Livin' Life Freegan style

I love that term, "Freegan." I have to credit a friend for turning me onto that. I haven't gone true freegan, nor do I plan to. If you aren't familiar with what that is, Google it for some entertaining reading. However, I will take what I can get discounted or free. Here are a few examples:

A friend recently told me about The Freecycle Network. You join your local group and give away things you don't need and receive things you do. You just put a posting on-line of anything you are willing to give to someone else (no money changes hands) or you post if there is something you are looking for that someone else may have collecting dust in their garage. The friend who told me about this got a free set of clothes line poles and installed them in her yard to hang her laundry. I guess the only way to beat free is if someone pays you to take it away. I know I have had a thing or two like that in my garage before!

Keep you eyes open for free or deeply discounted offers and take advantage of them. A great way to do this is to sign up on the e-mail lists of businesses you frequent. A toy store recently e-mailed customers asking them to complete an on-line survey of their business. In return for completeing the survey (which took me less than 3 minutes), they gave me a $10 gift card to their store. That is a great trade off! I am going today to use it on a Christmas or birthday gift I can put up for later. I also sign up on e-mail lists for restaurants. We have cut back on eating out, a lot, but still go occasionally. I often get e-mails for free appitizers or deserts. Sometimes even a buy one get one free meal. If I am going to eat out, I certainly welcome any discount I can get. Find the web sites for places you go and sign up. Obviously, this is an advertising tool directly to your inbox, but to me, it is worth it. If a company e-mails you to much or isn't sending you things of value, you can always unsubscribe. There is usually a link at the bottom of the e-mail that will help you do this.

My last freegan idea of the day is to utilize what is scrap to others. This is kind of like Freecycle, but you have to go directly to people to get what you need. Example? I have been wanting to build a new compost bin. I needed hay bales or some supporting structure to contain it. I had priced several products to build it, but didn't really want to spend a lot of $$. In my neighborhood, there is a house currently under construction. In the front yard, they had about 50 cinderblocks stacked up. I caught the builder at the site today and asked if they were scrap. He said they were and let me have them. Now I can build my compost bin for free (and it will be much sturdier than what I would have purchased). Love that!! Here is another example. A couple of years back, I was doing another building project and needed some smaller pieces of scrap lumber. I mentioned it in the company of a friend who builds cabinets and he said he had a giant pile of scrap outside his workshop that I was welcome to. This was just stuff that he burns periodically. While it didn't have everything I needed, it had a lot. It saved me a significant amount of money.

Just think creatively before making purchases. Many people are happy to give you things they don't need any longer. They are happy its gone and you have what you need for free. Don't hesitate to ask. If you have ideas on ways you have gone freegan, let me know!