage sale, so I went to check it out; I’m a total garage sale junkie. Anyway I found this bike that was old, and red, and just the right height, which is hard to find since I’m rather on the short side. The price: 50 CENTS! Seriously. So naturally I had to buy it. I’m getting some work done on it (more on that soon), but it doesn’t have any major problems. And it was 50 cents. If you’re wondering why I would buy a bike while I had one in the car, the answer is: I have a very, nice shiny expensive road bike, which would not fair well on a college campus. I bought the older bike so that I could ride around town and to campus without worrying about it getting stolen or damaged.

A little backstory. A few weeks ago I was walking my dog, and there were some items on the street; most of the stuff was junk: pieces of carpet, random pieces of wood, etc. but there happened to be a dresser, with all of the drawers. Since it was on the street, I figured it was “trash” and therefore up for grabs. I found one of my neighbors and got a second opinion, because I would hate to take something that someone wanted. Well, she came by, confirmed it was abandoned and we hauled it back to my place in her minivan. If case you’re wondering, I haven’t had a dresser up until this point because I donated mine before I moved. Well while we were picking up the dresser, we noticed that there was a table in the front yard, but it was close to the house, so we weren’t sure what make of it. Anyway, this past Sunday I was walking by the same house and there was someone home. I went by and chatted with the owner. Turns out he had been renting the place out, but the tenants had moved and now he was getting the place cleaned up so he could put it on the market. I asked about the table, and he said he had no use for it and I was welcome to it. So I went back and found my neighbor who was hanging out with one of our other neighbors. We hopped in the pick-up truck (second neighbor) and headed over to the house. By the time we got back the guy was gone, but we had permission to pick up the table. Well the table was actually behind a dumpster that the owner had brought over to collect all the remnants of the house, so we did a little dumpster diving. We picked up (among other things) a fan, a bbq grill (seriously), 1/4 bag potting soil, 1/2 bag peat humus, a plant pot, a snow shovel, and some other garden tools. Everything was in good working condition, though some of it was a bit dusty. And it was all, completely free. One man’s trash, truly is another’s treasure. And oh, my neighbors totally rock.

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I’ve been on a quest to find some household items and so I checked out some local garage sales this weekend. I mentioned my plans to a friend on Friday night, and turns out she had a circular with garage sale ads. Score. This gave me a much more economical and environmental plan of action that my last strategy: driving around random neighborhoods on Saturdays looking for cheap stuff. Craigslist has a garage sale section as well, but ours isn’t well utilized.

I hit up a number of garages in three different neighborhoods. Most of the sales started at 8am though a few started earlier. Since it’s all first come first serve, the earlier you go, the more likely you’ll find nice stuff with the choicest items often going in the first hour or so. I’m sure there was some good stuff that I missed, but there is a limit to how early I will get up on a Saturday morning to rummage through other people’s used goods. In one of the neighborhoods there was a coordinated effort of about a dozen different houses so you can just find a place to park and go to town.

I spent about 2 hours and $7.75. I got:

• 4 cups size jars with lids: $0.25 for the set
• green curtains still in the original package: $5.00
• little beige trash can: $1.00
• 2 ice trays: $0.25
• metal picture frame: $0.25
• painted frame with decorations: $0.75
• peanut butter brownie: $0.25

The curtains cost more than everything else put together, but they were a color I really liked and in very good (new?) condition. I was pretty much happy with everything I purchased except the brownie (turns out it was covered in cheap chocolate frosting). I didn’t do much in the way of bargaining, except for on the ice trays (they were originally 25 cents each), but I may try a little more negotiating in the future.

When it comes to garage sales, I can sometimes go over board. Since my goal here is to save resources and money, I’ve come up with some questions to ask myself before I purchase anything at a garage sale:

1. Can I see this item in my house long term? Sure, the Rudolph figurine with the patriotic apron may look cute now, but what would I do with it?
2. Do I actually want this item? Would I use it for something, or am I just tempted to buy it because it’s shiny and costs less than a dollar?
3. What’s the maintenance cost on this puppy? Do I have to fix it and would it be worth it? Is it an efficient product, or would it take up a lot of space, time, and resources?

