Lidl from 26th March

[the realfictitious]

Lidl have quite a few DIY Tools from 26th March ...dpending on locality no doubt .

[john]

Just paid =A312 for a spot blaster (Aldi). Sod is I bought one last year and forgot it. Enough is enough. I've reached diy Nirvana, I'm finally tooled up, I'm sorted!.

6 years lunatic tool-gadget-kit buying from Lidl-Netto-Aldi has left me as a befuddled tool freak wreck. All that's left now is my weekly fix of their "On sale from ..." emails. A vain, desperate hope that the Chinese have invented some strange new novelty item, (preferably powered) that will be mine, all mine. Yeah. I do tools. I can handle it ... :)

[Clot]

Oh no you can't. You've just bought a swop. Here have a look at my toys, I've got two of these. Do you want one!

[Bruce]

I'm at the point where I have about 50% more tools than there is available room for them. Renting a garage provided some respite but only at a cost.

I never get the opportunity to use most of them. So I am now weeding out my earlier, mainly Lidl purchases, and offering them on Freecycle.

[The Medway Handyman]

I find the discipline of a Kangoo van very useful. I still carry far too many tools on the basis of 'it might come in handy'.

I've been planning a clearout for ages. I had to upgrade a lot of stuff when I started doing DIY jobs for a living, but the old stuff is still in working order. Freecycle sounds a good idea.

[Stuart Noble]

Well, as EBay is out of bounds for you, that's the only solution :-)

[Bruce]

Imagine if you had a long wheelbase, high roof Transit. I bet you could just as easily fill that! I know I could ...

Freecycle is great. You don't get any money but you know that whatever you give away is likely to get used.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Appear in a car boot sale, more likely. ;-)

[PCPaul]

So? Would you rather it went to landfill?

[Bruce]

Plowman would rather he had an argument with someone, even if it was only in his imagination.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

With my experiences of Freecycle, yes.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You must get your opinions from freecycle too given what they're worth.

[Cicero]

=========================================

If you don't want to be bothered with Ebay personally consider using an Ebay middleman to sell your unwanted items. These are people who will collect your unwanted items, sell them on Ebay and then send you the proceeds less their (substantial) charges. It's better than giving your goods away to ungrateful beggars for nothing.

A quick Google for 'Ebay sellers' produced this example amongst several:

[Bruce]

I have bought and sold literally hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of stuff on eBay since 1998. I just cannot see the point for small numbers of low value items - it just isn't worth all the hassle, especially if the item is also heavy and the postage would be quite expensive in relation to the item's value.

If I think an item may have some value I always do an eBay search first.

[PCPaul]

That's a shame - it's worked very well for us.

You do get the occasional small-town-committee-chairman type moderator who is too pedantic even for Usenet, and after each time it's mentioned on the local radio you get an influx of 'WANTED: Boxed PS3, must be mint condition' but overall most people seem to be 'nice people'.

Generally I just want rid of something I offer, I don't care whether they want it or will sell it on. If I can't be arsed to sell it myself, why shouldn't they get the profit in exchange for the hassle?

If it's something special, I'll take more care to give it to someone who I think really wants it for themselves.

[Bob Eager]

Oh, yes...one of those in one of the groups round here. The other group works just as well, if not better, and I always advertise in that one first as it's far less hassle.

(clue: East Kent!)

Same here. Someone posted a want ad for 'moon on a stick' a while ago, and that cut down on the silly ones!

Exactly.

[Clint Sharp]

In message , [e-mail] writes

When a man is tired of buying tools, surely he must be tired of life, I hope it's a short lived depression and you get over it quickly.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My only experience is of the London one which is perhaps too large.

The hassle I had was people *desperate* for what I had on offer - then not turning up to collect. And at an arranged time etc which was convenient to them. And despite it being no trouble to them to email and phone etc to make sure they'd 'won' it, not one ever emailed afterwards to say thanks. So now I offer such things to the local charity shop and if they don't want it take it to the tip.

Indeed. I'd even help with transport if I could be sure of that.

[PCPaul]

Around here (Gloucester/Cheltenham/Stroud) we have had several groups spltting when the membershp got too big. You can be in several so if you happen to live on the border of three you can watch all of them.

I've noticed that too. Can't really get my head round it...

BTDT. Also if it's something big and awkward like furniture I've helped if I have transport and they haven't.

[Stuart Noble]

I bought a tv on EBay for £1. It was what I wanted, and where I wanted (a mile down the road). That's what I call well organised almostfreecycle.