How Freecycle Changed My Life

I will never forget one of the most rewarding experiences I had as an adult. I had been giving away things on www.freecycle.com for years. Like any other household, my kids grew out of clothes, lost interest in toys, and our home evolved into many different design patterns and themes. I brought a lot of items to the consignment shop. I loved to let someone else sell my old stuff and I can go and get a few bucks next time I am in town. How easy is that? Things that were a little too worn would go to the Salvation Army or churches. But I always had a plan and knew what was going where. I thought I was doing a great thing by making all of these donations, and even getting a profit here and there!

Bigger items like old chairs or quilts would go onto freecycle just for the convenience of it. After a nightmare with two adorable guinea pigs resulted in finding a better home for them on that very site proved to me how versatile freecycle really is. Incidentally, nine year old girls don't mean it when they promise they will clean out the cage every day.

My four year old daughter graduated to a big girl bed when we got daybeds for the girls. I put her toddler bed aside, knowing that I could really get a few bucks for it at the shop. A month later, her bed was in my room, collecting clothes and papers. So I cleaned it off and thought about bringing it in to the consignment shop. Saying goodbye to my daughter's pretty Tinker bell toddler bed was not supposed to be so hard to do. I was really holding on to it. Maybe she is a big girl now. Oh boy.

It is one thing to being toys and clothes to the consignment shop, people can get quality clothes there at a low price, and I buy there as much as I donate there. But this pretty little bed, with the silky purple canopy over it and the pretty Fairies on the head and foot boards just seemed like a precious gift to give. So, I posted it on freecycle.

I got many responses and was trying to be fair. I usually go in the order I receive the e-mails. I was expecting someone to pick the bed up when I received an e-mail about a young girl that does not have much and LOVES Tinker bell. I felt so bad because the bed was already promised. I let the person know that if the other person did not show up for the bed, it was theirs.

The scheduled person never came to pick up the bed and I e-mailed the woman who wanted the bed so badly for her young daughter. I called the number she had sent to me and she was already on her way out the door. "I don't know what to say. Thank you. Yesterday was my daughter's birthday and I could not afford anything but a few shirts. She is going to be so happy. I can't wait to see the look on her face! I am on my way."

A half an hour later she arrived at my home and she saw the bed. I watched her look it over and see the dis-assembled canopy on the floor. The half embarrassed, half overjoyed look seemed to fight over which emotion got to display itself on her face. "This is it. Just put the canopy together and you are all set. I also found the set of Tink sheets I have. You can have them too."

The excitement in her eyes, and the tears that followed as we pushed the bed into her father's truck were so genuine. She told me that she cannot afford a lot of the things her daughter wants and that she is going to be so excited. "I can't wait to see the look on her face. This is so great", she exclaimed to me as she looked at the bed in the truck, with the Tinker bell sheets I gave to her. As a mother, I know what it is like to want to give your children things that you just can't. But I helped another mom be able to give her little girl her dream bed, sheets and all.

I went inside and ate dinner with my family, realizing just how blessed I truly am. Looking around the dinner table topped with a hot, home cooked meal, my husband and children laughing and eating, I felt a sense of pure contentment come over me.

You never know how many people out there are needy. Maybe they just love to collect things, maybe they want to re-decorate and cannot afford it. Give freecycle a try. See how easy it is to help others. In our world, helping others is so easy, but so overlooked. Do something simple. It helps you dispose of the large items you no longer use, and you may make someone's, or their child's, life a little brighter.