Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Freecycle is cheap and green!

I love Freecycle! For those of you unfamiliar with Freecycle, it's an online network, locally based, where people give away and can get things for FREE. The purpose is to keep things out of landfills.


Freecycle has been great in the year or two I have been using it. It's been a life saver as far as decluttering goes. I rarely have something that I post that doesn't get picked up. Granted, you occasionally get "no shows" but the overall good experience outweighs the bad.


Some things I've received from Freecyclers:


a lilac bush
rice cooker
bread maker
kids' clothes
soccer cleats
an exercise bike


I've been able to pass on to others kids' clothes, an old (but still working) chest freezer, a desk, shoes, records, baskets, a chandelier, kids' toys...all stuff that I knew someone would still want. We even had a "free-for-all" after our yard sale. I posted on Freecycle that anything on our driveway was a freebie. Two hours later, it was pretty much all gone.


Today I picked up a huge bunch of iris bulbs from a kind freecycler. I'm not quite the master gardener, so I am always hesitant to spend money on plants that turn brown at my touch :)


The lady that gave me the bulbs (which I will be planting this afternoon) told me that if I get any dark golden irises next year, they are very old and came from her grandmother. How cool!


So Freecycle is a really good way to eliminate clutter without trashing stuff...people are out there that do want your old stuff! It's also a great way to find things you wouldn't want to go out and buy (like the breadmaker). I love it!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Remembering a birthday...

Today is my grandmother's birthday. She passed away some years back but I always think of her on her birthday. She was someone who REALLY knew how to be cheap and green.


She had not one, but two gardens. From that garden we had tomtatoes, peas, squash, rhubarb and a lot of other great veggies.


She canned fruits and veggies and had a stockpile in her basement.


She was the queen of garage sale shopping.


She sewed socks onto our footie pajamas when the footies wore out.


She made the best homemade applesauce from apples that came from the trees in the "lower 40s".


She was a great Grandma.