Family First - freecycle.org

What if there was a way to get rid of the stuff you no longer want without dumping it the landfill? And what if there was a way to get other peoples perfectly good junk for free. Now there is. In this weeks Family First, a non-profit online community called freecycle.org. Mather Zickler is one of 35-hundred members of the Evansville chapter of Freecycle. Its a yahoo group that allows members to recycle their stuff instead of throw it away. "You have to first subscribe to the group and then you can offer anything you would like basically to other people and the person will then contact you directly to set-up a time to come and pick up the item." If you want get rid of something, just post an offer message. "Weve gotten rid of a lot of things. Partially used paint cans, office chairs, bathroom fixtures, all kinds of different things." If youre looking for something in particular, post a wanted message. When Mather and her husband landscaped their new home, they got many of the plants from freecycle members. "And over the course of about a month I put out several different e-mails looking for hostas, day lilies, peonies and I had people who were offering to divide theirs and give them to me and it was a benefit to them because their items were overgrowing their gardens and not blooming." As an added bonus, it keeps perfectly good stuff out of the landfill. To get started, go to freecycle.org. Membership is free. But there are rules. For instance, everything must be free, legal and appropriate for all ages. There is absolutely no selling. You can post only one wanted message a week. And offering or asking for pets is not allowed.