If you know me a little, you would know that I don’t really have the mind for money and usually do stuff because I want to. Here are some ideas which I love precisely because they work the way I do. I hope you try these out too.
On CS, you host people/travelers coming to your city at your home – for free. If you have spare space at home or a couch, you are ready to host. CSers are usually (not always) backpackers or budget travelers, but almost always interesting people!
I had an account on couchsurfing years back, before their big server crash but never got around to using it. Last year, I got another account just before my hitchhiking trip and have fallen in love with the concept all over again. I got so much love during this trip from CSers that I vowed to help CSers myself. I have since hosted a few CSers, made great friends with a few more and even learned a new language!
Bookcrossing.comI’m getting on this as soon as I can – I love the uncertainty of where a book can end up. Basically, you enter your book onto this system and leave it at a public place for anyone to pick up. You put up a small message inside the book explaining the system so that the book continues on its journey. You can follow this journey on the system if the next person enters the details and so on. How cool is that!
Sure, not all books will travel a lot – but it is still better than a book rotting somewhere. Although owning a book and collecting them to build a library is a great objective, I would rather like an open library added with a treasure hunt :).
Freecycle.orgI was looking for the equivalent of Craigslist, where people (at least in the U.S) frequently would list stuff they wanted to give away (for free), and came across it one day. One reason for giving away things is that disposing them is not easy and sometimes even costs money. It makes sense otherwise too – there are people who could use actually use this stuff. Also, it costs less energy to reuse or recycle things than build new ones. We Indians usually do reuse and re-reuse things but we also have a habit of hoarding things which we hope to use one day. I think it is better to give them away instead. Have to encourage my dad to do it more – you would not believe what all you could find at our place in Dharwad :).
Ajay Reddy
Ajay Reddy
Ajay Reddy
Ajay Reddy
Ajay Reddy
Ajay Reddy
Ajay Reddy
Ajay Reddy