Have you tried Freecycle?

I started using Freecycle this summer and found it to be a wonderful place to give away items I no longer needed. It's online through Yahoo, and you can post items you no longer want, reply to others' posts for things of theirs you want, and to ask for things you might need. It's all over the USA and perhaps there is something like it in other countries. Reply and let me know. Their motto is "changing the world one gift at a time", so it's probably in other countries.

This first item to go were socket holders - my hubbie decided they needed to go since he has something better to hold all of his various sockets. Within minutes of posting, I had 4 requests for the socket holders. I replied back to the 2nd person who responded (the first had a very nasty email address) and after leaving the sockets outside my house, they were gone by the next day.

The second item to go was an old-style TV. (My set was MUCH newer than the console set below, but I had friends whose families had these when I was younger) We haven't had cable in ten years, but still had a hand-me-down TV with which to watch movies. This summer, we painted a side-of-the-road bureau to use as a TV stand and hidden storage, and found the old TV stuck out over the front of the bureau. So, we had to buy a flat-screen and off the old TV went on Freecycle. At first, no one responded, so I "marketed" it as being good for kid's video games and a young couple picked it up promptly.

The third item to go was a bag of assorted bits and skeins of acrylic yarn that belonged to my mother, who died 7 years ago. I really thought I would finish her projects, but it's never going to happen. I really thought no one would want the yarn, but 6 women responded and I gave the yarn to a woman whose church group will use it for donation afghans and baby hats. My mom would like that group to have the yarn.

I've seen people offer and take clothing, mattresses, fish tanks, kids' toys, spider plants, green tomatoes, garden bulbs, ice-cream from a summer business that was closing, rugs, all kinds of furniture, knick-knacks, bicycles, microwaves, etc. It's a wonderful way of keeping things out of the land-fill and is a cornerstone of recycle, reduce, reuse and rethink. There are no fees involved, no money changes hands, and posts are all monitored by volunteers. Give it a try!