TreeHugger Picks: Ways to Get Free (and Nearly Free) Stuff

Inspired by today's episode of TreeHugger TV about Swap-O-Rama Rama, we thought now would be a good time to remind our dear readers about some other ways to alternately get rid of stuff you don't want and get stuff for free or next to nothing. Remember, what goes around comes around...

1) Tired of paying for food? Have a go at dumpster diving for your food.
2) Groundscout.com enlists the help of others in tracking down good stuff that others have tossed out.
3) The Joystick project is lending a hand by putting signs on still-usable refuse in Barcelona.
4) Blockrocker.com will help you find anything you'd normally find in the classifieds all locally, including carpools and ride-shares.
5) For the burgeoning computer construction/repair enthusiast, there's DIYparts.org, a free exchange of computer parts and components.
6) Swap-O-Matic (a prototype that's the thesis project of a student in NYC) is a vending machine that allows you to give away things you don't need, and get things you like, all for free.
7) Finally, of course there's Freecycle, the city-by-city network of giving and getting for free.