One thing everyone likes, preppers or not, is free stuff. In the comments to my ‘One mans junk is another mans gold’ post, Moosedog left a comment
‘Websites like Yahoo’s freecycle are a great way to pick up things that someone else doesn’t want, or to give away things you don’t have a use for any more’.
Well I went to search for the site to have a look, I wasn’t expecting much because the previous ones I had seen were either rubbish or US based. I felt I must use Yahoo to search instead of Google or it would be an insult, and found this site, uk.freecycle.org, which was full of items being given away all over the UK.
As I’m on the edge of several boundaries I registered for three of them and had a browse. The items being offered were certainly a higher quality than I expected and there was a few items I was interested in there. I can see it being very useful come spring cleaning time.
Go and register for your area at Freecycle.org UK. Free stuff, what more needs to be said besides Thank you Moosedog.
Freecycle is especially good for obtaining things. However there are some things you should know.
1. Freecycle is a yahoo group – you need to have a yahoo email address to join
2. Potential giveaways will come through to your yahoo inbox – i suggest creating a seperate account just for Freecycle as you get copious amounts of messages each day.
3. Freecycle works on a wanted/offered basis, normally you will not have much luck when you put up a wanted add
4. The giveaways tend to go very quickly – should you be interested in any of them then it is strictly a first come first serve basis – early bird gets the worm. So you need to check every morning and evening at least to see the latest.
5. Freecycle has many different groups in different areas you have to register with the group in your area and have to wait quite a while before you are approved to join.
6. There are various other Freecycle type sites out there to find one most suitable for you check out recycling grop finder
http://recyclinggroupfinder.com/
An alternative to freecycle is freegle which you can find here
http://www.ilovefreegle.org/groups/
Freegle is also a yahoo group.
There are many more like this however i suggest you check the recycling group finder as this is the best way to go about it.
(Oh and don’t expect anything spectacular like an xbox 360 or whatever to come from these groups.)
Final note
If you do get accepted by someone who is offering any goods on these sites, nine times out of ten you will have to pick up the stuff yourself. Then again it is only fair as they are giving it to you for nothing.
Sir V Iver,
Thanks for that. I only just touched on the subject when I looked so didn’t realise some of the nuances.
More free stuff sites. I’ll add them to the list too.