Just for the love of it?

I've known about the Freeconomy website for quite some time, as it started in Bristol. Added to that, the website that I help run has a remarkably similar name, and so I spend a lot of time explaining the difference to people.

However, it wasn't until I started this project that I actually signed up properly and started "using" it. I signed up to the emails (yes, there's a fair amount of them, but I find them pretty unobtrusive and you can easily delete them), and my inbox started filling with information about events, offers of lifts and requests for items.

Initially I was a bit shocked. People were requesting quite big things - people to lend them their car, pick items up from places, things that would be quite expensive new. My initial response was that people were trying to get something for free that they should actually be paying for. But I quickly realised that this was down to my preconceptions about the value of things and the role of money. In our society, pretty much nothing is free. Everything has a price, whether we see it or not (e.g. Sign up to our mailing list for a free sample of XYZ. Free maybe, but your details are sold on, or you're forever spammed by the organisation). And so the idea of getting something of value for free is a really alien concept.

Some people offer exchanges of skills (one of the concepts behind it is the idea of skill sharing), but a lot is done completely for free. And people do things/give things because they believe that in turn, at some point, that person will do likewise. And it probably won't be something for them, but it may be for someone else, who in turn does a good deed for someone else who.... I think you get the picture. It's an idea and concept that goes against what society dictates should be done, but does actually seem to work.

I touched on this concept when we did HobNob Day earlier this year, and handed out about a thousand homemade hobnobs to people on the street. A lot of people assumed it was a charity event, and seemed surprised that we weren't asking for donations. Now, I have nothing against charity events and they fill a very necessary need. However, I think that if you do something kind for someone that they cannot repay in any form, it plants some kind of seed. And this seed may not bloom for most people, but for other people, they'll spend time thinking about how someone gave them a biscuit for free, and maybe do something kind for someone else. Kind of like the "pay it forward" principle. Call me an idealist, but I like to think it works like that.

One of my favourite quotes I've found over the last couple of months is by Mark Boyle, the founder of  Freeconomy.

"If you spend your time putting more love into the world, then it is reasonable to believe you are going to benefit from a world with more love in it."
I've used the Freeconomy community twice in the last month. First was when my car looked like it was going to die - I put a message asking if anyone would be interested in car sharing. And I had about 8 responses, from people interested in exploring a car share, to people just offering opinions. The second time was this week. I've been suffering with a lot of pain in my arms due to computer use, and in the past I've found that an ergonomic keyboard really helps. A few months ago I would have just got onto Amazon and bought myself a new one. But I realised that people must have them lying around their house, because a fair number of people just don't get on with them. So I put up a message asking if anyone had one they no longer wanted, and offering some baking or photography in return. And I got a message back from a guy - he didn't want anything for it - just knowing it was going to a good home and would be used was enough. We both won - he de-cluttered and I avoided having to buy a new item.

And I should point out my motivation for seeking a second hand one wasn't about trying to save money - it's just the belief that the resources on this planet are limited, and we don't all need shiny new versions of things when we throw so many things out. So I guess the planet wins too...