I’ve been out snaffling up a printer!

Filed in Blog by on March 27, 2009 12 Comments
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saving a printer from the landfill with snaffle upApologies for the absence of a post this morning, but I was out and about. I managed to Snaffle Up a lovely printer. An all in one printer-scanner-fax-copier to be precise.

I’ve been after one of these beauties for a long time, so imagine my delight when I received email notification that someone, only 12 miles from my postcode was offering one on SnaffleUp?

We went over this morning and met a lovely lady who hates to throw things in the landfill. Methinks this could be the beginnings of a beautiful friendship!

Her company upgraded all of their printers and when she asked her boss what to do with the old machine; she was asked to ‘dispose of it’.

Well, dispose of it she has, in the most meaningful of ways possible. It’s now has pride of place at Zero Waste towers and to say I am grateful would earn me understatement of the week status.

It’s another hearty Yay for Chris, the brains and beauty behind SnaffleUp, a very happy Green family, some much-needed space on her desk for the lovely gifter and some electronics saved from the landfill. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Tell me about your greatest SnaffleUp / Freecycle / any other ‘one man’s trash’ story – let’s end the week on a positive note with gratitude for all the people who give away their treasures to others and keep things out of the landfill.

About the Author ()

I am a long time supporter of the Green and Sustainable lifestyle. After being caught in the Boscastle floods in 2004, our family begun a journey to respect and promote the importance of Earth's fragile ecosystem, that focussed on reducing waste. Inspired by the beauty and resourcefulness of this wonderful planet, I have published numerous magazine articles on green issues and the author of four books.

Comments (12)

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  1. Poppy says:

    2 of my favourite Freecycle wins were from the same person, but months apart. The first was a large black bin with a lid which is now a temporary home for all our plastic bottles before we move them on to one of the local Bring sites. The second was a colourful summer shirt for Master P after a request from school at the end of November. As you can imagine, there was no such thing to be had in any of the shops at that time of year and I turned to Freecycle in desperation and amazingly, we were offered a genuine Hawaiian shirt of the exact size that we needed. I was so very, very chuffed 😀 😀

  2. Fluttering Sam says:

    I have a feeling I may win this one 🙂 The most magnificent Freecycle gift we have ever been gifted was our cooker. It’s a Rangemaster 110. One of these…(http://www.gillmans.co.uk/productpics/110.jpg)

    It is amazing. I can’t believe anyone would be so generous as to just give it away, it’s an absolute workhorse,and I love it! Ours has a built in griddle which makes the most gorgeous drop-scones most weekends.

    Enjoy your printer-scanner-fax-copier, and have a wonderful weekend.

  3. Carole Blake says:

    We had a racing bike for my youngest son, a desk for homework, large plants etc.

    Carole

  4. I had to click to see what Snaffle Up was! lol It must be a European thing.

    Congrats on your wonderful find!

  5. MrsJ says:

    A lovely gentleman gave us a climbing frame with slide which helps encourage my children out into the fresh air and playing together nicely. Glad you have such a good success story Mrs Green.

  6. Katy says:

    As a Freecycle mod I have seen lots of wonderful and amusing items:

    – a caravan given to a family who otherwise wouldn’t get much of a holiday
    – a piano given by a school to a community music project/recording studios
    – an old wurlitzer type organ that went to a community/historic cinema
    – a vintage camping kitchen
    – pet items for cat and dog rescue/fostering
    – lifesize Gandalf cardboard cutout (that got us a newspaper article way back!)
    – fresh herring
    – fluffy handcuffs (!)
    – jam jars to a local Brownie pack for making fairy lanterns on pack holiday
    – a group of guys collect all sorts of unwanted computer bits, make usable PCs and give them away to those who need them (elderly, disabled etc.)

    Personally I’ve got rid of loads of stuff including all the old lounge furniture from hubby’s bachelor (i.e. Argos 🙂 days, tons of old magazines, unneeded studenty kitchen/crockery bits, and a box of assorted beads, ribbons and crafty things.

