Since this is a random topic, I'll post a random thought.

Anyone else here a Craigslist/eBay/Bookoo junkie?

I'm laughing at seeing some of the ridiculously high prices for some things listed like "XYZ curtain panels, sizes aa-bb-cc. These were custom-made four years ago... etc, etc."

It's as if the "custom-made part is what's driving up their listing prices, but... it wasn't custom-made for me, so why should I pay 3x for something which was custom-made for someone else?

Good point about the custom made thing. I buy and sell on Ebay, but caveat emptor, due diligence and all that jazz.

I don't do craigslist, Freecycle is a great place to have your junk hauled off by someone who can use it
I'm a Woot junkie still trying to catch a BOC (today there are some woot-offs)
Love Paperback Swap for grabbing hard-to-find books but hate the forums - you think people get nasty here? Bah! Amateurs!
Glad I found Book Gorilla and learned where to find more freebie books for Amazon Prime members
Addicted to Pinterest
When I need to unwind and don't feel like reading there is always Big Fish Games and Facebook games for mindless clicking.

I love Craigslist. I scout there for sad furniture to refinish.

We have Bookoo here which is better than Craigslist.

For free e-books, I use Kindle Buffet and BookBub.

I quit Pinterest, as I spent loads of time pinning and looking, and less time doing. Plus, I felt it made me less creative, just biting off everyone else's projects rather than thinking up my own.

Don't use Freecycle, as we were once sorta robbed because of it. Left out totes of baby clothes for a woman to pick up, and she went round back of my house and picked up all of my kids' outdoor toys as well, including their less-than-a-week-old Radio Flyer wagon.

BBird0701 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Left out totes of baby clothes for
> a woman to pick up, and she went round back of my
> house and picked up all of my kids' outdoor toys
> as well, including their less-than-a-week-old
> Radio Flyer wagon.


That is so disgusting. You just can't be nice to some people.

But you sure can keep trying.

My problem with FreeCycle wasn't so much that, surprisingly, it was never being able to organize pickup at a time that worked for me. After no-shows and people coming late and holding me up from my errands, we thought it'd be easier to place it on the curb or front porch, and they come by when it works for them. No... my fourth or fifth time doing that was when that woman took the kids' toys.

Funny thing about that, though, was that I hadn't wanted to bag up the clothes in trash bags, because it was trash day, so left them out in the totes with a note attached for the trashmen, saying "This is NOT trash! Someone is picking up!" Well, I'd told her that I wanted to keep my totes and asked her to bring boxes and transfer everything, leave the totes. For some unknown reason, she did that, and left the totes, but took all of my kids' toys.

I contacted her the next day when I noticed their toys were gone, and she wrote back saying "I thought they were included."

Right. Because when you're picking up baby clothes from my front porch, you somehow get the impression that my kids' toys in my backyard are included.

She never returned them, and stopped answering texts/calls after I told her they were not included and to please return them. She begged off with an excuse that she didn't have gas to get here and back, and when I said if that's the case, I'd be glad to come pick them up, she stopped responding. Never did get them back.

Congratulations. You've rendered me speechless.

Sure hope her kids enjoyed them.

My husband is more cynical than I am, and said that the reason she kept rescheduling pickup for the clothing (I think it was 5 or 6 times before I finally said "I'm leaving them outside, I really need to run errands" was because she didn't want me to see that she wasn't even pregnant. He thinks she's one of those reseller people.. who take freebies and then sells them. She told me she had three boys, was pregnant with her first girl, due any day, and had absolutely nothing for her, and that her husband had skipped out on her.

Oh well. I was most miffed about the wagon, as it was my daughter's "big" birthday present, and this happened about four days after her birthday. But, we got her a new one and built her a garage for her stuff, off her playhouse, and taught her to lock all of her stuff up.

I love your idea of the garage and letting your daughter learn how to lock up.

Me? I'd be checking out some privately owned thrift stores in the area looking for my stuff. I would love to call her cell phone while we're both standing in the shop. Or text her "I want my stuff back now". LOL

I'm a thrift store junkie and know all the ones around here, and have never seen her at any. It's more likely that she's a Bookoo or Craigslist-only seller, if she is a reseller.

There are people here who go around and pick up yard sale leftovers when posted, and then turn around and sell them back on the same site they're posted. Bookoo or Craigslist.

