Freecycle Review

Freecycle (www.freecycle.org) is a community of users who believe in recycling unwanted items and keeping them out of the landfills. 

The main premise of this international organization is:

"to keep usable items out of the landfill.  By using what we already have on this earth, we reduce consumerism, manufacture fewer goods, and lessen the impact on the earth." 

Freecycle members offer their household items--for free--and respondents are responsible for picking them in a timely manner.  Keep in mind, that although you are eligible for tax breaks if you donate unwanted items to a 501(c)(3) charity, Freecycle donations have no similar tax benefit to the donor.

I went to the Freecycle website for instructions on how to register and join the community.  Within a day or two, I had completed the sign-up process and I was ready to make my first offer.  The list owner of my particular community sent me a detailed email about how the system works and what types of items are acceptable.  I opted to receive the email alerts in a digest form so that I wasn't bombarded with individual emails throughout the day.  The only problem with the digest mode of communicating is that by the time you get the daily email, the item you're interested in has probably already been promised to someone else.  With Freecycle, you do need to act fast in order to get the items you want.

I typed a short message describing the offer and giving a general idea of my location.  Within hours, I received four replies from interested people.  I was touched that each of the respondents expressed more concern about the loss of my pet than they did about what I was offering.  I posted another quick email notifying the group that the items were spoken for, but that I would select the next person on my list in case of cancellation.

I put the cat food in a box and set it by my garage door where it was promptly picked up as promised.  Later that evening, I received a lovely thank you email letting me know how much her kitties enjoyed their meal.