Freecycle Fans

We have officially become fans of Freecycling. No, not recycling…. FREEcycling. What is that, you ask? Freecycling, also known as Free Recycling, is the act of giving away usable but unused, unwanted items to others instead of hoarding them, or disposing of them in a landfill. Some more information can be found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freecycling.

Here’s another website with some info: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/121977/freecycling_what_is_it.html

One of the first item we bagged from Freecycle. Bottles and a Steamer.

It is amazing the stuff that people give away. While living at the Alexan Lofts, I took up the habit of ‘dumpster diving’ on a daily basis because people often tossed out very good items. I found a nice rug, some shelves, a funky plant, and lots more. I eventually won Holly over on the idea of ‘dumpster diving’, although she upgraded the concept by finding the FreeCycle networks on the internet.

Very often people will upgrade their ‘stuff’ and don’t really want to keep the old items even though it may still be good stuff. So it is easier to just give away to someone who could use it. The way Freecycle works is you simply post a note on the internet for your Freecycle area, then wait and see if anyone responds. Sometimes within a matter of minutes a person will respond. At that point, you give the lucky freecycler your address and tell them to come pick it up. You only need to put the item out on your porch and that’s all there is to it.

So far we’ve snagged a Box of baby bottles and Steamer, a portable plastic Clothes hanging closet, a Television, and a Rocking Chair. We’ve also given away items such as some baby stuff (bottles, clothes, Moses Basket, etc) that Ivy no longer needs. Also, Holly gave away some old VHS tapes and clothing that no longer fit.

A lady in a Dowtown Loft no longer wanted this excellent rocking chair. She didn’t have room for it.

Just got this Television yesterday. Works perfectly fine… except for it has a problem with Sound. The lady said she bought a bigger TV and didn’t want to bother with repairs on this one.

Other items that deserve Honorable mention (meaning I didn’t take a photo) were a Recliner that worked perfectly fine, but the fabric was a bit ragged from cat’s clawing on it. Also, we picked up an IKEA dresser drawer that was in good shape except for the bottom was missing from one of the drawers. I simply got a piece of plexiglass from Home Depot ($4.00) and put it in the bottom. Presto! Like new.

So my advice is give Freecycle a try. It’s kind of fun watching for really neat stuff to be posted. One day we actually saw a Hot Tub posted. The owner just wanted to get it off their property! I was tempted.

Oh, by the way, this is the main Freecycle webpage: http://www.freecycle.org/