Why buy when you can Freecycle?

In Freecycle, London's alternative online market, you can get anything second hand. Photo Kathrine Anker

When you are living on a budget, free stuff is always welcome, especially when it is stuff you can actually use. Finding secondhand goods used to involve hours of searching shops and ramshackle market stands; these days, it is as easy as browsing the web.

What is Freecycle?

Freecycle is a website set up to encourage the re-use of goods. Some people are clearing out their old junk, while others are looking for certain things. It is a grassroots movement run by volunteers and, best of all, it’s free.

How does it work?

When you sign up to the website, you need to join a group or several groups in order to post or respond to posts. The groups are separated into areas and show you posts of people based in your neighborhood, making it easier to pick up the item you’re interested in.

What can you get?

You can basically find everything on this site: ordinary things like bikes, furniture, refrigerators, beds and DVDs, but also quite random things like a wheelchair, bubble wrap, blackout material and a wooden fruit bowl. If you are looking for something really specific, you have to search the group a couple of times a day as some things go very quickly. Suffice to say, you might not always find what you’re looking for, or get rid of the item you’re offering.

One man's junk..... Photo: E Bartholomew

If you post something, you can be contacted by anyone who is interested in what you have to offer or who has what you are looking for. These messages go directly to your e-mail inbox, but beware: Freecycle sends huge amounts of e-mail every day, notifying you of every new post whether it relates to you or not. If you don’t want your normal email account to be spammed, it is a good idea to use a separate email account.

Once you’ve got what you were looking for or have got rid of what you had on offer, you can easily delete your account on Freecycle. The button is easy to find after you have logged on.

So if you ever need something but don’t have money to go to the store or if you are just a big fan of recycling—then check out Freecycle.