Being a freebie junkie means that sometimes I go a little overboard and stockpile a lot of free items that I do not necessarily need. I make a concious effort to "
Make a Change" with my freebies. Here is a list of the many ways we can all Make a Change:
Donate
I donate a lot of my food items to family and friends and more importantly to food drives. This initiative can be applied to household goods, clothes and toys too. Remember some items can be used for your tax deduction.
Freecycle
I post a lot of the used toys and unused goods to my local freecyle community. Check out
freecycle.org, this is a good way to recycle your goods to your community without it ending up in landfills.
Craigslist.org also has a free section to give away goods. In return, its also a good way to pick up things you need but do not necessarily want to pay for. After my second child I realized my kids did not need brand new toys since we all know most infant toys only last a short period of time before they move onto the next stage. I picked up their outdoor toys, doll houses and kitchen sets all from generous freecyclers and after a good old scrub with chlorox my kids were happy as can be. When my kids are done I will freecycle as these toys still have a lot of life left in them.
Recycled shopping bags
Last earth day I received a tonne of recycled shopping bags. I leave a lot of them lying in my car ready for my freebie shopping, this way I don't clutter my house with plastic bags and ultimately line the landfills with plastic. Earth day is just around the corner (Earth day is Thursday April 22nd - Earth week starts April 18th) so be on the lookout for free recycled bag offers. In fact, Target is giving away 1.5 million reusable bags with a purchase on April 18th, the first day of Earth Week (limit one per guest)! While you are there don't forget to pick up your
free seventh generation cleaners on Sunday and your free bag to carry it home. Also you will get 5 cents off your total purchase for every reusable bag used for your purchase!
In addition to the free bag Target will be distributing an innovative newspaper circular that allows guests the option to use a portion of the April 18 circular as an envelope to mail their plastic shopping bags to TerraCycle. In return, guests will receive a $1 coupon towards the purchase of a Target reusable bag priced at $1.49 or more. Check out all details
here.
More free bags
here
Don't forget to pick up the free tote at Babies R Us. See the
post here.
Recyle
I like to recycle as much of my household garbage as possible, this includes paper, batteries, plastics and inks. Not only is this good for the environment, but did you know many recycling stations donate a portion towards certain charities. My kids daycare has a paper recycling bin and a portion of the proceeds is donated to a local charity. Also my kids daycare recycles cell phones and ink cartridges and a portion goes to the school for fun projects.
Box Tops
We all shop for groceries, sometimes two or three times a week and in my case a lot more : ) Now I turn those shopping trips into easy cash for my kids day care! Just look for the
Box Tops logo on hundreds of products like Cheerios®, Hamburger Helper® and Kleenex®, in almost every aisle of the store. All you need to do is clip and send them to your school’s Box Tops coordinator - each one is worth 10¢ for your school. My school runs a competition and for the child that collects the most they win a free book from scholastic.com - win win for all.
Labels for Education
This is similar to the Box Tops program as described above. Certain schools collect the
Labels for Education UPC's and can redeem for education points for great merchandise for the school.
