The Land of the Free

Not long ago I decided to give everything away that I reasonably could. Not because I read Walden or joined a cult, but because things, as they sometimes do, were weighing me down. 

High on the list of things that bum me out is having clutter in my space. This is a problem of privilege, of course, and it speaks to a culture of over-consumerism that literally delivers to our doorsteps everything we need or want. Add easy ordering to quick shipping and you may have the actual recipe for gluttony, and I was certainly guilty of it.

A Better World

When I was a very young child — we’re talking earliest memories — I had an idea that I was pretty sure would change the world. I didn’t know the word “economist” or have any concept of markets, but I did know that candy and other necessities cost too much money (i.e., more money than I had) and I knew that money wasn’t distributed fairly. Why was this so? No one could give me a satisfactory answer. 

The obvious solution, and the one I proposed to my mom, was that I grow up pronto and open a store. My store would have everything a person could need: houses, horses, cars, candy, and obviously enough food to feed every child in the world. I’d have bikes and barrettes and hula hoops and jump ropes, and I would price them all on a very simple system. Everything would cost one penny. Two pennies for more valuable items. That’s it.

Since then my kids have had similar suggestions, so I know my plan wasn’t unique, and I guess you know it didn’t work out the way I hoped. As I’ve grown, the world’s problems rose up around me and proved to be more stubborn and complicated than my child self imagined. Wealth and resources continued to be unfairly distributed, and other knotty puzzles persisted. Today, as then, food is abundant, and yet people go hungry. There is plenty of wealth, and yet many are poor. 

And another change crept up on me somewhere along the way to adulthood: I stopped worrying about not having enough candy and started worrying about having too much.

More Candy, More Problems

Everything Must Go . . . Where?

I’d like to say I realized what needed to happen and took immediate action, but the truth is, it took me a long time to come up with a plan. Yes, I knew it was time to downsize, but how? 

First I thought of an estate sale, but my family rightly objected to a scorched earth approach. A household doesn’t run very efficiently without basic supplies, and I didn’t want to land us in a situation where we needed to acquire more things. 

Then I thought of a garage sale, but we’ve had plenty of those and I still end up donating a lot of items instead of finding homes for them. I wanted to maximize the number of items I could place with people who could use them. 

Next I considered the Freecycle and Buy Nothing online marketplaces that do such a good job of connecting people and resources, but I knew I didn’t have the time to facilitate pickups on the scale I was imagining.

Finally, I landed on an idea that made sense to me: a household giveaway. I would invite neighbors and friends and encourage them to bring people too. Thus was born my “Yard Sale Where Everything Is Free.”

Bring Nothing, Take Something

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be Willy Wonka? Let me tell you — the only way this could have been more fun is if I’d coated everything in chocolate. I rolled out rugs, plumped pillows, piled up planters, and folded linens. Then I opened my doors, set out drinks, and waited for my friends to arrive. 

Thankfully, they came, because this is a happy story and these are good friends. (How do you know good friends? They see your burdens and come to deliver you from them.) One friend arranged to have my rugs taken to a children’s center. Another used my pots and planters to green up her new balcony space. Friends took bags and blankets and candlesticks. 

I can’t tell you how liberating it felt to see one useful thing after another leave my custody and go home with someone new. It was far better than shopping — it was anti-shopping. And if there’s one thing I learned, it’s that there’s already more than enough to go around.