Fredericksburg.com - Freecycle that clutter
Fredericksburg.com - Freecycle that clutter
***UPDATED 5/29/06 - Added pictures***
By 9:30 on a recent Saturday morning, the Combs family of Spotsylvania County had loaded a minor mountain of treasure into the back of their pickup.
Mom Carrie, a nursing student, got a pile of reference books. Dad Stephen hit the paperback jackpot with titles from Stephen King and Louis L’Amour. Nine-year-old Michael got brand-new jigsaw puzzles still in shrink wrap and a bagful of cool toys.
And then there were a new waffle iron, a pastel-patterned quilt, a nearly new winter jacket, a Kenny G CD and a dress for church.
“Honey, I made out!” Carrie Combs said as she tucked the last of her windfall into the pickup and shut the tailgate.
It didn’t cost them a penny.
They and dozens of other area residents were in Lynda Greene’s Spotsylvania farm field for a yard sale that wasn’t really a yard sale. It was a giveaway run by and for participants in the Spotsylvania group of the Freecycle Network.
Freecycle is a simple idea that caught fire thanks to the Internet and people’s innate fascination with acquiring and getting rid of stuff.