32 People Want My Screen Door
We finally got our new front door, with sidelights, installed a couple of Friday's ago. The old one had drafty side lights and I had to shrink wrap them in plastic every winter to keep out the cold. Two years ago I replaced the flimsy old storm door with a brand new storm/screen door that brightened up the entranceway while helping to cut down on the drafts.
Each year, we've set about making improvements to our home to make it more energy efficient. The bigger projects are funded with our tax refunds. Part of this year's income tax refund went towards a new fiberglass door with an oak frame and double pane glass on the door and the sidelights. Once the installation was complete I went to re-install the two year old storm door and discovered that it was too big for the new frame by an inch.
I don't know how that happened. I thought that the installation company representative took that into account when he stopped by for measurements. Somehow the ratio between door, framing, and sidelights doesn't match what I had before. So I now had to buy a new storm door and figure out how to dispose of the two year old one.
I don't like throwing stuff away. In Connecticut, it either gets hauled to an out of state landfill (we're full!) to spend millions of years waiting to become raw material for whomever comes after us humans are gone or it gets tossed into an incinerator to generate electricity and ash. I recycle as much as I can. I buy a permit every year to gain access to the town's transfer station so that I can recycle phone books, oil, and scrap metal. At $30/year, it's a bargain.
But I didn't want to dismantle this 2 year old storm door. It's still in great shape. Even recycling it would be a waste. I decided to find someone else who could use it. Goodwill doesn't take house parts. Selling it on eBay would be impractical as shipping it would be a nightmare. The Pennysaver takes two weeks for an ad to start running and I didn't want to wait that long if I could help it. I opted for Freecycle.
A friend of mine told me about Freecycle a couple years ago. It's a mailing list for stuff, anything really, that people are giving away for free. And it has to be free. I've had luck with them in the past for unloading baby stuff that Goodwill won't take (just clothes and toys now). But would someone really be interested in a storm door? I decided to give it a shot.
I got 32 replies in 24 hours.
Some of the replies included information like, "our storm door is 15 years old", "20 years old", "it's warped", "my apartment is drafty", "I need to keep ol' man winter out of my house this year", "I'm trying to save money on my heating bill this winter", and so on.
Storm doors aren't that expensive. Our local Lowe's sells them for $88 to $300, yet there's a large enough percentage of the populace that can't (or won't) spend the money on one. What does this mean? Is the economy so bad here in Western CT that people are actively looking for stuff on the cheap? Does it mean that we, as a society, are turning a corner on our rampant materialism and "used" is as good as new? Does it mean that people are saving their money to pay for home heating oil so there's nothing left for home improvements? I don't have an answer.
I do know that hurricanes Gustav and Ike have caused refineries to shut down in order to shield themselves from storm damage. That's sending gas prices back up. The growth in the Indian and Chinese economies over this decade has driven up the price of metals so much that, not only do I no longer need to pay to recycle scrap metal, but people are stealing metal from all over the country. I've even heard a story about navigation buoys being hit for their bells.
In the end, I gave the door to the first person who replied. I couldn't think of a fair way to weigh who needed the door the most. They were a nice couple, probably in their early 50's, and they were very appreciative of this "gift." He's from the north coast of Spain and talked my ear off (in a good way) about energy politics with a European perspective and his fear of a new Cold War (perhaps a topic for another day).
Afterwards, I felt obligated to write back the other 31 respondents to thank them for their interest. It'll be cold here in about two months. I could only help out one family. I wonder how the others will fare.
\_/
DED
Each year, we've set about making improvements to our home to make it more energy efficient. The bigger projects are funded with our tax refunds. Part of this year's income tax refund went towards a new fiberglass door with an oak frame and double pane glass on the door and the sidelights. Once the installation was complete I went to re-install the two year old storm door and discovered that it was too big for the new frame by an inch.
I don't know how that happened. I thought that the installation company representative took that into account when he stopped by for measurements. Somehow the ratio between door, framing, and sidelights doesn't match what I had before. So I now had to buy a new storm door and figure out how to dispose of the two year old one.
I don't like throwing stuff away. In Connecticut, it either gets hauled to an out of state landfill (we're full!) to spend millions of years waiting to become raw material for whomever comes after us humans are gone or it gets tossed into an incinerator to generate electricity and ash. I recycle as much as I can. I buy a permit every year to gain access to the town's transfer station so that I can recycle phone books, oil, and scrap metal. At $30/year, it's a bargain.
But I didn't want to dismantle this 2 year old storm door. It's still in great shape. Even recycling it would be a waste. I decided to find someone else who could use it. Goodwill doesn't take house parts. Selling it on eBay would be impractical as shipping it would be a nightmare. The Pennysaver takes two weeks for an ad to start running and I didn't want to wait that long if I could help it. I opted for Freecycle.
A friend of mine told me about Freecycle a couple years ago. It's a mailing list for stuff, anything really, that people are giving away for free. And it has to be free. I've had luck with them in the past for unloading baby stuff that Goodwill won't take (just clothes and toys now). But would someone really be interested in a storm door? I decided to give it a shot.
I got 32 replies in 24 hours.
Some of the replies included information like, "our storm door is 15 years old", "20 years old", "it's warped", "my apartment is drafty", "I need to keep ol' man winter out of my house this year", "I'm trying to save money on my heating bill this winter", and so on.
Storm doors aren't that expensive. Our local Lowe's sells them for $88 to $300, yet there's a large enough percentage of the populace that can't (or won't) spend the money on one. What does this mean? Is the economy so bad here in Western CT that people are actively looking for stuff on the cheap? Does it mean that we, as a society, are turning a corner on our rampant materialism and "used" is as good as new? Does it mean that people are saving their money to pay for home heating oil so there's nothing left for home improvements? I don't have an answer.
I do know that hurricanes Gustav and Ike have caused refineries to shut down in order to shield themselves from storm damage. That's sending gas prices back up. The growth in the Indian and Chinese economies over this decade has driven up the price of metals so much that, not only do I no longer need to pay to recycle scrap metal, but people are stealing metal from all over the country. I've even heard a story about navigation buoys being hit for their bells.
In the end, I gave the door to the first person who replied. I couldn't think of a fair way to weigh who needed the door the most. They were a nice couple, probably in their early 50's, and they were very appreciative of this "gift." He's from the north coast of Spain and talked my ear off (in a good way) about energy politics with a European perspective and his fear of a new Cold War (perhaps a topic for another day).
Afterwards, I felt obligated to write back the other 31 respondents to thank them for their interest. It'll be cold here in about two months. I could only help out one family. I wonder how the others will fare.
\_/
DED
Labels: economy, energy, environment
posted by DED at 8:53 PM
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