At Home with the Kids
By Michael Wittig

Giving it away is better

My son’s preschool held its annual garage sale last weekend. We donated clothes and toys and several odds and ends for the event, and I helped clean up afterward. I didn’t go to the sale.

My wife and I quit going to garage sales a few years ago, about the time we noticed that we didn’t have room for the stuff we already owned, and avoiding garage sales means that we don’t stumble upon that odd something that we just can’t live without. To be safe, we stay home Saturday mornings.

Just because we don’t do garage sales doesn’t mean our house is Spartan. In truth, our home appears cluttered most of the time, and in our case the appearance is not deceiving. We have a lot of stuff.

My wife and I have done two garage sales over the years, neither of them worth the effort we put into them. Each event was preceded by weeks of preparation. Each time, we let go of merchandise at pennies on the dollar for what we originally paid. After both sales we still had considerable quantities of stuff to deal with, and invariably it all wound up back in our garage, making as big a mess as we started with.

Apparently, our experience is not unique. In fact, when I arrived at the preschool sale cleanup I was struck by how much stuff had to be hauled away. I was immediately recruited to make a delivery to St. Vincent’s donation center, and within an hour both my trailer and SUV were fully loaded. Anything that St. Vincent’s wouldn’t take was to go to the landfill.

The scene at St. Vincent’s donation center was as interesting as the scene at the preschool sale. There were mountains of donations everywhere. The woman I talked to was pleasant, but her message wasn’t: the donation center was full. They didn’t want anything I was hauling. Not one thing. In the end, except for a very few really cool toys, all of it went into the landfill.

There must be a better way.

After our second garage sale, my wife and I decided we were better off giving things away rather than trying to sell them. After all, we could just set stuff out and we wouldn’t have to mind the store. Accordingly, last autumn I strung a tarp up over a collection of stuff and put out a sign stating “free stuff.”

It’s amazing how much stuff will disappear when it’s free. We gave away things we never thought we’d ever be rid of, and a lot of the pleased people we met were somewhat disbelieving of our “generosity” as they carted away their newfound treasures. Our “free stuff” sign stayed out for one month, and in that time we got rid of almost everything we thought we would have to pay to take to the dump.

This concept is not new. “Free” stores appeared in San Francisco in the late sixties. In this decade the Baltimore Free Store provides the same service under the motto “Take what you want, give what you can.” There are also free flea markets appearing in many communities.

Free stores and free flea markets provide a tremendous resource for the needy who otherwise might not be able to afford items most of us take for granted. These outlets also provide a sane means for people wanting to divest themselves of their old stuff, stuff that would otherwise end up in the trash.

A large quantity of potentially reusable material is going into Juneau’s landfill. Does it have to? Not necessarily. If one man’s trash is another’s treasure, maybe Juneau needs a better alternative than the landfill to take unwanted goods.

I want my children to live in a town with an affordable living standard. So do we all, yet Juneau’s costs for food and housing and energy make our town a difficult place to live for many. That cost of living will rise when our landfill is full and we’re forced to export our garbage.

A “free” store would help make Juneau affordable for our kids. It would prolong the life of the landfill too. Perhaps it is an idea worth thinking about.