In the Spirit of Gifting

Hello Fellow Members!

The holidays are coming up and we often see a surge of posts that are not quite in the spirit of Freecycle.

People may be thinking this is the perfect place for their holiday wants, desires or demands.

We recognize that the holidays are a difficult time for everyone, but please remember what this group is and is not.

Number one, Freecycle is dedicated to de-cluttering our homes and saving items from landfills. We are NOT a charity.

Around this time of year, we often get an increase of members asking for items that are clearly not allowed by our guidelines.

This is not the place to find your new car, iPhone, iPad, iPod, gaming systems, flat screen TVs, laptops, and so on.

This is not the place to request your grocery lists of items. You may not ask for "furniture" and then list ten different things you want.

You may not ask for anything new, you may not ask for anything that you wouldn't expect to see sitting at the curb on trash day.

Please do not post your holiday wish list, your sob story about being out of work, or any other personal info, such as a disability or marital status. It could be VERY dangerous to post this type of info to nearly 3,000 people.

Please also realize the moderators' decisions are FINAL. We will not make an exception to the rule because you are out of work, have 10 kids, can't do this, can't do that. Your account will be placed back on moderation and the 3 Strike Rule will apply.

Some personal tips to make the holidays affordable are : shop Goodwill, Plaza Thrift, Salvation Army, other thrift stores or even garage sales. They do have usable items cheap.

DO post your good usable items here, someone may like to use them to make their holiday brighter.

And please remember to balance your WANTEDs with OFFERs. Remember that this is what we are about and it only works if you do both things!

Stay safe and enjoy your friends and family members at this time of year.

In the Spirit of Gifting, we wish you a Merry Christmas!

The Moderator Team

Freecycle's Mission Statement: Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.