| As a Home Stager in Orlando, Central Florida and | | | | in your area. They are a grassroots, and entirely |
| surrounding areas, I am constantly meeting with sellers | | | | non-profit movement of people who are giving,(and |
| to advise them on how to prepare their home to sell in | | | | getting), "stuff" for free in their own cities. Freecycle |
| what has become a buyers market. I critically look at | | | | Network is made up of individual groups across the |
| each area, both inside and out, to determine what | | | | globe who have come together to "recycle" unwanted |
| needs to be done to transform their home into a | | | | items. They give things away rather than throw them |
| marketable 'product' to be sold. | | | | away, and do their part in taking care of Mother Earth |
| Although each property is unique, there are | | | | at the same time! Freecycle Network began in 2003 |
| fundamental staging guidelines that need to be | | | | when Deron Beal had a vision and e-mailed 30 to 40 |
| followed when preparing any home for sale, starting | | | | friends and a handful of non profits in Tucson, Arizona. |
| with the "D" list . . . Deep Clean, Depersonalize, and | | | | It now is in 75 countries and 4,041 communities |
| Declutter, Declutter, and Declutter some more! That | | | | worldwide, and has 3,540,995 members . . . and still |
| includes kitchen and bathroom cabinets, closets, | | | | growing. As a result of their efforts, they have been |
| drawers, the spare room that's been used as a guest | | | | able to keep over 300 tons of waste per day out of |
| room / office / JUNK ROOM . . . the basement, garage | | | | our landfills. They have only three main rules in order to |
| . . . shall I go on? By the time I get to this part my clients | | | | participate: everything must be FREE, everything must |
| are usually revisiting their decision to move! | | | | be LEGAL, and everything must be APPROPRIATE |
| One of the biggest problems when faced with the | | | | FOR ALL AGES. By giving freely with no strings |
| daunting task of decluttering is deciding what to do | | | | attached, members of the Freecycle Network have |
| with all of the "stuff"! You know . . . the piano from | | | | instilled a sense of generosity of spirit into their local |
| Grandma that nobody plays, the chartreuse chair that | | | | communities. |
| noone sits on, the matching his and her bicycles that | | | | As a Home Stager I have been in a position to pass |
| noone rides anymore . . . and my personal favorite - | | | | this information on to countless clients who are |
| how about the treadmill that doubles as a clothes rack | | | | decluttering in an effort to make their home a more |
| in the forgotten corner of the master bedroom! I | | | | 'marketable product'. But I challenge all of us to join with |
| understand, we all have "stuff" that's really hard to part | | | | the members of the Freecycle Network, people from |
| with because . . . "it's just too good to throw away", | | | | all walks of life, who have turned trash into treasure to |
| right . . .? | | | | better our environment. |
| I am very excited to share with you the solution . . . go | | | | Remember when decluttering . . . think GREEN, think |
| to freecycle.org to find the Freecycle Network Group | | | | globally, and "recycle" locally. Happy Staging! |