Freecycle

There is a saying that one person's trash is another person's treasure.  But there is also that old saying that crap is crap!  Whatever way you look at someone else's stuff, you probably need to know about Freecycle.  According to Freecycle's main page, there are 4933 Freecycle groups with over 8 million people on the e-mailing lists. 

What is Freecycle?  Well, actually, it is a network of groups.  A person decides to start a Freecycle group for a particular geographical location; the groups that I have seen are typically ones that have been started using Yahoo Groups.  People then join that particular group.  A member who has something that he/she wants to give away (yes, give being the operative word) then posts a message to the Freecycle group.  The other members can then contact the giver to make arrangements to obtain the item.  For many things, there is stiff competition, so it is usually first-come-first serve.

The variety of things given away via a Freecycle group is amazing.  Wedding growns, toys, pet supplies, clothes, and musical instruments are just some of the things that I have seen posted.  One thing that you can be sure of is that there is a lot of stuff throughout the country that is not ending up in the trash because of this network, so not only is getting something for free great for the budget, it is great for the environment!