5. Free Your Former Favorites
The Freecycle + Trash Nothing (Android, iOS, Web) app ties together popular online freecycling groups in your community to help you get rid of stuff that’s no longer of use to you but that might otherwise have value to someone else (and vice versa). You can offer up your own possessions or request items that you need, adding descriptions, location information, and photos to round things out. The main rule is that stuff has to be no-strings-attached free.
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8. Pay It Forward
Freecycle’s mission is to “keep good stuff out of the landfills.” With a few chapters available in Rhode Island, members post what they are offering for free, and what they’re searching for. freecycle.org
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. Join the Freecycle Movement
The Freecycling movement has been around for more than a decade now, and it’s the act of giving away your stuff instead of throwing it away. It’s a huge money saver; the idea is that you’re not spending money on things you don’t need. Instead, you’re recycling (or freecycling) them.
To get started, you can check out one of the many freecycling organizations out there — The Freecycle Network, FreeSharing and FreeUse — and see if there are meetings in your area.
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If you’re looking for a way to get rid of that old mattress or couch, the city of Frederick may have a solution for you.
The city has a new plan to help people who have no way of getting large, unwanted items to its next Freecycle Roundup bulk item drop-off event.
Employees of Frederick Community Action Agency’s Green Jobs program have agreed to help out.
The employees will drive around during the next Freecycle Roundup event in April to pick up items from people who preregister for the service, said Nikki Bamonti, executive assistant to Mayor Randy McClement.
“If it works out, it solves every problem we have had with this event,” McClement said.
The next Freecycle Roundup event will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 11 at Walnut Ridge Park, 1151 Rocky Springs Road. City residents are asked to bring their unwanted bulk items to the park, and nonprofits will be waiting to sort through donated items to see if they can be repurposed.
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Here’s where people give the most away
Congratulations if you live in Southwark, Basingstoke or Newbury – you’re surrounded with some really generous people! According to our data, these are the top three areas when it comes to giving, with almost all Freecycle listings being offers of free stuff.
In London’s Southwark, nearly nine out of every 10 items mentioned were being given away. Milton Keynes saw around two-thirds of items on the listings website offered free to a good home.
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Million dollar question for sewing fans: What to do with leftover fabric
A great question surfaced at Homestyle’s first Dish & Design event about getting organized in the New Year: What do you do with leftover fabric when you’ve finished a project? Some sewers keep the fabric in bins. But once you have plenty of leftover fabric, then what? Brenda Rogerson, education director for the American Sewing Expo in Novi, recommends Freecycle.org. Freecyle is a forum where anyone can post or inquire about items that they’re trying to pass on. For example, Rogerson says Freecycle is where a lot of folks “who sew for animal rescues know to check here for their supplies,” she writes in an email. “I also had someone say they would take fabric scraps to nursing homes for craft projects. I believe some quilt guilds and churches also take donations, but I do not have a specific list.” This year’s American Sewing Expo is scheduled for Sept. 25-27 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi.
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Want something for nothing? Go online, because Freecycle’s got company.
Free beauty products, children’s items, restaurant meals, furniture, electronics or even cellphone service – all you have to do is look.
But, given that Freecycle is a volunteer organization, it’s a little hard to complain. Besides, when it works it’s fabulous. A relative has picked up furniture, children’s clothing and other goodies. When I lived in Seattle, I received canning jars and tree fruit.
I also used Freecycle to give away framed prints, a two-CD set of “The Nutcracker,” a paraffin hand spa and an unopened pair of anti-embolism stockings, which saved car-free me from having to lug all this stuff to the thrift store by bus.
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3. Freecycle
Check it out if you want to: Find items you need for free (or get rid of stuff you don’t need).
Freecycle is a network of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. If you’re cleaning house and feel bad about throwing a ton of stuff out, list it on Freecycle. If you’re looking for random bits and bobs, check out what your community has listed. Membership is free, so you have nothing to lose. And anything is fair game, as long as it’s legal and appropriate for all ages. Find if there’s a group near you.
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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.
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A mobile home, pianos, furniture and TVs are just some of the treasures available for free on sites like Craigslist, yerdle.com, freelywheely.com, ReUseitnetwork.org and The Freecycle Network. These sites — sometimes nicknamed “FreeBay” — are a boon to those needing to declutter, struggling financially or seeking the unusual. Like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.
How Freecycling Works
Membership is free, and guidelines are fairly simple. For The Freecycle Network, it’s as simple as posting what you want or are giving away. In general, luck favors those responding to offers of free items rather than those seeking a particular item. I recently sought bookcases on two local freecycle Yahoo (YHOO) groups — but nary a nibble. However, I posted to get rid of some items when I moved last summer, and people picked up the items promptly and gratefully. Let’s look at some sites:
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