To LilyFestre - It's a well-known fact that coat hangers breed in the dark. They are actually the larvae of bicycles and if left long enough will develop into some dandy ten-speeds. (Wish I could remember the SF author who discovered and wrote a story about this many years ago!)

Only just now tuning in to this thread...
Has anyone checked out "freecycle.com"? a great way to unload unwanted almost-anything!