Freecycle.com & Space Clearing

I'd like to recommend an awesome book that I've read and re-read over the years. I VERY rarely purchase books but this is one that I've bought. It's Clear Your Clutter With Feng-Shui by Karen Kingston. Actually I'm not really sure why feng-shui is in the title since it's not really emphasized in this book.

She teaches by words and examples how clutter is stuck energy and how by getting clutter out of the house, it frees up space for new and better things to come your way. It's sort of new age-y without being really out there.

And it does really work. Once you clear the space you live in, YOU feel lighter. As if a load has been lifted. Hanging on to clutter/junk/stuff can really weigh you down, without you even being aware of it until it has been lifted.

Karen doesn't have just tear up your whole house and throw everything out at once. Just start one room at a time, or one closet, one drawer or cubby at a time. Even just organizing my desk can be freeing. Once I go around all my rooms, cabinets, closets, etc, I start over. I can always find more to whittle out.

What do you do with the stuff you decide you no longer need?? Well let me tell you about Freecycle. I LOVE Freecycle.com!! A few years ago I read about it and went to the site and wasn't impressed. This past summer my sister told my mom about it and I gave it another look. Wow! It had improved 1000% over the years.

Basically it is a local message board. You join the group or groups for the area you live in and/or near. We have a Jackson MI group and also a Michigan Center MI group although that one isn't as large as the Jackson group.

Group members post messages with an OFFER or a WANT, TAKEN or RECEIVED. For instance, this past Summer there was a WANT: Suitcase . A lady and her child were going camping that weekend and needed a small case for their clothes. Well, I had a small carryon tweed case that I no longer used because now I have one with wheels. So I emailed her the description and my address and that if she wanted it, I would put it by the backdoor for pickup. She emailed back and came and picked it up. Easy. I probably could have given it to Goodwill but one thing I like about Freecycle is that, even though I avoid meeting people, (by just leaving stuff at the backdoor) I know that the person has a specific need and will be putting the item to use immediately and it's not sitting on a shelf or has been thrown out. I've gotten rid of lots of stuff that I had even forgotten I had until I read that someone was looking for it.

OFFER: You can put things up that you want to get rid of. It is so true that one man's trash is another man's treasure. I put up a broken 27" TV and within 15 minutes of posting it, a lady emailed me saying she would send her husband to come get it!! I had it broken in my bedroom for over a year!! I don't know what they were going to do with it and I don't care, as far as I'm concerned they saved me from disposing of it and if they can use it, even better.

Afterwards you just put up a TAKEN so you don't get anyone else emailing you about the item.

I'm still trying to get a Garden Claw so maybe this Spring/Summer I'll have better luck. But so far, I've cleared a TON of clutter and moved around a bunch of stuck energy in my house and life.

Check out the site and read the book, you'll be glad you did.


$1.06 Dollar Store