Well I am still going strong with my mean on clean week. Today for my Frugal Friday post I have a lesson on the cost of “free”. I am a member of our local freecycle.org group. It is a great place to swap stuff. But even when things are free they have a cost. Earlier this week I gave away a whole trailer full of stuff and I will have another trailer full probably tonight. In the midst of all my organizing and re-doing around here I also picked up a few items. Since April is no longer sharing a room with Georgia and Georgia finally has her own room she wanted to redecorate. She wanted a queen size bed, a new bed frame, and a different closet. Well rearranging the closet was easy, nothin a Momma with a sledge hammer couldn’t handle. Then she put up the closet pole where she wanted it. Then I got on freecycle and located enough bi-fold doors for both hers and the boys’ closets. Before I could even get to it someone posted an offer for a free queen size mattress and box springs and frame! No headboard or footboard but we have a plan for those already. Hubby makes rustic 4 poster bed frames from trees. I will try to put up a pic here. Even though all of these items were free there was still cost involved. Free isn’t free if it isn’t worth the cost. I needed to calculate the mileage and how much gas would cost, yes $12 for diesel in the truck was worth it. I also got a good quality vacuum but it needed a cord, since it was on the way and I had a cord that was worth it too. Now if it had been a free pair of tennis shoes that wre worth $10 and even my size it would not have been worth $12 in gas to go pick them up. Get my point? Driving 10 miles out of your way to save $1 isn’t saving, it is needless spending. In these times especially we need to calculate the cost of everything. Figure out how much it costs you per mile to drive your car or truck, and if you have both only drive the truck when necessary. Remember free still costs.
Michelle says
GREAT point! I know people who will drive 10 miles our of their way to save .03 on a gallon of gas. Makes no sense at ALL.
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Vanessa says
I think about that alot, too. I’m amazed by some of the things that people offer on freecycle here that get taken since it would cost me less to just buy it than to pay for the gas.
I also have been thinking about this alot in relation to bargain shopping. Somehow just staying home tends to save me more money in the long run. 😉
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KayleighJeanne says
That is a major problem with our local freecycle because it spans the entire county. Craigslist is similar, but includes even more outlying areas. It is so tempting when I see something I want, but it is too far away.
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Shari Ellen says
I just found out about freecycle yesterday. It looks like you are having some good success with it.
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