To want to give stuff away to the most 'grateful and deserving cause' ?

lol
No time today.
Put it in a charity bin thing this eveeniong.

moondog, did you tackle the closed charity shop again today? been wondering if you got a smiley face welcome or a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp welcome for yr stuff.

Colditz,that is vile re the shitty undies.
Lol at the trannies though.

My friend owns a launderette.She says what they get is unbelieavable. Stuff like duvets full of vomit that the person who brings them in doesn't even bother giving a cursory scrape to.

That's true, Anchovy, so OP, check with your local mosque or church and see if they work with refugees.

Many do, and really need your 'old' stuff.

Even if you upgrade, consider donating to them.

At work they wanted a new kettle, but our old one still worked. The mosque across the square was glad to get it - they help refugees kit out their homes with the basics, too.

A friend of my mum's works with asylum seekers and they have literally nothing. I gave a load of the DCs baby clothes and my mother said she honestly nearly wept with gratitude.

Also, a friend of a friend has just been matched with a 4 year old boy for adoption. She does not have any children so of course has absolutely no clothes at all. I have a large 5.5 year old boy, so she can have absolutely everything - all the usual clothes, plus pants, pyjamas, nice winter coat, dressing gown, swimming costumes etc. I am very about that. Plus I have had a chat with DS about it as well and he is thinking about sharing some of his old toys. Nice result all round.

both cars and laptops have been given away on my my freecycle.

i hate the wanted freecycle ads that ask for new model mobile phones, laptops, computers and i even saw one from a woman asking for a car for her son because he couldnt afford one

I don't bother w/Freecycle anymore. Too many no shows.

i wish people would be so nice when i freecycle. i asked one person if they would post something to me (i would have paid the postage) and they said they were going to report me!!

Freecycle is about keeping stuff from the landfill.

Charities are about giving to those in need.

If you want to give stuff away to people in need, donate to a charity or refuge centre.

Your local places of worship - church, mosque, synagogue may also have a use for children's things. The large mosque across from where I work regularly takes things to children being detained at Dungavel Detention Centre, so they get the bulk of the girls' playthings and clothes.

isn't freecycle more about keeping stuff out of landfill?

let's face it if you can make money out of your stuff, do it yourself. I can't see a problem with someone ebaying my old stuff - I want rid of it and I can't be arsed faffing around putting pictures up on auctions

I don't feel a need for whoever receives my item to constantly be in my karmic debt

I just want it out the house and not in a skip

Nappyaddict - see, i'm not so mean that i make someone with a newborn come 10 miles across town to pick up an unweildy nappy wrapper bin to make them have to juggle baby and bin back home.

I only work one day a week and have a car, makes sense to take it to them, its cheaper than the busfare it would have cost them to pick it up.

That's just made me think of that Friends episode where Phoebe wants to do a good turn that doesn't make her feel good

I gave tonnes of stuff to a charity shop the other week. I sent DP with it and he said that before he'd unpacked the car there was a woman walking out having bought stuff with her kids. She said to DP, 'One man's junk is another mans treasure' and i was pleased that her kids would get to play with the toys

Do you know I hadn't thought of the "giving to someone who can't afford it" angle. I was just recycling - I don't care if they can afford to buy their own new item, I'd rather they got more use out of my old one.

And Flamesparrow - yes I'm grateful if they'll just take the stuff away!

Selling it on ebay is a bit annoying but then I couldn't be bothered to do that myself, so if they can...

Surely Freecycle is just an alternative to chucking it away?

As long as it stays out of landfill I don't mind if Bill Gates is using it to keep his money in it.

awwww and get you delivering it aswell.

I just freecycled my very much un-used Nappy Bin and still unopened box of cassettes for it as well as a load of SMA sachets DS never used.

I must admit, i did feel like a "posh cow" (as a friend called me last week) pulling up to this tiny little run down council house in my 52reg Ford Focus and new clothes, and handing it over, but as least i know its going to get some good use by someone who actually NEEDS it.

Perhaps the thing to do is to scout the Charity shops, i pick and choose where i take DS's old clothes too because there are some shops that are really begging for baby clothes, i know the lady at my local Oxfam was practically falling over herself to thank me for the last lot i took down.

my hv was looking for someone with a pushchair to give to a young mum who was pregnant and couldn't even afford the basics.

our pram did not arrive for a few weeks after ds was born and we had to buy a cheapish graco one to make do with - not that cheap but it had to lie flat. so we donated that and also some hand knitted cardigans and clothes that ds had just not had time to wear. so i agree ask your hv otherwise womens refuge, or mother and baby hostels.

Its always nicer to give something to someone who really needs it

Oh, but the things some people put in the charity bags, Moondog!

I did some volenteer work as a teenager, and opened one bag to find an ancient crusty pair of pants - skidded to the eyeballs!

And then you get the men who 'try on' the bras 'for a fancy dress party', and take 20 minutes in the changing room.

Ew.

Yes!
They're a miserable bunch of hoofers invariably.
Had a huge spring clean today and drove around the village dropping off stuff at various domiciles (whether they wanted it or not-palmed off a hideous lemon yellow golfing type polo shirt onto my friend's dd amongst other stuff) then drove to charity shop with final few bags,mentally rehearsing withering riposte to ungrateful old bag.

It was closed...

Never mind..try again tomorrow!

I'm with moondog on the charity shop attitude. I used to volunteer in one, and always thanked people for making the effort to bring stuff in, rather than just chucking it in the bin. In my experience, we never binned stuff. Clothes, linen etc that couldnt really be sold in the shop were sold to local ragman by weight, so we still earned out of them. When I give to charity shops now (rare, we're skint), i do pick our local one with the lovely old ladies who chat and fuss over DS, rather than the large better known one where they always seem to act like they are prisoners rather than volunteers. Should be given large doses of HRT before opening the doors, me thinks.

Ah, with something sentimental like that I would def go through alternative routes to find a new home for them