Consider Freecycle. In Vancouver, there are well over 7,000 registered users of Freecycle, an online site that connects those who wish to discard used household items with those who want them. No money is exchanged, but friendly conversations are part of the deal. Everyone on Freecycle shares a commitment to keeping city landfills free of their stuff, and when people share a commitment, they like to chat about it.
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You just need to ask
Another swapping network that has been gaining popularity in Malaysia is The Freecycle Network (TFN).
Tagged as “a free version of eBay”, TFN is a non-profit cyber movement where members can give or get stuff for free within their local communities. It promotes reuse, which is one way to reduce waste and save our environment.
The Freecycle group has its own e-mail group and volunteer moderator in its individual city, town or district. Once you register as a member with the local group, you can post a message on anything that you want to give away, or receive messages on what other people are giving away. If you are interested in any item, all you need is to request for it. The moderator will match the requester with the giver through e-mail.
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Q – I have just moved into my new home and managed to get an Ikea Klippan sofa for nothing from the Freecycle website. However, the cover needs to be replaced. Do Ikea still sell replacements or do you have any other ideas on how I could make it as good as new?
Stephen Lam, Woking, Surrey
ZENA SAYS: Lucky you! And you’ll be pleased to hear you can still get a replacement from Ikea. Covers cost from £24.99 and they have some funky designs as well as plain colours. If you want something completely different, take a look at www.bemz.com where you can buy covers for all Ikea furniture. Klippan covers start at £95. Alternatively, if it’s not too badly worn you could dye your existing cover or hide it with a throw and cushions.
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Source any equipment you need for free through Freecycle (freecycle.org), a community website on which people can recycle unwanted items, or the freebie section of listings sites such as Gumtree (gumtree.com) and Craigslist (craigslist.co.uk). Right now, for example, someone is offering a free office table in London and free catering equipment in Edgbaston.
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Where to buy
Freecycle and Craigslist are two great places to get started. Freecycle is a network of thousands of members-only mailing lists, localized by geographical region. Members give stuff away for free to others who can use that stuff. The goal: Keep things out of landfills by encouraging reuse. I’ve used the service before to snag stuff like vintage Macs and a Commodore Amiga, complete with a big crate of classic Amiga games. The online classified service Craigslist is also a great place to find stuff for free or at a very low cost from people looking to make space in their family room.
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Some things have remained free, or already paid for, through the years. Just check out the good stuff at your local public library. And if you want to give or receive all kinds of free stuff — unwanted lamps, children’s bikes, appliances — join The Freecycle Network in your area, via freecycle.org.
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TIP When discarding old cutlery (or anything for that matter) consider “FreeCycle” (look it up on the internet).
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I thought there would be no harm in posting a couple of items we no longer needed on eBay and, given our thrifty peasant nature, it made sense to sign up with the local Freecycle group to sniff around for items being given away in our area. There might be something useful to help us in our bid for greater self-sufficiency, so it all seemed very practical.
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Some things have remained free, or already paid for, through the years. Just check out the good stuff at your local public library. And if you want to give or receive all kinds of free stuff — unwanted lamps, children’s bikes, appliances — join The Freecycle Network in your area, via freecycle.org.
Read more
We all have things lying around the house we are looking to get rid, so if you don’t want it, post it.
That’s the theory behind a website called Freecycle.org. It’s a non-profit site.
Post something you don’t want to help someone else, because you never know when you might need that little bit of extra help.
“You can see anywhere from baby formula to baby bottles to furniture for your house,” Jymel Jackson said.
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