Then I discovered Freecycle, a website where people give away stuff — for free. You can also ask for stuff — for free. It is truly amazing. First I offered Jack’s crib, which I bought brand new and only used for a few months. I encountered my first problem. There were plenty of responses, too many in fact. One woman was five months pregnant, another three days overdue, one was sourcing for her brother and another had divested herself of all nursery furniture years previously, wrongly thinking her breeding days were over.

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SELL ONLINE : Ebay is not just for buying. Selling online is remarkably easy and can be a profitable way to recycle stuff you no longer have any use for. That rowing machine you bought that has been sitting under the bed for years might get you €50, while the leopard-print brothel-creepers you bought in a moment of madness in the early 1990s might still be worth a few bob. If you don’t want to sell something, but have no use for it, you could just give it away. There are a growing number of online communities where you can give away things you don’t need and find stuff for free that you might want. This is both environmentally sound and cost-effective (it reduces refuse charges, for starters). Dubliners have Free Trade (www.dublinwaste.ie), the local authorities’ online initiative, which helps people pass on unwanted household items. If you’re not in the Dublin area (or even if you are), try freecycle.org or jumbletown.ie for similar services.

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10. Use second-hand websites like eBay and Freecycle rather than risk being spotted in Cash Converters.

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