What do you actually know about how money works? With the current state of the economy you might find this informative, animated film by Canadian artist Paul Grignon of interest.

I came across the film a few months ago and was really impressed - as have been a lot of other people on the net (but not the bankers I suspect!). “Is it worth putting on the blog?” I asked my 18yr old son - “Definitely!” was the reply, so here it is. The film’s 47minutes long, but certainly worth watching.

Do you want something for nothing, no strings attached?

Or are you trying to get rid of something that’s cluttering up your house, but is just too good to throw away? Why not give it to someone who could use it - much more environmentally friendly than taking a trip down to the dump.

That’s the idea behind Freecycle. I first came across this when a neighbour asked me to help him collect a nearly new bed settee from Taunton. (It was damn heavy to carry up 3 flights of stairs!).

Freecycle is a not for profit organisation first started in the US in 2003 and has since expanded somewhat. For example the Taunton group, which was founded in 2005, currently has nearly 5,000 members and the Bridgwater group, founded in 2006, nearly 3,000 members. People are giving away all sorts of things from furniture and clothing through to paving slabs and plants. As their web site says:

The Freecycle concept has since spread to over 85 countries, where there are thousands of local groups representing millions of of members — people helping people and “changing the world one gift at a time.” As a result, we are currently keeping over 500 tons a day out of landfills!

To join a group all you have to do is visit the Freecycle web site and search for a location near you. Then just click to join that group (free). Groups are hosted on the Yahoo! network which means, if you haven’t got one, you will have to sign up for a free Yahoo! account, which is quite straightforward.