delayed post: The Free Yard Sale!

I got rid of almost all of my stuff last weekend. Stuff and more stuff. No home = no storage, and there's only so much a pack can expand.  I was also taking care of two ex-roommates boxes of old unwanted clothes. There must have been at least 70 items of clothing, no joke.

So I organized a yard sale, hoping some community time and maybe even some dollars could be a part of the stuff-destruction. I made signs, a Facebook event, I even made a shit-ton of lemonade.
Thinking I'd catch lots of foot traffic, I set up all the clothes on hangers hung on the chain link fence next to the India Point Park Pedestrian Footbridge. And. The. Day. Wore. On.






I couldn't take it. I sold maybe 6 items in 5 hours. Made maybe 12 bucks. When it came time to pack up, i knew I couldn't emotionally handle another day of this. At least logistically I didn't want to deal with it. First thought was to bring everything to Salvation Army, but I ruled that out. I didn't want anyone to have to pay for it, and hasn't SA been accused of all sorts of mismanagement of dollars?
Then my friend Pau has the brilliant idea to do just DO what i wanted to do: leave all the stuff there, give it away for free. YAY!

One big "Free!" sign later, people were already starting to gather and buzz. In ten minutes I made as much money as I had made the whole day, just from folks wanting to knock me down a buck for the 7 dresses they picked up. I simply walked away from the whole thing, promising to come back the next day and clean up the debris.

This, my friends, is literally all that was left:

All hangers: empty. All knickknacks: disappeared. It literally looked like someone had decided to clean up for me.

And then the real joy! The stories! I kept running into friends who had randomly walked by the Free Sale. They had my friend's homespun yard, my mom's boyfriend's mama's wool sweater. They told me about the gaggle of people teeming around boxes, picking things up and exclaiming "Is this stuff really free?" 

My friend Jamie told me a ridiculously heart-warming story about 2 little girls who were there with their father. They kept picking things up and asking, shyly, if they could take it. "Yes, it's all free." was the response, and the girl's eyes would widen with surprise and joy. They didn't need to worry about the burden it was on their father, whether they had earned it. Jamie said she could see these little girls grappling with the possibility of stuff being for free; stuff that yours just cause; the possibility of people sharing for no reason beyond the desire to share.


So there you have it folks: free stuff makes you more money (if it's also donation-able), more community, and brings out the best in us.

Seriously, next time you have a yard sale, make it free!