Declutter and Freecycle This Spring

Even though our weather hasn’t fully cooperated, we are all feeling the urge to open the windows and let our homes breathe. It’s that special time of the year when many of us feel the urge to go through our attics, basements, garages to clean and organize.

We call it "spring cleaning" and it feels great to clear our living spaces of clutter. Once we gather up items that are still useful but our families no longer want, need or have grown out of, we try to figure out what do we do we that “stuff.” Sometimes the clutter stays because we don’t know what to do next, right? What to do? Yard sale? Give away? Throw away? Most of us don’t want to just throw away perfectly good items that will needlessly fill landfills. As for yard sales, finding the time to host and prepare for one keeps many people stuck to their clutter (sigh).

If there were only a place where you could easily give your unwanted items to people who could really use them. Well, there is such a place and it’s called Freecycle. All you have to do is join your local Freecycle community. Every community has a local administrator who volunteers his/her time by monitoring listings to make sure that everyone is playing nice. And we’re lucky enough to our own Linda Vincent administer our local group. There is also a Freecycle Network on Facebook that you can join.

One of the great things about Freecycle is, not only can you put your “stuff” on there that you no longer want, but you can actually get items others no longer want. But you have to be quick as items don’t last very long. It can be anything from children’s clothes to bikes to, literally, the kitchen sink. If you visit offices you can see the leather chair, ottoman and the antique buffet we got through Freecycle.

Not only does this keep our landfills less full but it also saves local families money. Holliston has a lot of families with kids. There have been examples of kids who list their hermit crabs or rabbits after they're sick of them. Also, if your kids want to get a fish, let’s say, it’s much more affordable putting a request out there to see if anyone has an extra tank hanging around. Chances are very good that you will not only get the fish tank, but very likely the food and maybe even the fish too!

Finally, one of the best Freecycle “perks” is that over time you build relationships with people in your community you might not otherwise meet. We have been Freecycling (yes, it’s sooo great that it’s now even used as a verb) for years and have built wonderful friendships with people who are using the tool we call Freecycle.

So take a moment to list a few items today. With this one little action, you can help another family save money, help out our environment and build an even happier Holliston community!