Sharing Freecycle

I'm reposting this from my old blog that is no longer in use ...

The original post was November 26, 2007 ...

I'm not changing any words ... just leaving it as is ... or as was !!

Here we go ...

Have you heard of freecylcling ? I hadn't until a couple of months ago ... A friend told me about it but hadn't joined herself and I just didn't ever look into it. Then I saw that a blog friend got a treadmill and well, I had to check it out !!!

What is it ?? Here's the little blurb I copied from the main FREECYCLE site.
Welcome! The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,174 groups with 4,120,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& 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 a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups” above the search box. Have fun!

I have been ! Having fun, that is ! When we changed out guest bedroom into the office, I was able to give our queen ensemble to a family whose teenage daughter was looking for a bed bigger than her single bed. When the kids outgrew the double stroller, I was able to give it to a woman who collects things and lends them to families who take care of foster children. (That's a funny story actually. I actually know the woman ! She goes to our church and I do some volunteer work with her husband but I didn't know that she did this until we "met" on freecycle.)

I've also collected a few things we needed and some things that are just fun ! Want to see some of them ?? Ok ...

This one we just got yesterday. A bed frame for Alia. Up until now, she's just been sleeping on two mattresses on the floor ! When this email came ( the freecycle network works through your email ), I responded straight away because the bed sounded just perfect for Alia ! Turns out the people live just a couple streets down from us and Rory went and picked this up yesterday. It was indeed PERFECT ! She loves it ! And it matches the little baby cot that I bought a year ago at a yard sale ( $4 !! ) and painted. Rory's Mum made all the linen for it and Alia just loves it !!



Then there is my glider/rocker. I've wanted one of these FOR EVER ! But ... we didn't really have a spot for it and I didn't want to spend $$ on something we didn't really need. But, in this house the best place for the kids to ride their bikes is out front. I don't feel comfortable letting them be out there by themselves so I usually sit and read while I watch them ! This chair that I picked up from a fellow freecycler is FANTASTIC !! It lives in the garage and we use it to sit and read while we watch the kids ! Our neighbor thinks it is hilarious ! He says "That's a tough job you got there !" .... someone has to do it ? Right ?! :)



When I took this photo of Rory I said it was to do a "freecycle post". His response was "You're going to freecycle me ?!" No way ... I wouldn't sell him for a billion dollars, let alone GIVE him away !!

This was the first thing I got from freecycle. A scrapbooking trolley. Cool !!!



And this ... a rescue heroes tower and helicopter ! In great condition too. I had to clean it up but the lady made sure that was known in her email. And the little lights that are supposed to light up don't but Jono doesn't even know they were supposed to ! He and Alia play with this A LOT !! It's cool too because Jono had sort of stopped playing with his Rescue Heroes ... probably because he'd played everything he could think of to play with them. But now that he had this tower and helicopter, he's playing with them all again !!

This is another thing we got from someone just down the road. It's an old cupboard but it is perfect for us as this house seriously lacks storage space !! Yeah, that's my microwave. It lives in the garage. No biggie though. I don't cook in it ... just defrost frozen stuff and re-heat leftovers. And the door into the house from the garage goes straight into the kitchen. It's a perfect lay out for a house that needs to use the garage for extra kitchen storage !

(this bit originally posted March 29,2008)

Look at our latest freecycle acquisition ! Can you believe it ? A dryer !?! FOR FREE !! It's 5 years old but looks brand new. The lady who gave it to us said they barely used it ! And how wild is this ? It's even the same brand as and "matches" our washing machine !! I'm so excited about it ! We haven't had a dryer for YEARS ! Of course, we'll only be using it on days that I'd normally take sheets and towels to the laundr-o-mat because of rain ! THAT will be wonderful !

I have gotten a few other things like boardgames, a toaster oven for Rory to take to work, a basketball hoop .... but I didn't think those needed to be photographed !!

Freecycle is all over the world. Just click on the link and it will take you to the main page where you can "find a group near you." Hope you have as much fun with it as I have been !!!