We’re all committed bargain-hunters nowadays, sniffing out the deepest discounts and snaffling the best offers in the shops and conjuring up recessionista chic on a shoestring. But what if your decorating budget is, well, pretty much zero? You might think it’s impossible to get something for nothing, but look to your local freecycling community and you might be pleasantly surprised.

The idea of trading goods, or even leaving your unwanted furniture on the street outside for your neighbours to adopt, is certainly not new. But using a dedicated website to pass on your household goods to someone who wants them, rather than just dumping them to end up as landfill, is – and it seems set to stay.

Ellie Callan-Monk, 24, made use of this concept, which arrived in Britain from America earlier this decade, to completely furnish her new home in Stockport, Cheshire, from other people’s cast-offs. “I bought my house with my fiancé in July 2007,” she says. “As we were living in a furnished flat, we had very little furniture of our own. We put a ‘wanted’ listing on Freecycle [the local freecycling group’s website], with the items we needed – dining table, chairs, washing machine, sofa and armchairs – and a brief explanation of why we were asking for so much.”

Callan-Monk, an account manager with a PR firm, says the response was immediate and overwhelming. “We ended up with a sofa and armchair, a dining table and six chairs, a sideboard and various smaller items including a lot of kitchen things: a mixer, a blender, baking trays,” she says. “Now we have been able to help others by putting the things we no longer need on Freecycle.”

Freecycle established itself in 2003 as a tiny local network of like-minded individuals in Tucson, Arizona. It has now spread to 85 countries and has millions of members. The organisation claims to be responsible for keeping 600 tons of goods per day out of landfill.

Its British site, www.uk.freecycle.org, which has almost 1.5m members in 486 communities, remains by far the biggest of its type in the country. There are, however, several others, including www.recycle4free.com and the newest, founded in August, www.snaffleup.co.uk. There is also www.gumtree.com, which started as a classified ads site and community for newly arrived Londoners, but now covers 46 UK cities, each with a freebie forum.

The aim of all these sites is simple: to put people who have stuff they want to get rid of in touch with others in their area who need it. Adverts are posted, matches are made, then the two sides arrange collection. Easy. The result is a green and pleasant, decluttered community that produces goodwill the way landfill gives off methane.

Which leads us to the green benefits. After all, the most ecofriendly way to live is simply to cease making and discarding new stuff and reuse the old instead.

Tim Beer, who started Recycle4Free three years ago, says his mission was simple: “I just wanted to see items that are perfectly useful reused instead of ending up in landfill.” And, although the allure of a freebie is undeniable, many freecyclers claim they are motivated by a desire to do their bit to save the planet.

“We are absolutely passionate about recycling,” says Georgina Upton, 32, a marketing manager from west London. “We had a huge clear-out recently, and I made sure I took everything to charity shops.” Expecting her first baby, she has found the freebie section of Gumtree is theperfect place for nursery essentials. “I got a free baby bath and a Moses basket,” she says, “and I’m thinking about a cot that’soffered by someone in Greenwich.”

That’s not all Gumtree offers. A trawl of the site reveals a host of unlikely treasures, from a huge foam fish to an unspecified quantity of rubble, and “two female ferrets with cage, very tame”.

Continuing the rodent theme, the Hammersmith & Fulham Freecycle group has this posting: “One-level hamster cage offered, complete with wheel. Perfect as starter home for new hamster.” And, just in case readers are concerned about her pet’s fate, the offerer reassures us: “We’ve upgraded to a three-storey cage.” That’s the thing about freecyclers: they care.

Get on your freecycle

— Play by the rules. Postings must be free, legal and suitable for all age groups.

— Be nice. The person offering chooses who gets the loot – they aren’t going to pick Mrs Grumpy.

— Be practical. Can you afford to take a free piano that costs more than £100 to move?

— Be discreet with your personal data. Although a postcode may be necessary for takers to decide whether they can transport items home, don’t give out your address or telephone number in your ad.

— Be safe. Arrange the handover in a public place or while friends or family are at home.

You can donate secondhand furniture to the Furniture Reuse Network (www.frn.org.uk), which refurbishes basic necessities, including fridges, and places them in needy households. Oxfam now has 19 furniture stores, and welcomes donations; visit www.oxfam.org.uk

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