Reduce, Reuse, FREECYCLE!!

If getting your home more organized was one of your New Year's resolutions, you're in luck!  According to the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), January is Get Organized month (or GO month, for short). There are still five days left in January, so it's not too late to get started!  This fits perfectly with my life- since we are downsizing our home in early February, getting organized now is a must!

Since my husband and I decided to make the move to The Big City, we have been purging, organizing, and stressing a little bit about how we are going to downsize our life into 1800 square feet. (Emphasis on "reduce"!)

I have brought carloads of outgrown clothes and toys to the Goodwill, I have weeded out the brand-name clothes and listed them with a local consignment store,  I have established a yard-sale-pile, I am selling some furniture outright, and I have "Freecycled" many items.

Freecycle? So many of my friends that I have mentioned this to are not acquainted with this great community, so I thought now would be the perfect time to blog about it. 

Freecycle is an online community group where you can offer items you no longer need. Everything offered must be free. The group is moderated, and you must fall within the guidelines of what you can give away. Most Freecycle groups will not allow you to offer pets, for example. The purpose of Freecycle is to offer your "trash" for someone else to use for "treasure". This keeps your unwanted items out of landfills, and gives someone else a chance to use the item, rather than buy new.

Some people rely on this service, as they cannot afford to purchase new, and some people, I have found, just like the treasure hunt!

E-mails from people who are interested in your offers are sent directly to you. Sob stories, or reasons why one person deserves an item over another person are frowned upon. Personally, I give the item to the first person who contacts me, period, as it should be. In most cases the person who wants your offered item will come to you to pick it up- you don't even need to haul it anywhere! I usually just put the item on my front porch with the person's name on it, and they come get the item at their convenience.  Of course, if you're not comfortable having strangers come to your home, you can make whatever arrangements you wish.

Freecycle is free to join, and you can join or learn more about this service at www.freecycle.org.  You can search for the Freecycle community closest to you. After you are a member, simply post any items you may want to get rid of, or browse the offers available.

Recently I have given away two artificial Christmas trees, an outdoor wreath that was only half lit, and I have an offer out for a poured stone mantle that fell off my wall five years ago. Everybody that I have met through freecycle have been extremely friendly and appreciative of my offerings.

The next time you have an unwanted item, before you drag it to the end of the driveway with the weekly garbage, think if that item might be useful to someone else. With minimal effort, you can do your part to save our planet.

Happy Freecycling!!