Thick, velvet curtains, in red or any other color, can cost from $20 to $200, or sometimes even less, if you scour garage sales and freecycle communities. If you have a teeny screen, it’s even cheaper. Just get a small amount of fabric from the fabric store. Rig up a simple pulley system and viola — you’ve got the classic, movie-going backdrop.
Recently I had a bed I wanted to get rid of - one that was, I felt, too good to spend the next 1,000 years rotting in landfill. So I decided to have a go at Freecycling it instead, which to my surprise threw up some interesting questions about online identity.
If you’ve not come across it before, Freecycle is a group that enables you to donate unwanted goods to the local community. There also seems to be no limit to weird and wacky items offered on Freecycle - who would have thought old video tapes or 5kg of rice could find a new home?
According to the moderator of SgFreecycle, 30-year-old Varun Arora, a recent poll was conducted on whether bartering should be allowed. Members did not subscribe to the idea.
But enter the “freegans” who embrace the minimal consumption of resources by salvaging unspoiled food from supermarket Dumpsters. They aren’t homeless; they aren’t poor. They are making a political statement about waste. Just like freecycle.org, which lists items people are giving away, freegans are anti-consumerism and working outside the money loop. They’re saying cents often don’t make sense.
Web sites
FREECYCLE.ORG
Have you outgrown your Chucks or your favorite Abercrombie T-shirt? Have a bunch of CDs you no longer listen to? Want to redecorate your room for cheap? Need 100 bottle caps for an art project? Offer good but no longer wanted stuff for free on Freecycle and get cool, gently-used stuff for free. Free membership required.
Representatives from Friends of the Earth also attended to share ways of protecting and improving the conditions for life on Earth, now and for the future.
They also advised market customers about Freecycle, the easy way to gain or dispose of items for free.
26 Freecycle your unwanted junk: If you’ve got an attic full of old toys or a basement packed with old furniture, join www.freecycle.org and give it all away to other people who’ll come and collect it.
LONG-LOST sisters who were separated after the sudden death of their mother 35 years ago have been reunited - thanks to a dance mat.
Olga Carter, of Elvington, near York, found more than she could ever have hoped for when she advertised on a goods-sharing website called Freecycle Network.
The 56-year-old was looking for nothing more than a dance mat, but amazingly, the advert was answered by her long-lost younger sister, Liz Cunliffe
You can switch from plastic to cash and barter and give or get free goods via Freecycle (www.freecycle.com). There may be tax issues here – it depends which accountant you ask.
It’s already the biggest distraction for office workers, who spend their time chatting with mates and “poking” strangers, but now Facebook is encouraging its members to help save the planet.
The social networking site has joined forces with a car-sharing firm that aims to cut congestion and pollution by allowing people to hitch a lift online. The concept is simple: users of Facebook can add an application that will put them in touch with others who have a car and are offering a lift, or vice versa.
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