I love a good barter. Or a swap. An exchange of services for goods, or goods for goods. Maybe it’s because a good swap almost feels like a freebie.

Recently, I picked up a roll-and-a-half of shed felt – very useful when you have numerous coops and sheds as we do in our wannabe shanty town – from the very lovely Robin, who happens to run a very lovely B&B with his very lovely family.

A few hundred years ago, I put out a plea on the wonderful local Freecycle website, appealing for shed felt. I love Freecycle. I think it’s the ‘free’ part of the word that makes it so appealing.

Read more

Freecycle? Nah mate I don’t really do bike rides.
When my cousin asked me if I’d heard of Freecycle I genuinely thought she was talking about some charity bike ride taking place across London, she then redirected me to what heaven would look like if it was online. Freecycle is a website where people give away stuff they don’t want anymore. They just GIVE IT AWAY for FREE! Admittedly this is better if you have a car to go and pick up your goodies in, but you can hire a man with a van for as little as £20 to do this for you. Through Freecycle we all managed to find bed frames that came with brand new mattresses and a couch for our living room! See? This whole furnishing a house malarkey isn’t actually that hard. It’s also worth checking out sites like Gumtree, Preloved and Snaffleup as again people often advertise a lot of furniture for free or at a fraction of the cost they paid for.

Read more

11. Learn something new

We know you’re already paying 9k to do this in seminars, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and learn some things outside of the classroom too. Check out Gumtree/Freecycle/the union pinboard and you’ll probably find someone for someone who needs to get rid of their instrument/craft supplies/foreign language dictionaries or similar. Once you’ve got your mitts on the kit, hit Youtube for free tutorials, and you might just get yourself a brand new skill for next to nothing.

Read more

Christmas gifts

Christmas is the season of giving, but there are ways to take part that won’t cost you – or the earth – the earth.

If you don’t want the jumper that’s several sizes too big, someone will.

If you can’t exchange your unwanted gifts you can donate them to charity or offer them on websites such as Freecycle.

Instead of buying a gift which comes from halfway around the world, buy an experience, such as a horse riding lesson, or sponsor an animal as a charity gift.

Read more

The increase in soil fertility that compost brings is immediately obvious. And then there is the satisfaction of seeing the volume dwindle in your rubbish bin. Different methods work for different people: rotary bins, heaps, wormeries, bokashi, collecting leaves. When I work abroad I am embarrassed by our measly efforts at composting compared to other countries, such as Japan and Germany. Recycling wisely wherever possible can also help to change your garden. Emmeline, who helps me in my garden, has made her own (good-looking) greenhouse with wood and materials from a skip and websites such as Freecycle (uk.freecycle.org.uk). When she has any excess produce, such as when her currant bushes are heaving, she rings her neighbours so they can help themselves. My halo spins slower here, but my pigs love me.

Read more