Getting Free Landscaping on Craigslist
Here’s a short, but sweet Craigslist power user tip: put what you want to get rid of on Craigslist.
My wife and I are doing some landscape work and we had a ‘Charlie Brown Christmas Tree’ look-a-like in our front yard (yes, that’s it in the picture). It didn’t fit into our landscape plans to keep it and would have taken years to look half-way decent.
So we took a picture of it, threw it up on the ‘Free’ section of Craigslist and said ‘you dig’, and within 12 hours I had 15 emails asking if the tree was still available. By the time I got home from work that day, the tree was gone.
This was really satisfying for three reasons:
I got some landscape work done at no cost. I didn’t want to dig the tree up, and even if I did, I had no place to put it.- I saved a tree’s life! Someone will treat it better than I ever could have. And I didn’t have to cut it down. I don’t know that I could have done that.
- I paid it forward. The person who took the tree left me a nice thank you note. I got rid of something I didn’t want, and in the process, someone walked away feeling like they got a real find.
So I’m starting to think about what else around my yard or house I want to get rid of, and make others happy in the process. How does this sound for my next Craigslist ad:
“Free weeds. You dig. Leave the grass.”?
Craigslist Discussion:
- What’s your best Craigslist Free section find or give-away?
- How have you used Craigslist to save time, money, effort?
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Wow, this is really simple, but a good idea. I can think of a few things around the house that I wouldn’t want to end up in the dumpster that I could give away instead.
Pretty lucky. Did it bother you that you didn’t have a set time and meet with the person who took the tree?
@ Craig – No, not really.
Hahaha, that’s brilliant. And I’m glad your tree didn’t die. It’s kind of cute. ;-)
Hi
In the UK we have an organization/site called Freecycle that is just for things that people don’t want. During the last couple of years I have given away a dining table and 4 chairs and received:
A bike
A dishwasher
A Folding bed
It’s a great way to save the environment and some money!
Neil
I love it. I am so glad you thought to put this up on Craigslist. Most people would have just cut it down and been done with it. I love Craigslist and use it all the time. I actually picked up a dresser in the free section. Like Neil, I also love freecycle and have mentioned it here before.
BTW, Freecycle is around in the U.S. also. Look in Yahoo groups for one for your city.
Think it’s been mentioned, but everyone check out if they have a local Freecycle in thier area of town … if I’m not mistaken all are found on Yahoo Groups (at least the ATL is).
Yeh im UK using freecycle (www.uk.freecycle.org) I have given away a chest of draws, an old bike, and a guitar!
I have also got a bike, and a nice rustic table for my kitchen.
:) All good
Jay
This will also work well w/ heavy furniture or appliances that you just want to get rid of. Just advertise it for free and say ‘you pick up’. Someone will gladly remove it for you.
LOL, I know this is an old post, but I am new to the site and just wanted to say I love it. We had a HUGE coquina rock in our yard that we had no idea how we would move. We posted it for free on Craigslist, if you can move it, you can have it! It only took a few weeks for a creative guy and his two trucks to come by and pull the huge rock onto a trailer. And, his mother was thrilled to have the rock! It was win, win. The cheapest I had found to haul the rock away was $50, and then it was going in a landfill.