Living in Love Award: Finalist: The Art of Giving
Congratulations to Now is the Beginning, the very first recipient of the Living in Love Award! The prize is three parts – the permission to post the image associated with this award on her blog, three spots on my blog to feature posts of her choosing, with the chance to reach my followers and finally, I will write a post for her blog on the topic of her choosing. This post will only appear on her blog, not on mine.
Now is the Beginning succeeded in the final task for Living in Love, Donating of her Excess. Not cash, but items she no longer needed.
Please check out all of her submissions so far:
Step 1 – Random Act of Kindness – Let’s Face It
Step 2 – Donate of Your Excess – The Art of Giving
Step 3 – Define Love – What is Love?
Here is the Post that won her the Living in Love Award!
Post two of my three post quest for the Living in Love award given out by fellow blogger Alternate Economy calls for a post about “sharing your excess.” Well, thanks to the internet, Hub and I find that easy to do in our home.
There’s a wonderful group on Yahoo that I joined years ago after La Madre joined it. It’s called Freecycle. I believe it is a group that runs across the country. If you haven’t heard of it and you have a ton of shit lying around your house that you don’t need, join this group. It’s arranged by county, so I joined the group for Ocean County. People post things that they are looking for or giving away and others respond to give away or pick up their items.
Donating to a charity or a thrift store is a great idea. But for me, someone who doesn’t like to go outside much, I always felt like I was never sure if my items were going to good use and sometimes getting out is… difficult. Using Freecycle, I know crap I don’t find useful anymore is going to be useful to someone else. I’ve had the pleasure of giving away books, clothes, kitchen appliances and movies. I don’t care if I could sell them somewhere for more–or if the people who I give them to eventually sell them–as long as someone gets a use out of things I can’t use anymore.
Not only have I gotten rid of a lot of stuff on Freecycle. I’ve made a couple of friends. Just before Christmas, a woman contacted me about some hotel soaps I was giving away–I had about three bags of them. I told her I had given the ones away that I had already, but my mom had some and I would pick them up from her to give to the woman. She was so grateful. I found out that she was using them to put into shoeboxes along with other items to give to needy children. I kept her e-mail address and told her I’d contact her as it got closer to Christmas this year so I could give her more things that I collect throughout the year. Another woman I met I gave a Christmas sweater. She e-mailed me when she got home and told me it was the most beautiful sweater she’d ever seen. I got teary when I read that, knowing that I made someone so happy to have said that.
If everyone joined Freecycle and gave out their stuff they didn’t want/need anymore, so many people would be helped, money would be saved, and I’m sure there’s something eco-friendly about it.
What a perfect way to give of your excess. We all have things we don’t need. I have a ton of books I never read. Not to mention clothes. The idea a friend could be just around the corner is pretty amazing!
On my forum site there is a “Barter” area where people can set up trading initiatives like FreeCycle in their communities. I would love to see whole communities using my forum for such an activity!
http://www.alternate-economy.com/phpbb/ – Forums
A lovely piece by a beautiful soul!
I agree, Freecycle is a great way to give and be fairly sure the things you no longer want or need get used by someone who needs them.
I too have been a part of Freecycle in my area for a few years now, and have given many things to many young families in my city.
I also will often put things on the front lawn with a large sign that says Free. It never takes but a minute for it to disappear.
Makes me happy every time:)
Just posted your post on my blog. Hope it came out all right. 🙂 Thanks so much! I also tried to post the award pic, but it doesn’t seem to be working. I did it the same way I did your post, but when I go back to the visual tab it just shows up as text and not a picture. 😦
Thanks Judith! You’re a sweetheart!
jeg700 — Good for you!! I get the same happiness feeling when someone tells me how much something I’ve given them helps. 🙂
I will send you an email with the exact html to post so that the image works for you. Thanks so much for the post, it looks great! I hope you like the content.