Accumulated Thoughts of an Englishwoman

Today a nice man (hello E.H.) came to my house to pick up some unwanted clutter that he could make use of rather than allowing me to undergo the ordeal of a trek out to our local WEE recycling site.

Having seen my email address, and clearly being savvy enough to actually go look at the originating domain of the email address, he said; "Is that your blog?" and I rather confusedly said yes, having temporarily forgotten that people can actually bother to look at the originating domain of the email, and he said words to the effect that I ought to get on and post on it, because it looked as though it was going to be good.

Seeing as I had only gotten the bones of the structure up (and was still mentally obsessing about the skin choice) I was a bit flattered by this comment and clearly motivated since here is a post, a proper post and not a disclaimer or explanatory statement.

So I thought that I would start with the concept of giving away unwanted stuff to people who do want it, rather than sticking it in the bin.

I would have headed this post 'All about Freecycle' but there's a problem with Freecycle in the UK. The Guardian stated it quite nicely here, (link opens in a new window), and it appears that Canada had previously suffered the same problems.  Ultimately it appears that the Freecycle moderation in America sought to hold on to their grass-roots movement, something that they had developed for the good of the community, by trying to keep such tight hold of their rights that they did not wish individuals to refer to themselves as a Freecycler.

Seems a bit odd.  After all, Hoover don't threaten to sue me every time I say 'I hoovered the house today' even though I own a non-Hoover brand of vacuum cleaner.  Surely Freecycle should have been delighted to become so associated with the trend of giving away the stuff you no longer want or need that they became The Brand Name in that area.

Anyway, my Freecycle group became a Freegle group.

It's the same thing, but with less red tape.  Or so I'm told.

Ultimately, it is an email list where you post up the things you want to get rid of.  Usually these are things that don't have a lot of retail value - we Freegle the bits of furniture that get rotated out as our whole house refurbishment continues gently along, but we eBay the Sky HD box, as an example.  The things that are just a bit too tatty to put a price on, that are too tiresome to write up a listing for, that you just don't like the colour of any more, but in fact are still of use.

Sometimes the trend can seem a bit one sided.  Between Freecycle and Freegle over the last three years we have given away an awful lot, up to and including £200 worth of reusable nappies, given away with a good heart and clear conscience in two instalments to two different families.  In return we have received a handful of baby things when Little One was much younger, a bag of toys, a slightly damaged canvas scout tent that reeked of mildew until we aired it at the allotment for several months and... well, that's about it, really.  There have been a couple of things that I've put in a request for that I really regret not being the recipient of: the large Ikea rug is the most memorable.  There have been more than several things that I have asked for (you can ask, as well as offer) but ended up buying secondhand because we really did need them.  The vented tumbledrier when our previous washer dryer ended up being such a bust - the new style of reusable nappies that are much more user friendly for our current lifestyle - the stairgate - a couple of other bits and pieces here and there.

However, that is the nature of such activity.  Giving stuff away doesn't buy you points to redeem against being given stuff - if the mystical karma of giving is accruing in my favour then you know, I'm kind of hoping for a car later in the year!  but I'm not holding my breath.

What has giving stuff away gotten me, apart from the odd weird email?  Not a lot in actual terms, not a penny in financial terms.  One gentleman brought me a carnation when he collected an item.  I got the warm feeling of a job well done when I took a delivery to a pregnant lady very close by so she didn't have to come out in the snow to collect it, and the suggestion of a cup of coffee with a neighbour.  Seems odd that one has to subscribe to an internet mailing list to get to know the people who live around you, but then I guess it's as valid an approach as any other.

It has, however, gotten me a lot of space in my home.  The 3 piece tan leather sofa sections that were third hand by the time they left our house and had a lot of wear, but were still sturdy enough to be used.  Hell knows how we would have gotten rid of them. We currently have no vehicle in our household.  Best situation: a council collection and off they go to the landfill.  At least this way someone has had, for however short a time, something usable for nothing but the effort of collecting them.

And a lot of happy faces of people at my door.  I guess that's kind of worth something.