Freecycle for Finding Online Thrift

Have you heard of Freecycle?  It is a great way to get household goodies of all kinds, completely free of charge except for the gas to go pick it up. Another facet of online thrift.

Here is how it works.  First you find and join a Yahoo group for your city or community.  Try several nearby city names if you don’t find yours immediately, not every city has one yet.  Once you find a group you would like to join, simply follow the links on the page to join. Each one varies somewhat but usually there will be a “join this group” link or button, click that and follow the directions.  There is also a website and Facebook page but I’ve found searching Yahoo groups the most beneficial.  You may also want to join several, for instance your city and the cities that are immediately around you if they aren’t too far away.

For those of us that enjoy online thrift finds, this is a great place to get general household goods and it keeps things out of the landfills.  I love it for finding hobby related material like fabric for making quilts, pillows, etc.  We also give away a lot of our no longer needed household stuff through the groups for our area.  Great for keeping the place organized since you don’t have to wait until you have a lot accumulated and people will come to you to get it out of your way.

Keeping an eye on what gets posted is easy since the groups send an email notification as soon as someone posts something.  You can control the frequency of the emails in the settings you see when you join.  I recommend using the individual email settings since most everything is claimed almost immediately so if you opt for the digest email you will miss out on most opportunities.

You can also post that you are seeking something using the WANTED subject line.  Just put out a request when you’re in need of something and you never know, you may get it for free.  You cannot sell things on this site and you cannot charge for the items you offer.  The primary purpose is to move things around from household to household and keep people from throwing them away.

Overall this is just a fantastic tool for running a household efficiently and economically.  I hope you will give it a try!