  7. sunny day–snow melting again–must celebrate your minor and major successes.

    so, passing on the US village mentality, after leaving most of our treasures to the neighbors in the desert west, we were fortunate enough to obtain loads of eclectic furniture from a charity group, gratis,in the midwest.

    so eclectic that we had to become selective, when we found better pieces on the seasonal clean-up day, we then deposited the spare orphans in front of our house with ” free-take me” sign. every day the items disappeared about late afternoon.

    i still smile at the sight of a covey of small children surreptitiously crossing the road with great semi controlled excitement, carting different parts of a lounge chair and cushions.

  8. Mrs Green says:

    @Poppy: 😀 love the hawaiian shirt story! It’s amazing what you can find when you ask.

    @Fluttering Sam: Oh Sam – I remember that story from your fly group. How amazing and what a wonderful gift. Mind you, if there’s anyone so deserving, it’s you and your beautiful family. 🙂

    @Carole Blake: racing bike is cool – I bet your son was delighted.

    @[email protected] Frugal Girl: Hi Kristen – it’s only in the Uk at the moment, but Chris has had people asking from all over the world to introduce Snaffle Up, so maybe it will be in a town near you soon 🙂

    @MrsJ: How lovely Mrs J. Interestingly, our first freecycle gift was a climbing frame. Dd has loved it for years and has bow made it into a bird feeding station!

    @Katy: fluffy handcuffs, Katy LOL what an interesting bunch of people you have on your group! I love the caravan story; some of the gifting stories are so heart warming.

    @nadine sellers: Hi Nadine, glad to see you are gradually thawing out. I love the image of the children grabbing their new gifts. It’s so lovely. We enjoy putting things out on the kerbside too and invariably it all goes. People can’t quite believe their luck at times; you can see it on their faces 🙂
    Random Acts of Kindness at its best!

  9. Deb from Boston says:

    I think every room in our house has at least one thing from craigslist or found on the curb.

    Item that has allowed for the most fun – foosball table
    Most interesting story – I pulled over and snagged an end table, while at the same time, dear spouse was driving back around the block to get it (one way street) – she called me on her cell to tell me how mad she was that just minutes ago the “perfect” table was on the curb, and someone got it before her – I waited until we all where home before she realized that someone who got it was me

  10. Mrs Green says:

    Cool Deb – I think our house is like that too! The dining table and chairs, the small table in our lounge, dd’s wardrobe; yep; I can see a theme throughout the rooms of this house!
    Love the table story – you must have made your wife’s day!

  11. Layla says:

    WOW, wonderful stories!! 🙂

    A Freecycle-sort-of-site is rather new here in Slovenia, an acquaintance got a printer there too – but not such a fancy one!! It did still work & she was very happy..
    I’ve heard some lovely pre-internet stories too..

    A friend got a CONCERT piano (huge old one!!) from a distant neighbour once!!

    That must be the best one, lol!!

    I once got a tent on loan just when hitchhiking, in student days! 🙂

    I’m now really sorry I didn’t grab my neighbours’ trash in ‘big rubbish’ days & Freecycle it.. at least the bird’s cage & CD stand & pretty cabinet (it was standing in the rain for 2 days though, & I was a bit shell-shocked.. & thought ‘we don’t have place for it’ – which we don’t.. This is an interesting idea though.. rescue to Freecycle, hmm..!!
    I did tell Dad to get it if he needs it, he didn’t then.. another neighbour or two were less embarassed to go through a neighbour’s sack & got some really pretty clothes – one for her daughter, one for a charity!)
    Ah well, we learn something every day!!
    /note to self: ‘must do better another day’!/

    Awesome find, Mrs Green!!

  12. Mrs Green says:

    Hi Layla, good to hear of such schemes in your area too – a concert piano; my, I would have loved that. I used to have a grand piano, but had to get rid of it when I moved in here 🙁

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