Free Stuff, Valuable Memory

It is time to finally share with you my most satisfying organizing experience ever. After a ruthless clean out of “stuff”, I had a garage full of old Christmas decor that didn’t move me anymore, surplus craft supplies, books, records, various serving pieces, picture frames and knickknacks too numerous to want to clean any longer. There were even some old chairs I was going to refinish – you know – someday….

I had gotten rid of the true rubbish, but what to do with the rest? Donate it, yes, but a lot of the stuff were things they didn’t want at the normal outlets and even so I dreaded boxing it all up and schlepping it somewhere. Garage sale? Lots of work and then how much would I really make – I didn’t have high end things to sell.

Then it hit me – just let it go, a giveaway. On a clear Saturday morning I spray painted the words Free Stuff on a big piece of plywood and stuck it at the end of the driveway. I dragged about a third of the stuff out to see what would happen. Nothing – I thought I was going to have to drag it all back in, that is, until hour two. I was in the house and saw people wandering into the driveway, looking around questioningly. So I came outside and a woman said to me “Can I really just take whatever I want?” “Yup,” I said, “want boxes?”

And it was like a signal went off somewhere and more cars pulled up and it turned into a kind of party atmosphere. I dragged the rest of the stuff out of the garage. One woman came up to me, shook my hand and said “You are the smarted woman I have ever met. I spent an entire weekend sitting in my driveway in the heat, and I only made $40 – this is the way to do it.” One elderly woman had tears in her eyes as she held 3 beautiful Christmas table cloths that I no longer needed. She told me she never could afford to have matching tablecloths for her big family at Christmas. Tears came to my eyes and I was hooked – I went around the house looking for more stuff to put out! I felt like Santa Claus.

There was, of course, one Debbie Downer who watched a guy with a van pick up two lamps and a bowl. “He is probably going to sell that stuff on eBay,” she said, accusingly. “More power to him,” said I.

At the end of the day 95% of the stuff had been taken and though there were some things that I wondered if I should have parted with, mostly I felt released from the weight of it all. But the unexpected thing is that I was left with a great replacement for all of that stuff – a memory. I will never forget how happy that woman was to get those tablecloths, or how delighted another person was with craft supplies she was going to use in a school. Those memories alone are worth more than the proceeds of any cash garage sale I ever had.

If you decide to do this too, you can post it on a freecycle website or notify local charities, especially if you live in a less populated area than I.

Of course, since then I have bought more “stuff” – so keep an eye out for that sign in my driveway – I am sure to put that there again one day.

“Be not penny-wise: riches have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves; sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more.”

~ Francis Bacon