BLOOMINGTON - Sarah Gesiakowski of Bloomington saves money by making something new from something old. | Read the entire New Economy series

The avid seamstress and thrift-store shopper took a $2 orange and gray adult sweater and made it into booties, shorts, a cap, and matching T-shirt decoration for her 10-month-old son, Justin.

"It's pretty neat what you can do if you think about it," she said. Clothes and goods provide tax write-offs for donors; the stores' proceeds benefit nonprofit groups helping the needy; and a second or third user finds new life in an old item.

Rental property owner Bernard Dotson of Bloomington finds bargain-priced sinks, lamps, furniture and appliances at Habitat for Humanity of McLean County's ReStore, 1402 W. Washington St. The sale of donated materials supports Habitat's housing projects.

"It helps reduce my costs and I get quality products," Dotson said.

For home-based thriftiness, Bonnie Olson of Shirley makes her own fire-starters by combining dryer lint with leftover candle wax in egg cartons. She sells purses made from leftover canvas belts and jeans pockets.

She uses things in a way "other than it was intended."

Other "repurposing" doesn't involve any money. In 2004, the McLean County Freecycle Web site drew about 100 monthly messages for swaps of chairs, fax machines, and anything else. More than 800 messages were posted last month.

"I see that as an incredible increase," said Deanna Belz, the site's moderator and Ecology Action Center assistant director.

On the Net:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/McFreecycle