• recycle
• helping

If you’re like me, there’s stuff cluttering your house. You’d like to get rid of, but it’s too good to throw away, and you don’t know what to do with it. So there it sits – making clutter. What is an eco-conscious person to do?

Freecycle to the rescue! Freecycle is a national organization with local chapters. There’s a Warrenville Chapter and a Wheaton Chapter, and other local chapters that you'll find if you seach freecycle.org.

Here’s how it works:You set up a login and join the network. Login to see what other people are offering or looking for. There are

1. OFFER posts – things you want to give away
2. WANTED posts – things you are looking for
3. Start posting – add a description of the items you want or want to get rid of along with a photo if you’d like. Your personal information (including your email address) is hidden until you decide to divulge it. Remember, it is “free”cycle. Everything must be free.
4. If someone wants what you have, or has what you want, they will reply. The response comes via email thru freecycle.
5. Now it’s up to you to decide if you want to follow up. Many people might want what you have to offer, and then you decide who you’ll give it to (e.g. first person that responded, or someone that wrote an engaging reply explaining why they want what you have to offer). It’s completely up to you, and no one else knows. They may ask more questions (e.g. color, dimensions, condition). You decide what information you want to divulge in the reply.
6. Make arrangements for them to pick up the item, you to deliver it, or meet in a public place for the transfer.  You decide what you are comfortable with.

I’ve been a member of freecycle for several years. I have joined both Warrenville and Wheaton.  I Since Wheaton is a bigger group, items can get more exposure.  I don’t remember getting items from freecycle.  Usually the“stuff”  I OFFER on Freecycle is stuff that I could not give to a local resale shop, but I also don’t want to put it into the landfill.

• ·         Landscaping rocks (the taker loaded them up and hauled them away)
• ·         Used cushions for patio furniture
• ·         Stack of shoe boxes (went to someone doing a Sunday school diarama project)
• ·         Logs from a fallen branch (again the taker loaded them up)
• ·         Girl Scout Leader stuff (to a leader just starting out)
• ·         A little tykes kitchen that I garbage picked
• ·         An easy chair that was still comfortable, but had ugly upholstery

If I have trouble parting with something, I just think that it might help someone else.

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