A great place to start is Freecycle. This internet forum was set up in May 2003 by a group of volunteers in Arizona who believed that one person's junk could be another person's treasure. They created a system that allowed people to exchange stuff for free. A year or so later their dream became a worldwide gifting movement with over 2,500 groups and more than a million members. In the UK, there are more than 100 groups and most of them operate under Yahoo.

To participate, all you have to do is join your local group (and if there isn't a local group there are plenty of instructions on setting one up). You can then offer up anything you want to give away and sign up for emails with information about items available in your area. You'll be surprised at the range of stuff up for grabs - from computers to carpet cleaners and cat litter trays - in fact, as long as it's legal and appropriate for any age, you'll find more or less anything.

A similar venture is iswap, a free online swapshop. Unlike Freecycle, you don't have to sign up for emails to find out what's up for grabs. You just register with the site, upload photographs and info about whatever you want to get rid of, and surf the site to find out what's around. Items are listed in categories to make it easier and you can email the owner of an item to find out more.