The Freecycle Network™ is an online grassroots not-for-profit organization whose mission is reduce waste by connecting local members that have items they no longer need to other local members who need or may be looking for those items. Using Freecycle is a great option if you originally planned to donate the item, but have determined that it doesn’t meet IRS tax-deductible donation standards.  Typical Freecycle items range from closthes, to broken chairs, to empty baby food jars, to DVD covers –  just about anything that someone else might be able to use.  Just because it doesn’t meet IRS criteria, doesn’t mean it isn’t useful!  And you’ll be doing something good for the Earth, too, by keeping these items out of our landfills.

Here is how it works: You find a group in your area entering your location in the box that appears on the Freecycle home page.

You’ll get a list of all the Freecycle groups in your area, and can click on one of them to join.  You’ll need a Yahoo! account to join a local Freecycle group…but don’t worry,  this is free, too!  Once you have joined a local group, you can view or post messages.

Most messages fall into a few categories:

• OFFER.  Include the word OFFER in the subject line of the post, along with a very brief description of the item(s) you are offering.  In the body of the post, provide more details about the item and the general pickup location.  For example, a recent post offering a piano looked like this:
  
• TAKEN.  When the item is claimed by someone, it is time to post that the item is TAKEN or TAKEN PPU (pending pick up — which just means someone has claimed it but it hasn’t been picked up yet).
• WANTED.  Use this in the subject line, along with a brief description of what you want.

You can set up how you want to get the posts when you are setting up your user profile.  I choose to receive a daily digest of posts so that I can see in one daily email what is needed or available in my area.  This way, I can watch for something I need, and I can see if I have something that someone else needs — without getting an email each time someone posts something.

Freecycle is completely free.  You can subscribe and unsubscribe at any time.  I hope you consider joining or starting a Freecycle group in your area.  You’ll be helping yourself, your community, and the Earth!