I’ve known for years about Freecycle and what it had to offer folks who wanted to get rid of stuff without throwing it out. I’d even written about it in my magazine articles and books. But I’ll admit that all of my Freecycle knowledge came from being a casual observed until yesterday, when I actually joined my local Freecycle group. I’m already a big fan.

As I’d mentioned in my Pack Rat posting, I’m in the market for a composting bin and after writing about that, I figured that Freecycle would be a great place to let others know about my needs. (I did find two composting bins for sale on Craigslist but the sellers were too far away to make the transaction worth my while.) I also put a “for sale” message up on Freecycle about those moving boxes I still haven’t been able to get rid of but still refuse to throw out.

While I still haven’t found someone to sell me a composting bin (or to take these moving boxes off of my hands), I’ve already received a number of kind, thoughtful and helpful messages from other Freecycle members in this group, offering advice on places I might consider looking for composting bins. Two folks suggested I sign up for local gardening classes that they’d taken where a composting bin is part of your tuition–an option I never would have considered if it weren’t for the Freecycle folks. That really blew me away.

I’d always thought that Freecycle was just about exchanging of stuff, not the sharing of ideas. Now I’m going to have to spend some time looking over old messages on the Freecylce board so I can see if I can offer some helpful and friendly advice in return.