Well, it’s official, the buying orgies of the 80s and 90s have finally caught up to us, there is  just have too much stuff in our collective lives.

Do you know about Freecycle?  Green, SAFE, thrifty and fun, you can find a home for the stuff that still has life in it, and find other stuff you want/need/could really use, all for free.

Freecycle was born almost 9 years ago, in Tuscon AZ.  It started as one person doing this for the community, them looking for a way to connect other communities is what grew it to a  a national organization with over 5000 chapters, almost 9 million members.

Free to sign up, free to belong, and no spam. Each chapter is moderated by local volunteers, who first check out your application (no crazy, anonymous posts, a’la Craigslist-it’s a closed system, members only!), then monitor posts that all culminate in daily e-newsletters to chapter members. Who has, and who wants. If you have or want, you submit the details, and someone within the chapter who can can answer that with their own want or have responds to that member, and arrangements are made for goods to be picked up, usually ASAP.

Here in Westchester, (13,500+ members!) I get 2-3 e-blasts a day, have seen the standards-baby stuff, clothing, household and electronic goods, here’s a sampling of the blast that came through about an hour ago:

• Offered: a light wood Eddie Bauer high chair, a Sears car top carrier, two Razor scooters and a bedroom set (Queen sleigh bed, dresser, night tables).
• Wanted: were lamps, a SONY  phone charger, a walker, board games, a sewing machine, a piano keyboard and BBB coupons.
• Previously offered and now taken included 3 boxes of kids games and videos, snowboard boots and a bag of assorted crafts materials.

I, myself am the proud new owner of a Happy Bunny accent lamp from a recent offering…just the right bit of fun for a dark corner in my office.  Free, safe and local, check it out, www.freecycle.org