Freecycle Rocks

It's a well-know fact that most Americans have too much stuff. We buy Rubbermaid boxes to hold all of our stuff. We have space bags to store our stuff in less space than it would normally occupy. We have attics, garages, storage sheds and closets full of stuff.

When you're ready to purge, visit Freecycle.org.

Most people who know me know that I hate clutter. A few years ago I stopped buying stuff. Sure I buy groceries, some clothes and toiletries. But, gone are the days when I add unnecessary stuff to my shopping cart. Occasionally I will buy functional stuff for the house or landscaping products... hard to totally detach from consumerism ;-)

Instead of buying unnecessary stuff, I periodically go through my house and gather up the stuff that, for some reason in the past I felt I just must have but have found that I no longer need. Then, I get rid of it. Either by donating it to Goodwill, selling it in the annual neighborhood garage sale, or posting it on Freecycle.org.

It's hard to believe that someone would want a 27" TV with great audio, but no video, but someone in the Freecycle community took one off my hands this summer. And, that metal computer desk that was gathering dust in our basement... no longer there thanks to Freecycle.

Last week, after I finished painting the garage, I thought I should get a smoke eater or air purifier for the garage so I wouldn't have to repaint after the walls soak up more smoke. (We don't allow smoking in our house -- only outside or in the garage. And, the smoke out there gets really thick when we have parties or card nights.)

I did some research on ConsumerReports.org and found the air purifier I wanted to get. A few online price checks turned up an average price of $300. Dang, that's a lot of money. On a whim I posed a request for an air purifier on Freecycle.org. Within a week I had a free air purifier with a hepa filter from a lady in South Bend that no longer wanted hers. Seems to be brand new and the filter wasn't even dirty.

Freecycle.org Rocks. Check it out and sign up in your community. Warning: Sign up for the digest version so you don't get 20 emails a day.