Ultimate yard sale happiness: The 'free' box
Posted
Jul 11 2008, 02:59 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
My favorite yard sale story of all time comes from my friend Meghan Pembleton, sister to an inveterate garage saler. At one such event Meghan's nephew, a preschooler, took a small toy from the "free" box. The sale's host said, "Those are free, honey."
The child gave the garage sale response he'd heard so often from his mom: "Would you take a quarter?"
Not every yard sale has a free box, but it's the first thing I look for when I arrive. In the past couple of summers I've scored a wooden-peg rack, apron, spoon rest, biscuit cutter, metal tape measure, insulated lunch bag, Tupperware container, cast-iron skillet, package of 25 envelopes, pale-green china bowl, and some markers and glitter.
All items 'as is'
Often there's a reason things wind up in the free box. For example, the green bowl has a chip on its rim about the size of a pencil point. It's almost imperceptible, and the bowl looks pretty on my countertop, where it holds bananas or nectarines.
That cast-iron skillet was starting to rust. But a little steel wool followed by an oil-and-oven seasoning resulted in a great new kitchen tool. I use it all the time and wonder how I ever got along without it.
The wooden rack is about two feet wide and has six pegs. Although it may have been designed for coats, I use it as an organizer. Attached to the inside of a closet door, it holds my clothes iron, broom, mop, lamb’s wool duster and several reusable shopping bags.
Beats me why people would discard things like a pristine Tupperware container or an unopened package of envelopes. Maybe the spoon rest was jettisoned because the yard sale hosts had given up cooking. Ditto the biscuit cutter; why keep it if you never make biscuits or sugar cookies?
The free box is eco-friendly
Some of these freebies can be used creatively:
• Hand towels, tea towels, washcloths: These make good cleaning cloths (you'll buy a lot fewer paper towels) or shop rags.
• Old T-shirts, even if they're ugly and/or fraying: Wear them when you have to paint or do other messy chores. These too can be cut up for cleaning cloths, or used to wash your car.
• Canvas bags: Attended a conference, ran a marathon or made a PBS pledge? You probably got a bag, then. These end up in the free box fairly often and have many potential uses: shopping bags, storage for recyclables (easy to carry to the bin and washable when they get dirty), bringing home books from the library, organizing emergency items in the trunk of your car, carrying in fireplace kindling, holding children's toys and books on trips (they fit neatly under the seat in front of you).
• Fast-food toys: The free box is where Happy Meal toys go to die. Pick up a couple, wash them and keep them in your handbag, backpack or glove compartment. Some day when you're stuck in traffic or waiting in a really long line, they'll come in handy as a distraction. (Of course for your kids. People our age don't play with such things, I'm told.)
Just because it's free doesn't mean it's yours
The danger, of course, is that you'll wind up taking things you don't really need. My usual list of pre-purchase questions also applies to the free box: Do I really need this? Where will I put it? How often will I use it? Will it improve my life? Do I already own something that will serve just as well?
To these I would add: Does someone else need it more? Recently I visited a yard sale in midafternoon, right when the hosts decided to give everything away. (The ultimate free box.) I took two flannel sheets, two bath towels, a hand towel, a long-handled barbecue fork and a serving platter.
When I found myself casting a covetous eye on the remaining items, I forced myself to walk away. Someone just starting out could use that blanket, that bookcase, those cloth napkins.
More to the point, I already have a blanket, a bookcase and some cloth napkins. Why acquire more?
So shop the free box the way you'd shop anywhere else. Don't take what you don't need and be careful not to take something that will just end up as clutter.
And when someone admires your green fruit bowl or your "new" lunch bag? Smile and say, "Yep, it's worth every penny I paid."
