1. Craig's List
Over the past few years I have used Craig's List a lot and am one happy camper. In the past week I've sold a headset (a bluetooth earpiece), an old camera, and two stools on CL. In the past I've also used Craig's List to sell a a prom dress, a couch, and a papasan chair (which will live on in my memory, as much as it disappointed my expectations about the papasan in general). Tonight I posted a couple new ads. My philosophy is to put the ad out there at whatever price I want and keep reposting it until someone bites, since I'm not in a rush to get the cash.The brilliance of Craig's List especially shone through when I was selling a sleeper couch that I had bought at a thrift store against my better judgment. I knew I didn't really like it, but it was cheap, and I was in a hurry to move in and set up my first solo apartment. A couple weeks later, when I found my dream couch for sale at Salvation Army, I became the owner of a two-couch living room. I posted couch #1 on Craig's List and waited... and waited... and waited. I live on the second floor of an old building, which has only a stairwell in the back of the building for moving furniture up and down floors, so it's a beast to get furniture in and out of my apartment. After a while, I despaired that anyone would answer my ad. I thought about calling Salvation Army, because at least they would take it off my hands (and out of the apartment and down the back stairs) for free. But then, finally, someone replied to my ad, and a couple of days later, I watched gleefully as someone *paid me* to remove the couch from my living room and free up the space so I could pursue my decorative dreams. And that is the beauty of Craig's List.
2. Freecycle
Freecycle is a similar idea of people in a local area trading things, but in this case no money changes hands. You offer things you want to give away for free, things for which someone could still find a use. I've used freecycle mostly for giving things away, not for getting things, b/c there's usually only one of each thing listed, and you might reply to an ad along with 10 other people, and it's up to the poster to decide to whom to give the item. Then you have to drive somewhere random in your area to pick it up. I think the only thing I've received from freecycle is a three hole punch, b/c a lady in a nearby neighborhood offered me one in response to my "wanted" request. Freecycle is wonderful; it embodies the saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure." I have posted some odd stuff on freecycle; I've posted cardboard boxes, gold scrivener's ink, and random, outdated computer equipment, and I've always found someone who was eager to come to my place and pick the items up. The only thing I've posted on freecycle that yielded zero response was a set of 4 ice trays for the freezer. I guess even frugal freecyclers already have those.
3. Bookmooch
This is probably my favorite of the three. Bookmooch is not "local" like craig's list and freecycle; it extends across the country and even around the globe. Bookmooch is an online community of people who trade books. Here's how it works: You list 10 books you're willing to give away (you get 1/10 of a Bookmooch point for listing each book). Then you have 1 point with which to request a book you want from an other member's inventory. You request said book, and the other member goes to the post office and pays for it to be sent to you via media mail (or first class, if it's cheaper). Media Mail runs about $2.50 a book. Now, you don't directly reimburse the other member, b/c the other member gets your 1 point, and with it they can request a book from another member, and it's sent to them at no cost to them. This way there is no trading of $ between members; you pay whenever you send a book, and then you can get a free book sent to you. You also create a wishlist of books you want, and then you are notified when they become available. It's pretty brilliant.
If BM has a downside, it's that the inventory is limited to the books that other members have available to be "mooched;" you might not find books that interest you right off the bat. Again, this site works best if you can be patient. It's not usually good for finding the exact book you need before your class begins in the fall (although that did happen to me with Housekeeping for our ethics class in seminary!). In the three years I've been a member, I have given away 40 books I no longer wanted and have received 43 books I did want, each for about $2.50! Sounds like a deal to me. Most recently I got a copy of Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, whose short stories and novels I love. I also got Susan Howatch's entire 6-novel Church of England series through BookMooch; I need to get started on reading #3 next.
