You’d Think They Were Giving Stuff Away…

Conor with his ‘new’ friend Bob the Builder

Well, actually they are!  Yes, you heard that right.  On Freecycle people are actually giving stuff away.  I thought it was something local.  I belong to the South Shore – Hingham branch, but just found out it is all over the world!  So friends and family in Canada, Oz and the UK you are in luck!  Readers in Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Poland, Greece – it is your lucky day, too!

According to Freecycle, “The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,987 groups with 8,759,268 members around the world. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by local volunteers (them’s good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box (on their site).”

Do you need a copper onion light like this?

Well, we got all of those ‘gifts’ on Freecycle.  The fireplace screen is in perfect condition and is a great addition to our living room.  The dining room set needs some paint and probably needs some new seat covers, but you know how much I love projects!  We received clothes, boxes of books, a toy vaccuum cleaner, the Joy of Cooking etc.  Oh, and Bob the Builder (Conor’s current obsession) was our latest gift from a freecycle member, a grandmother who’s grandchildren had gotten older, who was looking to give Bob a new home!

The great thing about Freecycle is you can find some wonderful things that would have been thrown away and you can also give away stuff you no longer need.  We’ve freecycled a water cooler, baby items, a lawn mower, shovels, bird feeders / seed, and cleaning products among other things.

Posting ‘offered’ and ‘wanted’ items is all done through the internet and you can leave items you are gifting to freecycle friends on your doorstep with their names on them.  It really is a wonderful site and I’ve met so many really nice people.  I’m always happy that my ‘trash’ is another person’s ‘treasure’ and vice versa.  Right, what are you waiting for?!?  Check out freecycle today.