If I can come up with satisfactory answers to all of these questions, than I go ahead and get it, provided I think that the cost is reasonable. And I don’t even ask myself if I absolutely need it; I mean, I know I don’t need a bathroom trash can that matches my current color scheme. I don’t even really need a trash can at all. But since it is nice to have a trash can, and since this one only costs a dollar, them I’m okay with buying it. Since garage sales are generally cash-only transactions, as long as I limit the amount of money I take, it’s actually pretty easy to stay within my budget.

I know that there are some people who swear by garage sales, and other who never bother. Do you love them, hate them? End up with a lot of stuff you don’t need, and eventually just give away (not that I’ve ever done that)? Have any good tips on becoming a garage sale maven?

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This winter I decided to sign-up for the local freecycle list since my mother had some friends who utilized their list frequently and really liked it. I thought it would be a good way to pick up some household items that needed to be replaced after my last move and maybe pick up some other stuff that I probably don’t need in my house. If you don’t know, freecycle is an organization working to “change the world one gift at a time”. Basically, they have groups set up in different areas and you can join your local group in order to donate or receive items. I’ve had some successes with freecycle, but I’ve also had some frustrations so I thought that I would outline them here for anyone else who may be thinking about using the program.

Once you sign up for your local group (they have a freecycle finder on their main page which directs you to your nearest group) you will start receiving emails. You can also view the posts through the web (I think it’s a forum), but I’ve never used it. I’ve created a separate email folder so I can keep an eye on what’s being listed, and keep my inbox a bit tidier.

Basically there are four main types of emails, that you can send/receive:

• offer: these are posts were the user is offering one or most items for the taking. Sometimes if people are giving away a lot of items there will label their posts with titles such as offer:short list. If someone offers something that you want, you reply to their original post asking if it’s still available. People often respond quickly, so if you see something your interested in, go for it fast.
• taken: once items are picked up, the original poster is responsible for informing the group that the item is no longer available. Sometimes people will label a post taken PPU, which translates to: the item is spoken for, but it has yet to be picked up.
• wanted: if you are looking for an item and want to see if someone has one that they are willing to donate then this type of post is for you. There are rules governing how often you can ask for things and what type of items are permissible (asking for money is a big no, no).
• found: if you received something that you wanted, let everyone know.

Sounds simple, huh? Well, I’ve discovered that there are a few catches. Here are some of things that make it a good lesson in patience.

• There are a lot of people who want things. Some of the requests are for small items, others for larger accessories. Far be it for me to keep people from seeking their dreams, but if I had a spare car to give you, I don’t know that I would be running around town picking up people’s old bedding to use for craft projects. I might be, but it’s hard to say.
• There are a lot of people who never show up. Seriously, people just don’t show up. They take the effort to reply to the poster, set up a meeting time and place, and then they don’t bother to actually pick up the free items that have been graciously donated by a complete stranger. No, I don’t get it either. Those caring benefactors who aren’t completely disillusioned at this point will generally post a re-offer. Showing up it not only respectful and courteous, it’s a good way to get more stuff in the future. I’ve noticed that there are people who frequently offer items, if people know that you are going to show up and not waste their time, it will probably work in your favor.
• There are people who don’t follow the rules. Namely that you pick one person from the group of people who reply (first-come, most needed, local charity, etc.) and then arrange a meeting time with them, versus telling a whole bunch of strangers where you live and having them descend upon your lawn or garage. This is a bad idea for two reasons: (a) do you really want to give a whole bunch of strangers your address and access to your garage/home and (b) it often backfires because sometimes no one is willing to drive halfway across town to pickup a sometimes-working microwave, that might not even be there.
• There are people who don’t follow through. Yeah, sometimes people never respond back to posts, or list an item as taken. Sometimes people give something to someone else, even though they told you, that you can have it. Then you call to come by, and oh, it’s already gone. Yeah, that’s not something that leaves you feeling happy inside.

Now after all of that, you might be saying to yourself, it’s not worth it. But I think it is. Here’s why: yes, you might have some let downs, and yes, you might interact with some people that you wouldn’t do a transaction with again, but you can meet some nice people in your community, save some money, and give/find something a new home. And from a green-minded perspective, that’s a win, win. Plus, you can actually find some really cool stuff: electronics, crafts, doors, and maybe you might find yourself a car.

If there’s anyone out there actually reading this, have you ever used freecycle? Gotten anything good? Had any interesting experiences? Any other tips to share?

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