I actually posted openly on Freecycle about it, hoping someone knew where she was, and asking if this had happened to anyone else. Like, if she's just a repeat offender who does that. What I got instead were people replacing the stuff. Most of them were people I'd helped with stuff at one time or another. I'd been pretty active, downsizing and decluttering there for about a year. One lady gave me two of the Bubble Mowers, replacing the two that woman took. Another gave me a crap ton of gardening and sand play tools, waaay more than what was taken. Her golf set got replaced, their yard balls.. the only thing I had to buy again was the wagon.

Freecycle is still good in my book, but I petered off from using it because I'm just not home during normal hours for pickup, and I'd not curb-alerting anything anymore.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2014 08:24PM by BBird0701.

Well, it sure is good to see that there are more decent people than jerks.

I also gave away a lot of things on Freecycle, some stuff was brand new and a little pricey to boot. After giving away tons of stuff, I finally found myself in need of something. I needed a very small amount of sphagnum peat moss - just the peat moss with no Miracle Grow or other fertilizer in it. I asked and waited and waited. Nothing. Finally, I broke down and bought a bag - 2 cubic feet was the smallest I could find. I took out the handful that I needed and listed the rest on Freecycle. The bag sure got snatched up quick! Suddenly everyone's a gardener but not a one around when I needed one.

The other thing I noticed was the difference in tone from Florida to Oregon. The Florida people emailed things like, "If your xxx is still available, I could really use it for my xxxx. It would be such a huge help to me since I have run into this xxx problem. I would appreciate it if you would consider choosing me as your recipient. I could pick up any time at your convenience.Thank you so much for your generosity. "

In Oregon, I get emails that read - "If your xxx is still available I'll take it. Call me at this number ASAP!"

That's how it is here. People are almost rude when they respond to my posts.

Last month I posted a couple of bags of diapers and a box of diapers, all the same size, both Pampers and Huggies. We were out having dinner at the time and discussing potty-training the younger one. (Yes, we're the gross people that talk about that stuff over dinner!)

Anyway, I'd forgotten to restock the diaper bag and had to throw a PullUp on her, which she loved, because it made her just like her sister. So we came to the decision then to move her right to PullUps, and we'd stop on the way home to pick up some in 2T. So while we're sitting there waiting for our food, I pulled out my phone and posted all of her diapers on Bookoo for free. Put my phone down, figured I'd check after dinner. I had people sending nasty emails because I wasn't responding back right away. Seriously. The first email was something like "I'll take these and can pick up ASAP. Where are you? Call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx" Second message was maybe 5-10 minutes later... "I wrote you awhile ago, aren't you getting my messages? Call me ASAP!" Five minutes later "Are you even going to respond to my messages??"

Ugh!

I still like buying on there but selling/giving away, not so much anymore. We joined a mom's swap meet (we meet once a month at someone's house)... We each bring a food dish, and whatever crap we want to get rid of... Kids have a playdate, we eat and trade our crap around. Much better than dealing with the rude people, especially when most of them flake anyway!

What a rude person! I hope someone else got those diapers. I LOVE the swap meet idea. I'm sure that's 1000x more pleasant than dealing with some of those faceless jerks.

I want to start a swap meet for dogs. They're my kids now. I keep giving away stuff to the people at the training center where I take them because they have so much stuff. When we got our JRT, we had to get rid of a lot of toys because she tears them up and tries to EAT them. The other dogs at school and daycare love their stuff.

Oh.. .and my dogs also brought in Pupcakes and homemade biscuits to celebrate Turbo's birthday. His party was a Sunday and the following Monday at daycare they brought their treats to share.

Here's his birthday cake (ground beef with whipped cream cheese "frosting", american cheese decorations and a piece of fried bacon as "baconfetti".

And pupcakes to share (made of flour, pureed apples, mashed bananas and peanut butter a little oil and baking powder) :


Then there were biscuits to share (corn meal, flour, beef broth, bacon fat)

Muffins for breakfast (same batter as pupcakes)

Of course, the best part is opening presents:

It was hard getting photos of them in their party hats - they move to fast. This is as good as I could get:

So there you have it. I'm a crazy dog lady

Here's my Sam covered in frosting, courtesy of my toddlers. It ended up getting rubbed on EVERYTHING in the house. I was finding frosting smudges for a solid week after, in the oddest of places.



Sam and the aforementioned naughty one.



And for good measure... chickens and ducks.

This one was my birthday present to myself.





