Do you Freecycle?

I do. I am frugal and proud of it.

Back in my home county of North Yorkshire i would be heralded as "canny." Some less well spirited folks who mistake frugality for miserly behaviour may even stoop to call me "tight" but they would be wrong. You see tight people are frequently hoarders and almost always lack generosity; that's not me. I just like a bargain, I like to know i got the best value for money.

So imagine my delight this past weekend when my fabulously frugal wife introduced me to "Freecycle " - an online community which prides itself on "changing the world one gift at a time." The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,537 groups with 5,424,000 "frugal" members across the globe. According to their web site it's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns.

It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. And its about sharing the stuff locally to reduce the negative effects of transportation/distribution which also in turn saves time. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good "frugal" people) and as you might expect Freecycle membership is free. So you dont just save time and money on the stuff you get, you save money getting it too.

But the best bit is that by connecting with others you get to save your environment in the process - without incuring additional costs. That my friends is the kind of collaboration value that appeals to my most frugal self.

Cheers

JC