WHETHER he is watching TV, listening to CDs, or watching his grandchildren play with their toys, David Cross can boast he has never paid a penny for dozens of items in his home.
From washing machines and spare parts, to televisions and stereos, the founder of the Wallingford Freecycle group has been able to use the online swapshop to find free items that other people no longer want.
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Freecycle works on ‘changing the world one gift at a time’. Advertise your old goods to be collected for free by whoever takes a shine to it. And if you want something in exchange for your clear out, then try trading online. Simply register what you have and what you want for it; you can find just about anything from old office furniture to err…’a friendly grey cat’. You could also think about recycling your old mobile phones. As annoying as those adverts are, they do serve a good purpose. Look here to find the best offers.
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Freecycle
And for everything else, there’s Freecycle. This nonprofit, grassroots network is the ultimate proof that one man’s trash is another’s treasure. Members post a description of the item they’re trying to get rid of, and other members arrange to pick it up, with no money changing hands. On a recent day on the Bay Area Freecycle group there were takers for a 3-year-old banana plant, men’s deodorant and a Pilates DVD.
Surely someone out there needs your case of unopened weight-loss-shake mix, diverting yet another item from the landfill.
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Shopping: One man’s trash is another’s treasure IT’S the latest craze sweeping the internet – giving your old things away for free and even picking up an item or two for yourself. One of the pioneers of this new online movement is www.uk.freecycle.org. Set up seven years ago in the UK, it now has nearly 1.7 million members. And in Birmingham it boasts a following of more than 10,000. Richard Wallman is chief technical officer for the entire worldwide Freecycle network – and he lives in Sutton Coldfield. He discovered the site when he had some old slabs he wanted to get rid of. The concept is simple. If you have an item you want to get rid off but feel it could easily be re-used, then advertise it on Freecycle. The one rule you must obey is that it must be free.
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5. Check out the website freecycle.com You can offer to giveaway anything useful that is no longer needed, you can also find things other people are giving away for “free”. Key words “wanted, “offered”, “taken”. Some good stuff on there. My recommendation: take a scary friend with you when you do the pick up, you can never be too careful.
Visit the site for more information:
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The same principle can be applied to closet cleaning.
“Go into a closet and pull out one-foot-worth of clothing each day. Throw out the extra wire hangers from the dry cleaner, then sort the clothes into piles — one pile for giveaway, one for throw away, one for cleaning or mending and one for pieces you really wear,” Minch says.
• Discover the instant gratification of online giveaway programs.
You can always give your extra items to charity, such as Goodwill. A still faster way to unload is with an online posting.
For instance, Minch likes to see her clients turn to the Freecycle Network (www.freecycle.org), a nonprofit movement of people giving (and receiving) free items from other residents in their local area.
“It’s much easier for people to let go of their things if they know they’ll be put to good use and not wind up in some landfill,” Minch says.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/14/1524153/prepping-your-house-for-a-sale.html
Pulham Market villagers cleared out their attics last weekend and headed for the church with their unwanted items to give them away at a Freecycle event.
One of the organisers, Charlotte Hays said the event was held as part of the church’s Lent Helping Hands project and was a real success.
“We wanted to help people who needed a hand. We had a litter pick in the village in which we collected a whole wheelie bin of rubbish from the verges and then with the Freecycle event, we asked people to bring along items they no longer wanted, and if they saw something they fancied to take it away.”
Items ranged from books and furniture to pots and pans.
Any left-over items will go on sale at the church’s Spring Fair in the Memorial Hall next Saturday, 11am-2pm.
Read more here:
http://www.dissexpress.co.uk/news/Pulham-Market-takes-to-freecycling.6144097.jp
12. Freecycle.org
The Freecycle Network is made up of many individual groups of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own area. Sign up to your local newsletter and you can not only give away unwanted item to a good home but also pick up stuff you need yourself.
Read more here:
http://www.moneywise.co.uk/everyday-money/cut-bills/article/2010/03/11/20-websites-you-can-afford-to-ignore
I started with Freecycle. Let me state for the record that I love Freecycle. If you haven’t tried it yet, you are in for a treat. Anything you need or anything you need to get rid of – the Freecycle network is your source. Free, by the way, means there is no exchange of money. Two years ago my best friend was visiting and needed a portable playpen for her baby. Instead of our purchasing one or instead of her lugging one on an airplane, I checked out Freecycle and a complete stranger lent me one for eight days. Just like that. I see all kinds of things on Freecycle like Two Cinder Blocks – taken, or worm bins, or thermal undies. Seriously, check it out! My husband and I gave several things through Freecycle including an old vanity and mirror…I mean old.
So, I have an unusually large collection of stickers for an adult woman (still holding onto my 30 year old Mad Magazine stickers…just can’t seem to let those babies go). I used to put stickers in scrapbooks and always had some on hand for the little ones in my life. I decided it was time to clear them out. I posted on Freecycle suggesting how they could best be used by a teacher. Within one hour I started getting responses. Turns out there are a lot of teachers who could use supplies, but that’s probably not a surprise to many of you. I divided up the stickers for two different teachers. I removed the Offer on Freecycle but not before several more emails came through.
Read more here:
http://cchronicle.com/2010/03/souljourn-for-mind-spirit-and-earth-days-19-21-minimize-clutter-manifest-abundance/comment-page-1/
Almost anything can be recycled, but sometimes it takes a little extra effort. After all, even the most tattered furniture might be perfect for someone else who’s willing to work on it. If you donate to charities, it’s tax deductible.
Check out the Web site Freecycle ( www.freecycle.org), where you can get rid of almost anything locally. Otherwise, here’s a handy list of items that you can recycle either through a mail-in program or locally.
Read the rest of the article here.