how I win for free every day….

There are few things in this world that I like better than a GOOD DEAL, and those of you who know me, know that!  I find NOTHING shameful in being a good steward of your own money – if something is listed at$65, but you only value it at $30, and don’t ask for a price difference, then you have OVERSPENT $35.  Which means you could have bought two of the items for one.

One small fact you may not know is that I like to barter on EVERYTHING.  YES EVERYTHING.  Cell phone bills, coupons, groceries at the Farmer’s Market, etsy, power bills, college loans, credit cards, ummmmmm you name it and I have bartered/haggled on it.

One of the best resources in Birmingham right now is Freecycle.  Now, this is not a site JUST for Birmingham.  Right now in Alabama they have a group for the following:

• Birmingham

• Irondale

• Hoover

• Shelby County

That doesn’t include Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Huntsville, etc, which also have sites.

Now that you know WHERE they are, what IS it??  THis is a place where you can give and recieve free goods.  Their guidelines state that this is NOT a place to offer jobs, solicit services, etc, but a place for us as humans to be a little more green.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to just throw away what I don’t need – old boxes, plastic bins, boxes, wood pieces, vaccum cleaners, sheets, etc.  (yeah i know….I really DO just throw them away!), magazines, etc.  But when you use this site you can offer it to someone who might actually USE it instead of throwing it away!)

Says the site:”The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,975 groups with 8,694,279 members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns and thus keeping good stuff out of landfills.

Membership is free, and everything posted must be FREE, legal and appropriate for all ages. To view the items being given away or sought in Birmingham, you must be a member of the local group. To view the local group posts, visit the local Yahoo Group where they are located by clicking on the link below!”

 

I love it.  I have given up bamboo, an old coffee maker, a vacuum that didn’t work so well.  In return I have received seedlings for herbs, a dishwasher that just needs a new board ($99 instead of $399 for a new one) as well as various and assundry things.  Of course, you do run into those posts of “I need a brand new Blackberry cell phone for T-mobile” and I think, no one NEEDS that, let’s just keep it to the things that we really NEED to function properly.

 

But all-in-all I have had a FANTASIC experience on this site!  Please try it out!!

 

http://groups.freecycle.org/BirminghamFreecycle/description