I am a big fan of ReuseMoose, mostly because I was there for his birth (after totally loving the whole Freecycle concept, but complaining to my geek husband and his geek friend Vincent that it wasn’t the nicest interface and there were about 500 million rules).

Today they noticed the traffic going mad on it, and traced it back to an article in my favourite news paper The Age: Furnish your house for free.

I am glad to see more people becoming aware of the benefits of getting someone, anyone to re use their unwanted belongings – even if they can no longer get money for them.

It’s actually harder than you think to just give something away. I gave away a perfectly good breadmaker on Freecycle, as I hate hoarding. Nothing wrong with it, but it was used. Since we have started to make our own Sourdough bread we just never used the thing anymore, and are likely not to.

I listed it on Freecycle, and then observed an interesting phenomena. I started to feel anxious about who to give it too….what they will do with it, will they profit from it.

Finally, I realised I had to change my mindset. If you don’t want it anymore, can’t get money for it (ebay), can’t give it to the local op shop (be careful here as many can’t take white goods – dropping them off causes even more landfill for these poor charities), then just give it to someone, anyone who needs it. Just try to avoid having it end up in the tip.

Then, if it does end up in the tip after all, you know it really is trash. No one want’s it. You can’t be much more responsible than that unless you open up a recycling factory!

Also, the act of cleaning out unwanted clutter is a very healthy thing to do. It helps you clear your mind, not just your house, and can even help you loose unwanted weight (read more on this on Cyndi O’Meara’s Changing Habit‘s website).

If that’s not enough, then watch the video’s on Annie Leonard’s website: The Story of Stuff – I found this website very informative, and it has helped immensely understand the pressure to accumulate stuff in the first place. If you have accumulated lots of stuff, you might find it helps you break that pattern.

So stop whatever you are doing right now (obviously finish reading this blog) and start hunting for those unwanted items.

So if you are mentally, emotionally and ecumenically ready to give your unwanted things away, have a go on www.reusemoose.com.