As the mother of 4 children and my 3 furry children (dogs) I am always looking for ways to keep my expenses down. I search high and low for good deals and one of things that I consider a good deal is if I can get it for free! Free is my favorite 4-letter word and over the years I have received a ton of free things from a community called Freecycle.

If you haven’t heard of Freecycle then here is a little bit about them. It’s a network of made up of 4,745 groups with 6,737,000 members across the globe. It’s all about keeping items out of the landfills. I started with Freecycle when I lived in Delaware a few years ago and I have gotten everything from TV’s to bunk beds. I love getting things for free and I love it even more that I help keep the landfills free of good things. So when I moved to North Carolina I made sure I found a local group in my area.

In order to sign up you must find a Freecycle group in your own area and you can do so by checking out their site at http://www.freecycle.org/. One thing you must know before signing up is that you must give in order to receive and not every time you see someone giving away an item you are going to get it. It is up to person giving away the item on who they choose to give it to. You may also post wanted items for example let’s say you need a washer you can post in the subject line of your email Wanted: Washer in Main Street USA, and if you are giving away an item you would write in the subject line of your email offer: Washer in Main Street USA.

Depending on the group and the Volunteer running the group also known as the moderator some rules maybe different from what you read on the Freecycle website. So it is wise to read the group rules as soon as you join. For example some Freecycle groups allow you to post animals that need new homes while other groups don’t allow these types of posts. When in doubt ask the groups moderator if an answer to your question is in not in the group’s rules.

The number one rule to remember if you decide to join a Freecycle group in your area is to stay safe. You want to make sure that if you get an item from another Freecycler and you have to go pick it up at their house, that you go with someone else. Never go alone because these people are perfect strangers, and the same rule applies if you are giving something away to make sure that you are never home alone when you arrange for pick up of an item you are giving away. Although this is suppose to be a group to give and take you never can be to sure, if this person is really interested in giving something away or if they are really interested in something that you are giving away rather then stealing from you.

One thing that I do when I give an item away is that I leave it by the curb of my home or by my mailbox and I tell the person I will leave outside by the mailbox and it will be outside by a certain time. That way the person never enters my home. For the most part Freecycle is a wonder program and I have met some great people. I have also received some great items and have saved a ton of money in the process. So visit the Freecycle website and join, and if you don’t find a local group in your area you can ask the owners of the site if you can start a group in your local area.