Stretching the pennies with Freecycle

Being frugal while homeschooling isn’t always easy. As a busy mom, time is pretty valuable commodity and in the system of life you can buy time with money by getting premade materials, and other things that make life more smoothly. But even though many times homemakers have more time than money, there is a limitation to what I can make for my family. And if you are living in a small space you sometimes need to switch out your items frequently as children’s focuses change. So how can you bless others while keeping your house tidy of unused junk clutter? And at the same time how can you find the things you need without spending lots of time and energy and gas at yard sales searching for jus the right thing? In comes Freecycle. It is not in every area and some areas are more active than others. What exactly is Freecycle?

Freecycle is a group of people who live in a general local area and they share an online bulletin board where items are posted and generally it’s a first come first serve place where if a person posts an item the first person to respond and pick it up will get it. Our local group is on Yahoo groups. Other groups are in different places. If you search for the name of your city with Freecycle you can find a group near you. I love it! We have received a couch for our school room (comfy Ikea couch with TWO covers!!) that has been great and didn’t have to spend anything on it! A true blessing! I have given away countless items that we have outgrown or don’t need any more. I have gotten homeschooling items, diaper items and so many things that have bless our family. In fact our first foray into cloth diapers was because someone was giving away 80 prefolds in two sizes and a diaper pail!

I heard someone say once the reason the thrift store in our area are so bad(really, they are!!) is because of the high activity rate of the area in Freecycle. So check it out.

And if you are posting you, as the poster, have the choice whether you want to choose the first person who responds, the person who picks up the fastest (ask for a specific time for pick up from the responder), or a specific criteria( charity, someone with a need etc). It has been a great thing for our family and weather you are looking for items or are searching for something or want to get rid of some things and bless someone else’s life Freecycle is a great way to do it!