the {upcycled & recycled} yay—> for freecycle!!

Stay up to date on the latest posts. Subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Well, hello there.

Happy Friday!

On Wednesday afternoon a Freecycle alert came through my inbox for a jogging stroller with two seats…

— it was like the stars lined up… we’d been talking about the need for one recently. Then boom BAM out of the sky… came a message, and I took full advantage of it.  It doesn’t get any better than  F R E E!!

I hurriedly answered the message in hopes that we’d soon be the new owner of a 2 seater jogging stroller. I’m not much of a runner BUT that’s the other funny part… because recently I’ve been thinking about putting on some running shoes, like my friend  Steph at Peachy Green who ran 17 miles the other day! What?! what?!!

To say the least, it was meant to be.  As soon as it was home the boys were eager and excited to go for a ride. The stroller is in fair-GOOD condition. One wheel had a tiny bend in it but it was nothing the hub couldn’t straighten out with a few tugs & pulls. No major fading anywhere or nasty smoke odor. Straps weren’t mucky and could still buckle. Handle bars a little worn in one spot but it’s pretty obvious, the persons, who owned before us; used it a lot for jogging. No big. Nothing a little handkerchief couldn’t fix!

Other than a little dust it’s in pretty much great working condition (at least, for us anyway!). & who needs Febreeze?! Not this green mama.

Non Toxic Odor Eliminator

Mix equal parts of vinegar (good for removing odor) and water

+ added in some essential oils for extra germ fighting and cleaning

- 2 drops of tea tree oil (all antibacterial & antifungal)

- 1 drop of peppermint oil

- 1 drop of clove oil

The peppermint is pretty over powering but the fragrance ended up being on the woodsy side.

Love a little aromatherapy.

It really didn’t matter what the solution smelled like; I was just going for CLEAN and non toxic. Besides that, it was mostly what I had on hand. LOL!

After dousing and wiping the stroller down, I then took some baking soda and sprinkled some on in both seats and a little on the cover. I let it sit until dry in the HOT morning sun and then wiped/whacked some of the baking soda/dust out with a towel.

The stroller was good to go and smelt so fresh and so clean, clean!

Kicking dirt to the curb with a handy bottle of vinegar and essential oils is eco RAD.

I like it just plain too but variety is the spice of life and I felt like upping the ante a bit!

Anywho, if you haven’t yet heard of Freecycle…

…you may want to learn more about it’s awesomeness…

The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,834 groups with 7,341,000 members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them’s good people).

Membership is free.

changing the world one gift at a time

Get your Freecycle on!!

The boys love their new stroller!

Hope you have a lovely end to your week and enjoy your weekend!

tah-tah!  for now.

Be A Green Bookworm: Read Used!

Last week, before I left for vacation someone offered a “big box of children’s books” on Freecycle. I couldn’t resist. Especially, when the description revealed the box mainly contained toddler books. The box was full of great books. He loves the Three Stre-e-etchy Frogs & Ten Little Ladybugs books. Each book goes for $10.95!

There were also a lot of Weekly Reader books inside which are excellent hardback reads. I grew up reading Weekly Reader. Books aren’t cheap and neither are book clubs.  When I see an offer like that on Freecycle it’s worth taking advantage of .  You never knoow what you’ll end up with – it’s a gamble but for the most part… I’ve always been lucky.

Read more