Easter chick cast-offs. People around here buy them, stick them in their kids' Easter baskets, and then panic when they realize it's a live animal and they've no clue what to do with it. These guys all came from one woman (her and her neighbor thought they'd make good Facebook photos. :eyeroll



My favorite one. Twisted beak, one missing eye. I didn't expect him to make it, to be honest, but he's still going strong. I named him Capone.

Awww. poor chickie. Sam and daughter look like best buds. So cute. Good for you for rescuing the chicks. I wish people would understand the animals are not a gift. They are a commitment.

My Jack Russel, Cissy, was purchased from a breeder someone as a "gift" for a 70-something year old woman. Surprise! JRTs are extremely energetic and will cause a LOT of trouble if you don't work/play with them a lot. If you don't give them something to do they will create something to do on their own and it's usually something you're not gonna like. After a year, the woman gave up on her because of her mischief. She'd get out of the yard and chase her sheep which I think was the last straw. She gave her up to a rescue and we adopted her from there.

She only knew "sit" when we got her. Now she's in basic training at doggy school and headed for Flyball training next I think. Turbo is in agility now, but I may switch him over to Flyball if Cissy does it. They come home tired and as any dog owner knows, a tired dog is a good dog.

On days when I have shops, appointments or other errands I can drop them off at the school for "daycare". The dogs just play together in the gym and gain good socialization skills which will be needed later when there are a lot of dogs around at competitive events.

Hey, maybe I'm the only one that doesn't have you two toggled, but BBird, I seriously think a better title for this thread might be, "BBird0701 Chats With LJ".

If that works, you could then branch out to......say....me, (smile) and start a thread, "BBird0701 Chats With Stilllearning".

I see this idea taking off and Jacob loving it and (sound of screeching brakes), well, never mind. Been there, done that.

(heart)

PS
Techman, before you ask, I'm sure you would be in the charter group...assuming you are available, that is.

I didn't name the thread. It was posted in another "Topic" thread and was moved. I renamed it for you, though.

LJ, Sam showed up on my doorstep one day. Four days after my dog died, in fact. She had two bullet holes in her and a rope tied around her neck. Took forever for her ropeburns to heal. She wouldn't let my husband touch her at first... she'd growl, cower, and pee herself whenever he tried. Now she's the happiest, most loving dog ever... and very protective of the kids.

I'd intended to take her to a shelter but we were worried about her chances since pitbull/pitbull mixes aren't viewed kindly around here. We decided to take her to a vet, get her fixed up, and then foster her until we found her a home.

Turned out her home was meant to be here. A year and a half later, I can't imagine our home without her.

I thought this had magically moved. (sigh of relief that my mental faculties are still intact)

(heart)

See, there you go, talking to LJ again. BBird, I'm thinking you could run with my idea, which would become your idea, of course, and I am confident you would be more resilient than I, who became/is a sniveling wimp.

Think about it.....

(heart)

Don't make me toggle you, Still!

OMG Bbird. What the hell is wrong with people? That poor dog. :'(
She certainly showed up on the right doorstep that day and I bet you needed her just as much as she needed you right at that time.

You know, Still.. if you're still reading... I could never toggle you. And you're no wimp. You just take things too easily to (heart).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2014 09:49PM by LJ.

LJ, I know!! Of all the doorsteps for her to sleep on, she chose ours. Made me think dogs must have a super-sense to know when/which people need dog-love. Hubs says our dog was looking out for us from dog-heaven and sent her to us, like "Now that I'm not around anymore, you guys need each other."

We named her Sam, short for "Samaritan"

StillLearning,

Then I'd get reamed a new one about not "taking it to PM."

BBird0701 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
"Now that
> I'm not around anymore, you guys need each
> other."

Oh, what a wonderful, sweet thought.

No, BBird. From what I understand, "General Chat" is free of criticism; anything goes! If you want to have fun, this apparently has been designated as the playground. So many possibilities for so much fun! (Please, though, let me caution you that there was one case, but only one, where someone who did not understand the spirit of this category lambasted an unsuspecting member, but I think that was a one time thing.)

Go forth, BBird, joyfully!

(heart)

Wow! I wish I could see more photos in some threads. It would make it more interesting. Please tell me how you posted those photos.

I uploaded them to PhotoBucket, and then copied the "URL" section underneath the photo in PhotoBucket, and pasted it here.

I like the ideas on this thread and don't want to loose this thread so I am posting in it. Thank you for the ideas.