Have Yourself a Freecycle Christmas...

**gottadance** · 09-25-2010, 10:45 AM

Have yourself a freecycle Christmas
Let your heart be light
soon all of your troubles will be out of sight...

If you haven't tried having a freecycle Christmas, you are missing out. I started freecycling about five years ago at The Freecycle Network. I have gotten really awesome stuff that is new or like new that I give as gifts. No pressure to spend money - of course I let family members know I'm doing this - but it's SO freeing and fun.

Here are some of the things I've gotten from freecyle - all new or like new:
Teddy bear
jewelry box with mother of pearl on the top
books
clothes
games
toys
backpacks
jewelry
journals/diaries
pan rack
candles
TONS of baby stuff

The kids love it and most of the younger ones don't even realize it's used because it is like new. I freecycle throughout the year and keep stuff in a closet - my closet o' gifts. At Christmas (birthdays, etc.), there's no pressure or rush - no worry about budget. I've got such a stash now that I don't even freecycle as much anymore. I highly encourage everyone to try doing this - maybe not for all of your gifts, but for at least some.

**pollypurebred39** · 09-25-2010, 12:50 PM

GottaDance, I think that this is a great idea! In today's economy so many are on such a tight budget that it feels like

A) We can't give gifts at all

or

B) We think, I can't afford gifts so I'm not going to do anything, and then December rolls around. We start hearing the Christmas music, seeing all the decorations around town and....WHAM! it hits us....The I've got to do something, and next thing we know we are pulling out that credit card and putting ourselves further into debt.

I think Freecycling is an awesome way to combat the credit card blues or the Grinch effect.

**Palooka** · 09-26-2010, 12:08 AM

That's awesome, Gottadance!

**frugalfranny** · 09-26-2010, 12:56 AM

A great idea.

Enjoy hearing what others get from their freecycle.

**HandyMom** · 09-26-2010, 05:28 AM

Glad you had such great success with your local freecycle! I saw some people ask for newer playstations for their kids and games and things such as that and they actually got them too! I have to say there are some very nice and unbelievably generous folks on freecycle! I keep watching ours but so far have not asked for anything or seen anything I needed or wanted.

**KimZ** · 09-26-2010, 08:27 AM

That's AWESOME Gottadance! I joined our local Freecycle but the person running it was not very nice to me through an email... so I opted out! I tried to post something that I had on Freecycle and the comment back was rather unkind

I may try again.

Tell me do you use your same email address or do you create a new one just for this?

**gottadance** · 09-27-2010, 02:14 AM

I use my home e-mail address. I find that people on freecycle are nothing like the weirdos on craigslist. Freecyclers tend to be very nice, generous and kind - they want to donate to people in need, they want to keep stuff out of landfills.

I remember some other stuff I got - it was Xmas and I needed Xmas cards - I put a wanted post and some lady gave me six boxes (and they were all nature related and I'm a big environmentalist so they were a great match for me.) I also got a box of new Xmas lights. Oh - I also got some organic apple juice - it was about to reach it's use by date. So I drank some and I froze some. And I got a big box of frozen bananas - I don't know if someone was dumpster diving or where she got them, but I got them last November and I used them to make banana bread. The box was so big I actually had to put some of them into other boxes she had for people because it was too many. I'm still using the last of those bananas.

The key is to be keeping an eye out for stuff all year and grab it when it comes up - if you wait until close to someone's b-day or Xmas, you may not find it. Also, you can join several freecycles in your area. I belong to about 7 - my town and all of the towns around me. Some town's freecycles are more active than others.