Oh, I also brought in a brand-new-in-box HO-scale Bachmann ‘Hogwarts Express’ train set to work. Boss’s grandson is crazy about trains. (Too bad I didn’t remember that until after the N-gauge train was gone.)
My old area had a high student and generally less than settled population. Sticking stuff out on the ubiquitous low wall at the edge of the property was an extremely common way to get rid of stuff- I got rid of an amazing amount of stuff that way, from books and shoes to a sofa.
I also picked up some stuff, like old plant pots, occasional weird ornaments and books. It’s like a giant city wide constant swap.
One problem was that it really annoys newcomers to the area, who decide to pretty up the wall with some potted plants, not realising that on the wall=free. People will prise the damn thing off, or unscrew it, but one way or another, it’s gonna go…
The other problem we had in one house I lived in was it was the corner house, which apparently had an especially good wall, so one of the other neighbours (never figured out which) kept leaving piles of things like toddler clothes out on our wall. They never cleared them up either.
Late last summer, I put several beer flats full of tomatoes from my garden on my porch. I put a “FREE” sign and stepped back. The tomatoes lasted almost long enough for me to get back in the house. (Less exaggeration there than you might think.)
The woman I talked to who liked books (she mentioned she took a book with an AWACS in it, as she once worked for Boeing) has turned her front yard into a vegetable garden. She tells neighbours that if we ever see containers of fruit or veg sitting out front, feel free to help ourselves.
I once replaced a toilet and put the old one out by the street. Gone in 30 minutes…
I’ll have to try that.
I love free stuff…
If it ever stops raining where I am, I’m going to put an old non-working treadmill out by the curve, put an ad in CL and see if someone wants it for scrap. I’ll keep you posted.
In all seriousness: the travel trailer might go, too, with the proper CL ad. And a little time invested.
The chair thing is a nifty idea; I’d try something like that, but I bet the HOA would swoop down on it–screaming bloody blue murder all the way (need I say more?).
Gahhhhhhh! You pain me. 
I expected something else: Bed bugs can be a serious problem with upholstered furniture.
I pain me! I just saw what they’re going for now.
(I bought it at a toy store when it came out, so I didn’t pay that much for it. I don’t think I should tell my boss.)
Whenever I need to split iris or other plants, I don’t toss the extras out, I put them in a Craigslist curb alert. They always, always either find a home or go walkabout. Even shrubs like barberry and potentilla find homes. I also do curb alerts with garage sale leftovers. It’s amazing how much will disappear.
I’ve found a few great items this way too.
I remember an old Simpsons episode where Homer had no luck selling a trampoline. Bart told him to padlock it to the fence, where it was stolen as soon as it got dark.
A while ago we took some patio chairs our next door neighbor put out for free. They are not in great shape, but they are better than the nothing that we were sitting on, so we figured it was good enough for a while.
Last weekend, I put out some cheap kit-built Adirondack chairs that were starting to fall apart. Our next door neighbor took them.
So we have now swapped outdoor furniture.
I used to belong to the local FreeCycle. It amazed me some of the absolute C - R - A - P that people would post. Things like:
[ul]
[li]⅓ gallon of custom color paint.[/li][li]Opened containers of food. [/li][li]Partially used batteries (not used 5 from a package of 10, but we used these particular batteries for a while but they still have some, unknown amount of life in them. Perfect for a flashlight in an emergency. :rolleyes:)[/li][li]Lamp w/ broken, non-standard attaching lampshade; meaning you couldn’t just run to the store & buy a generic lampshade & put it on.[/li][/ul]
Seriously, just throw it out already!
I must be losing my touch: I put the TM out at 1PM yesterday, brought it back in the garage at 10PM, put it back out at 9:30 this AM–gone an hour later. My wife re-posted the CL ad on Facebook and a nice Mom-&-Pop (literally) scrap company came and got it. Shazam!
I dragged a treadmill out to the roadside, and put a “free” sign up next to it, and it sat there for a week, untouched.
The next weekend, I changed the sign to “For Sale - $100” and someone stole it within 2 days.
A couple of years ago, I had to clean out the attic so I could put down some insulation. There was a lot of crap in the attic. As the Hallkids and Hallgrandkids carted the stuff down, I had them take it directly to the curb. Lamps, old end tables, a printer/faxer that weighed a billion pounds (but worked), and boxes of misc. stuff. It was all gone within 48 hours.
When we replumbed the upstairs bathroom and pulled the old cast iron pipes out of the wall, we put them on Craigslist for free. They were gone within two hours.
I’ve unloaded via the Craigslist Free spot magazines, sofas, beds, bookcases, dresser…you name it, it’ll go for free on Craigslist.
I have a scanner that worked when I disconnected it. I’m planning on just taking it to the dump. i mean, it’s from the '90s and I don’t have the driver software.