Freecycle: Changing the World One Gift at a Time

 

For anyone interested in living a more sustainable, non-materialistic lifestyle, Freecycle is the place where you can practice the three R's: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE. It's a wonderful system where people can give their junk to people who want their junk, or for people who need something, but would rather not buy it either because they don't have the money, don't want to contribute to the over consumerism of the world, or in my case and like many of us dealing with chemical sensitivity, want items that are not treated or made with chemicals. Free is good, too!

I started using Freecycle eight years ago when I moved into this big, old house of mine. It needed a lot of repairs and I didn't want to spend lots of money on tools and supplies. I also needed some furniture since I moved from a tiny one bedroom apartment into a house. There was too much echo. And then there were the projects I needed to do to keep me busy and entertained out in the isolation of the country. I've been given solid wood antique furniture, arts and crafts supplies, office supplies, kitchen appliances, and house repair materials, just to name a few categories.

There are times I've post for something and received no response, but that's just part of the game. Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose. And there have been MANY times I respond to an offer and didn't get chosen as the  recipient because I'm in a long list of others who wanted it as well. Many times the giver selects the first responder rather than judge who should get it or not. I was really disappointed once not to get a wicker couch and what made it worse was the person offering it to me emailed to tell me I was the first responder, but my email ended up in his spam folder for some reason. Did he really need to tell me that? I was so disappointed.

My latest acquisition was a post entitled: "Antique Spool Bed Needs TLC". I was the first responder early one morning. Lucky timing. The woman emailed and said it was the childhood bed she received as a gift from her father around 1940 so it has a lot of sentimental value making it difficult to part with. When she received it, it was already considered antique. Although I was excited, I was also skeptical. If it's a children's bed, it might be very small, and if it's that old, what is wrong with it and why is it in her storage shed. She asked me if I was sure I wanted it because the second responder claimed to have woodworking experience. I did. I figured I could use the headboards for some project, make a bench out of it, use it for a decorative feature or railing in my future cob house. If it's a real spool bed, the carvings alone should be fun. But one never knows. She didn't have a photograph of it. The giver said it had been in storage for about 30 years, but it worked back then and she has all the parts. It fits a smaller than normal mattress, something between a twin bed and a full bed which may be problematic for most people. Old-style mattress sizing. That's fine with me as I'd never buy a new mattress and have been thinking of trying to make a mattress out of mattress pads.

Freecycle also warns people to meet strangers in public for safety reasons, so of course I go right to her house. I think with our email communications we had a good feeling about each other. Either that or we are both naïve and too trusting. Yep, probably, but strangers who share childhood memories give me a good vibe.

A second concern always is will the person I meet be wearing perfume or will the freebie stink? I carefully assess the situation one step at a time.

She opens her storage shed and there it is. It's not a children's bed and it's solid wood. It's dusty and dirty, but cleaning an antique is part of the fun. It's like bringing it back to life.




In the garage, ready for its transformation! Even the railings are wood. Love it.

She did have all the pieces including the two sculpted ends on the foot board that were removed in order to fit a full size mattress years ago. The woman kept looking like she was mourning the loss, but assured me giving it away was fine. For a moment I asked myself, Aren't you always saying you need to downsize like this woman is doing? Why do you keep gathering more STUFF? I like having projects to keep me busy. If anything, I can fix it up and sell it at my next garage sale for a huge profit.

Love the carvings.

 

 

It's really awesome. At first I thought I would paint it turquoise but I fear it won't match anything in my house except my pantry. It won't fit in the pantry, unfortunately! Too bad as it would go well in my shrine. It'll probably end up white. Maybe I should paint it wild? Oh, the decisions! So much fun.

I love antiques. This one is now on its third life, at least. Who knows, maybe it has had many more lives? I wonder what experiences it had? Where it's from? How old it is? The stories it could tell!