On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 16:24:24 GMT, "Vox Humana" >
wrote:

>I can't tell you how frustrated I have been with my elderly mother. She is
>a pack rat who hates to part with anything that has even the most remote
>possibility of use. I spent a week this summer going through boxes and
>boxes of things in her garage. It turns out that she had about a hundred
>jars that held powdered creamer, circa 1974 - and so on. There where things
>with missing parts and part for things that were long gone. She had five
>irons, three waffle irons, hundreds of yoghurt container, etc.. I kept
>saying "let throw this away." She would say "Someone could use this." I
>would say "No one can use it if it is in your basement, garage, or attic and
>they don't know about it." This went on for a week! I finally put
>everything in a huge pile where it would be very inconvenient to live with
>and convinced her to call a local charity.

Oh, dear, I'm telling you: you could have Freecycled those irons and
waffle irons in two seconds. Seriously, you need to sneak individual
items out of her house without her seeing it. Yes, it's devious and
somewhat dishonest, but I endorse it. Even that stuff with missing
parts people on Freecycle often will take. You'd be amazed.

I'll be honest though and say that I probably wouldn't do Freecycle if
I lived in an affluent area, which I don't (I live in the middle of a
mid-sized city). And I've Freecycled stuff for people who are
affluent since my city front porch is a safer place to leave stuff for
Freecyclers to pick up from.