HOME TRUTHS:"Wanted: 2,500sq ft house, three bathrooms, room for a pony, must be free or very little money..." Okay, I'm not entirely confident I'll be inundated with offers but after reading ads on various websites placed by people looking for free items, it seems the attitude is "ask and you shall receive" and a forthright approach is best.
The rampant consumerism of the boom years has left many people jaded and with less money around there seems to be a growing appetite for recycling unwanted items.
There's no longer the same stigma attached to relieving people of their rubbish. Even estate agents are getting in on the act. Douglas Newman Good has declared this as Recycling Awareness Month and is running a "Garbage to Gorgeous" recycling programme at three of the shopping centres in their portfolio: Eyre Square in Galway, Scotch Hall in Drogheda and Johnston Court Shopping Centre in Sligo.
They're inviting customers of all ages to design and create a unique fashion item or accessory using recycled goods. The winners get to indulge in a spot of rampant consumerism with a ¬1,000 shopping voucher.
Some people looking for unwanted items on websites, push the bar in terms of their demands. While most are looking for ordinary items such as furniture, appliances, and baby buggies, some are really hoping for gorgeous garbage and are asking for free garden sheds, cars and even boats .
All the better if you can give the impression that your need is dire; an ad on Gumtree.ie reads: "Wanted, chest of drawers, Tallaght ... is an emergency", which conjures up images of someone in Dublin 24 in danger of being subsumed under an avalanche of unconfined smalls. Although perhaps not in too much danger as they felt able to specify, "hopefully not plastic".
In some ads, capital letters are used to emphasise the extreme urgency, like the one on buyandsell.ie "LOOKING FOR A LARGE CHEST FREEZER FOR FREE OR 2 SMALL CHEST FREEZERS, LOOKS NOT IMPORTANT AS ITS ONLY GOING TO BE FOR BAIT." So this person won't be needing my old Fisher & Paykel cold drawer then!
I'd love to know how the person on buyandsell.ie looking for the "contents of an aviary" fared or the Sligo person looking for original Barbie dolls and clothes in good condition. "Preferably hair uncut and complete bodies."
Some are quite choosy about the condition of the freebie; take the ad on buyandsell looking for a Fiat Punto 1996-1999 1.2 litre five door car, "must be complete car, free or up to €100 for the right car".
All of the websites have lots of requests for garden sheds, but none are being offered by people offloading unwanted items. Hardly surprising given that sheds have become an outrageously pricey commodity.
If you are looking to kit out your house for little or nothing there are lots of mattresses, beds, sofas, dining tables and sideboards on offer, and some people helpfully provide pictures.
While many people are simply trying to give perfectly functional items to a good home, in some cases there's often a whiff, sometimes quite literally, that something is not quite right. Like the fridge freezer advertised on Adverts.ie which is "totally perfect" except for "a bit of a smell from the freezer part" or the trampoline on the same website in good condition "except for a small tear at the side". A caravan in Tawneylea, Co Leitrim, with a helpful picture of it obscured behind a bush, "might suit a small builder for canteen or security hut!"
Some are scrupulously honest about wear and tear like the post on buyandsell.ie about a sofa that has "seen better days but is comfy" or the person on adverts.ie giving away a microwave "used to heat beans four times."
