Craigslist to the Rescue
I hate throwing away anything that might have value to someone else. Take for example the tricycle I plucked out of a neighbor’s trash (in her defense she was hoping someone would) and gave to another friend to rehab and use for their son. Maybe the husband got carried away?
Nah.
But more than throwing away things that still have life in them, I abhor paying other people to throw things away for me. We had a deck on the back of our house.
It was a fine deck, served its purpose but not terribly well suited for a family with small children. Our neighbor said it’s a redwood deck. We believed him since he helped build it. It was also over-engineered. Screws (not nails) – 2 per joist per board, joists every 16 inches – it’s like they were building a house foundation.
We wanted a concrete patio and got a few bids. All the bids included demo and removal of the deck. But if it’s redwood, surely it had some value, right? Not to the concrete guys. So I placed an ad on our local Craigslist listing the redwood for free if you dismantled and hauled it away. Nearly immediately I had a furniture maker call me. He came over the following Saturday and removed all the decking. He also said it was really good redwood and will make lovely outdoor benches and tables.
He left behind the pressure treated lumber.
Another post on Craigslist. Another taker. In the end our deck was dismantled and hauled away by people other than us and for free!
We kept the materials out of the landfill and lowered the cost of our patio since they didn’t have to do any demolition. It was a total win.
The next time you have things that still have life in them just not room in your life, check out Craigslist. You may not make a penny, but you’ll keep stuff from the landfill. Remember, one man’s trash is another’s treasure. And it makes for good community.
Do you have any good Craigslist stories? That antique dresser that you finally found? The dining table you’re going to rehab? Share!
