Freecycle Rocks

I could list dozens of reasons as to why Freecycle rocks, but I'll stick to today's:

• I found myself very cranky today at the prospect of trying to remove the invasive ivy and lily of the valley that tend to take over my front garden bed, a task that I'd been avoiding for far too long, but I can't put in some of my new perrenials in until that stuff is gone. But then I finally realized that I could list them on Freecycle, "bring your own shovel." Within two hours I had a waiting list of folks who want to come over and dig them up for me. Makes me feel like Tom Sawyer painting his fence!
• I needed some compost and/or mulch to spread on my garden bed, which was hastily plowed up to hold all of the plants rescued from my old house until I could figure out what's what ad find them permanent homes. Freecycle led me to a local guy who I already know, who lives in the woods with dozens of free-range chickens and guinea hens and has a huge well-rotted pile of leaves laced with chicken droppings for the taking. I'm going there with plastic bins and shovels (though if I already had my $1k banger pickup truck, he would just load it up with his very own frontloader for me).
  

Other stuff I've given away on Freecycle: A pile of ashes from my burn pit, a pile of cracked concrete block pieces, two huge truckloads of the leaves that we didn't even have to rake, and the huge fallen oak tree that a tree service was going to charge hundreds to come chop up and cart away. Plus in the three days after closing on this house, freecyclers emptied the house of the tons of stuff left here by the previous owners; we didn't even have to carry one thing downstairs, let alone figure out a way to get it all to the thrift store or dump.

Freecycle Rocks.