Charity: Join a local Freecycle e-mail group. Submit your free item to the group, and a daily e-mail to thousands of members tells what stuff is up for grabs. Go to www.freecycle.org.
By Ashley Brown
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — In this day and age saving money and the environment are important. Now there’s a new trend that lets you do both. It’s called freecycling.
It’s a network of people online who are giving stuff away and looking for new things — all for free.
Here’s how it works: First, you find a network in your community. NBC 4 went online and found a group in Columbus and in several other communities around Central Ohio.
Then, you join the e-mail offerings — everything from furniture to clothes. Be prepared for a deluge of e-mail. You may want to create a special folder where all your freecycle e-mail is directed.
And be a good member, NBC 4 reported. In your first posting, you’ll probably want to offer, not ask, for something.
To find out more about freecycling and a list of groups in the Columbus area, search keyword: FREECYCLING.
If you’ve got a tree, you know the drill - they’re all ripe at about the same time, so you have to freeze them or lose them. (Or may we suggest you give them away at www.freecycle.org?) If you live here in New England, on the other hand, look for these beauties at the local grocer’s or fruit stand. Or try them frozen; as they melt in your mouth, you’ll feel the texture of butter while tasting a light balance between sweet and tart.
Freecycle is an Internet-based group that links up people who are getting rid of stuff with people who want it. All of the items are given away for free.
Freecycle groups are based by geography. There are Freecycle groups in Wyomissing, Reading and Pottstown, along with hundreds of other locations across the country.
The point, the founders of Freecycle say, is to keep stuff out of landfills. There’s a better than average chance that a beat-up sofa, mismatched plates and old toaster will find a home if you put it on Freecycle.
There are, of course, ways to get around paying for furniture at all. The site freecycle.org aims to reduce waste by providing a venue for users to post their items to be given away and connect with others who are giving away something they may need. Everything is free, and since you can search by location, the sources are generally easy to access. Another favorite is good, old-fashioned sidewalk shopping — check out sidewalks in New York City, Jersey City, Hoboken and other towns on trash day and you’re bound to find some gems. This method can be a little risky — look out for items that may have been mistaken by someone’s pooch for a fire hydrant — I have friends who have furnished entire apartments this way.
Some enterprising Brooklynite was clearly inspired on Friday afternoon to host a really good Memorial Day weekend barbecue — the best kind of barbecue, in fact, the kind someone else pays for.
“Need grill, charcoal, top-quality hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken (only breast) and steaks,” he posted on the Brooklyn forum of Freecycle.org, a site where people offer their unwanted goods free of charge and others request goods they’d like to own free of charge. “Also need fixings like chips, drinks, salads and other sides. Not to mention beach towels, blankets, folding chairs, etc.” (By “etc.,” perhaps he meant old friends, good times and a high of 72.)
Karen Bryant, recycling coordinator for Pasco County schools, knows a thing or two about the 3 R’s for being environmentally friendly: reduce, reuse and recycle. Just ask other experts. Over the years, her department has won the 2008 American Forest and Paper Association schoolwide recycling award, the 2006 Recycle Florida Today Outstanding Waste Reduction Award and several other honors. Here are 10 tips from Bryant on how to make your life a little more green.
1Downsize your disposables. Use your favorite coffee mug, plates, bowls and utensils to reduce your disposables.
2Use both sides of a piece of paper.
3Consider the products and packaging you use. Eliminate any extra waste beforehand and buy recycled content products.
4Recycle newspapers at local schools or recycling centers.
5Carry a recycling container with you and save recyclable items until they can be recycled appropriately.
6Don’t litter.
7Reduce your waste: Purchase refillable products such as laundry soap and cleaning supplies.
8Cancel unnecessary unsolicited mail and magazine or journal subscriptions.
9Reduce your use of plastic bags by using canvas bags, cloth bags or other reusable bags.
10Reuse: Your trash may be someone else’s treasure. Donate reusable materials to a reuse center or sites such as FreeCycle.org.
The mango season is upon us, and the juicy tropical fruit arrives just in time to help slake your thirst in summer heat.
If you’ve got a tree, you know the drill - they’re all ripe at about the same time, so you have to freeze them or lose them. (Or may we suggest you give them away at www.freecycle.org?)
For those of you with things to get rid of or things you need, there’s another way, which doesn’t involve serendipity — an Internet swap site called Freecycle. It started in Arizona in 2003, and is now pretty much worldwide. It’s nonprofit, and local groups are run by volunteers. Members post what they’re looking for or what they’re looking to get rid of, then arrange for pickup.
It’s all about reusing useful (or not so useful) stuff, and keeping things out of landfills.
(WIVB) - Who says “nothing’s free in life?” In a time when the cost to eat, drive, and play is going up, there’s a place where your money is not welcome.
At Freecycle dot org, everything is free.
When Emma of Buffalo and her family hit some hard times, they needed things like baby clothes and furniture, but couldn’t afford to buy them.
Yet without exchanging a cent, they got all that and more, for free.
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