Deal with the devil (RL)

[thistlechaser]

Last Christmas or the one before, I learned that Salvation Army wouldn't aid people who were homosexual. I stopped donating to them, I didn't even toss change into the bell ringers' buckets. I wanted nothing to do with them.

However, I'm a weak, weak person. I don't mean I gave in and donated, I mean that I can't lug really heavy things around.

Long time back, I bought a stationary exercise bike. It seemed like a great idea -- I could use it while watching TV! Problem is, it... um... had issues. With the seat. It made every part of me in contact with the seat fall asleep and go numb (and, like every time something falls asleep, feeling returns with pins and needles). It was too seriously odd and uncomfortable to continue with, so I bought a new seat for it, but it changed nothing. Maybe something about how my body is made makes stationary bikes not a good choice. Whatever, I hadn't used it in years, it was really really big, and I was sick of it cluttering up my living room.

Problem is, it was almost too big for me to tug across the room, let alone get it out of my apartment, down the steps, and down the street to the dumpster.

There was a second big item I wanted to be rid of: A monitor I last used maybe 10 years ago. It was bigger than any TV I ever owned, weighed maybe 75 pounds. Massive. Predated flat panels.

I thought about just leaving it by the road with a 'Free' sign, but I worried no one would take it and it would be traced back to me. I thought about listing it in freecycle or Craig's List, but I didn't really want strangers showing up at my home (and I couldn't take it to meet someone elsewhere). But the Salvation Army has donation trucks! They'll come pick things up!

So I poked at their website and scheduled a pickup for today. (And in doing so, I saw that I tried to donate the monitor three years ago and they refused it then, meep.) Unfortunately the wait was long. They could have came as early as 7 AM, but they ended up coming at 2. Blah! BUT! They took everything! Not only the bike and the monitor, but a few other items I wanted to get rid of as well. WOO!

I still kind of feel bad for donating, but not too bad. If they had refused to take either item (and I was sure they'd refuse at least the monitor), I was going to to rent a big dolly from U-Haul so I could move it to the dumpster. In the past on my friends list, I've read stories of people having to pay for people to come and haul away really big items -- I really didn't want to have to do that.

There's the bonus of these things not ending up in the trash, too. Both items work. Maybe the exercise bike will help someone else. Maybe they'll price the monitor so low that someone would be willing to buy it.

I'm really amazed they took the monitor. It had Pokemon stickers on it! (I had been using it back in the MUSH days.) They didn't blink, they didn't even ask if it worked, they just grabbed and ran.

My living room looks so much better without those two things in it. :D

Comments

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

I am surprised that they took the monitor! Nobody wanted our old TV, even for free. It was a huge heavy old school flat screen, still worked fine but nobody wants a cathode ray TV set nowadays. We ended up having to haul it to the dump and paying a few dollars.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm really, really surprised (and happy) as well. For all they knew, it didn't even work! I had planned to spend the rest of the day dealing with U-Haul and pulling muscles moving it down the road, so I'm tickled that they took it.

[halogin.livejournal.com]

Next time you have big stuff to donate, look into Disabled/Paralyzed Veterans groups, too. We had a ton of stuff that we got rid of when I was cleaning out my bedroom at my parents' house (and my parents got rid of some of their own stuff from the attic, too), and were able to set it out on the porch and they picked it up. It was great. :D Mom and I don't donate to Salvation Army for the reason you give, so we were happy to get something in the mail from a DVA (or PVA, I forget which) group saying they were doing neighborhood pickups. And they gave us a number for any other stuff we might want to donate when we actually apologized for having so much stuff. XD

[halogin.livejournal.com]

That said, I do think I'd manage to look past the SA thing if there was no other donation group who would pick up big stuff in the area, personally, just because it would get that stuff out of my hair. ;)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'd rather not, but getting rid of it myself would have been a giant pain, so in this case I can overlook it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a good idea!

[prettyredeyes.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU. I thought I was the only one who had stopped donating to them. I thought it was absolutely disgusting and I urged my entire family not to toss money at the bell ringers (because that's the only time we ever saw them to donate). We donated to local churches and other charities instead.

I'm glad they took your stuff though! There are a few places you can probably look for the next time. You can look for places that run the thrift stores in your area? I know the ones around here donate all the proceeds to a childrens' hospital and they not only sell clothing and furniture but just about anything else you can think of.

Also anything that's too old/crappy/whatever to convince anyone to take off your hands there's always that Got Junk? service that would probably come take it for about as much as renting from Uhaul and without any back-breaking labour on your part. I know your feels about the Craigslist thing. I had a bunch of people show up at my place when I sold our decrepit car and even though they didn't know my apartment number I was worried for about a week until I convinced myself these people weren't insane stalkers. XD

And stationary bikes do suck. XD I use them at the gym sometimes. I don't know how you are about non-computer video gaming but I'd recommend one of those dance games. Takes up no space and they're really really fun! I like DDR myself but the Kinect games for xbox are stupid fun. :3

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yes! I love video games like that. I use a Wii and do the Just Dance "games".

Good idea on the other places to use! If I ever have to get rid of more big stuff, I'll look into that (or the above comment saying VAs), instead.

Whew! Glad you didn't pick up any stalkers from that. :)