Guest author expounds on virtues of Freecyle

Today’s tip is provided courtesy of a good friend, former co-worker and distant relative of mine, Erin. She’s a technical writer currently in a master’s degree program at Utah State.

We all have our days where we feel like we have too much stuff lying around. Face it, your garage is full of things you know you don’t need—but that you think you’ll need eventually—and your neighbors are starting to nickname you the packrat family. Maybe you’re planning to get rid of an appliance that isn’t operating well, but it would if someone willing would spend the time to fix it. The point is that we all own a few things we don’t need any more, and there’s a better solution than throwing that stuff away.

Let us introduce you to http://www.freecycle.org/. Freecycle is not a priceless (or worthless) cycling contraption—it is a free recycling program where one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. It’s a great place to find things that other people don’t need.

Freecycle is made up of over 4,000 groups; each covers a specific region. The regions are of minimal size so people don’t have to drive long distances to obtain their newly claimed possessions. The website allows you to solicit products in three straightforward categories: Offer, Wanted, and Taken. What’s offered is up for grabs; what’s taken is gone; and calls for wanted items may or may not be answered. Responses are posted through Yahoo discussion boards and e-mail—just because you respond to a post doesn’t mean that the item is still available. But you’ll never know if you can find something unless you try, right? Someone out there might just have that rare Atari game you want, or maybe a handyman will take away your broken appliance and fix it up for his own house. The Freecycle process sure beats sending items straight to the trash.

According to the website, Freecycle participants are currently keeping over 300 tons of stuff a day out of landfills. So next time you’re cleaning out the garage, don’t throw an unwanted item in the trash. Share the love—give away your (decent) unwanted stuff. List it on Freecycle!