Free Sale

This was such a great idea.
I so wish my camera had been charged!

Our city has started not allowing yard sales when ever you want. We used to be able to go down to City Hall and pick up a little permit for a 3 day sale a couple times a year. It was cool because once you had enough time to clean out your house, you could grab your permit and sunblock, toss the stuff on the front lawn and get rid of most of it. Happy, happy, clean house, less clutter and a few dollars to boot!

Now that is a big no-no in this city.
You may have your yard sale still but only on the days they say are permitted. It is still like 4 times a year so I am kinda being a baby complaining here.

I had been cleaning out our house again. Just finding things that we have outgrown but are still in good quality and still useful. The trash stuff still went into the trash and the recyclable went right into the blue recycling container. I was getting ready to take all this stuff to the Goodwill and telling the munchkins for the million and tenth time why it is good to donate our stuff to such a wonderful organization. I think I have preached this to them so often about the importance of sharing with the less fortunate and that this company helps others who have lost their way and are finding it again or have reasons for making it hard to find a job in another area a place to stand tall and be proud of the fact that they have a job and their own money to get by on, that my munchkins can pretty much quote me word for word in the lecture. (Yes, that was a very long run-on sentence. The feeling was there though right?) I just really want them to understand that helping others is important. If you can help them by helping them to help themselves, that is an even better gift.

Okay off of my soapbox and back to the story.

So we have all this stuff to get rid off. I am all dirty and stinky from cleaning. I want a shower. I know that I probably won't make it to the Goodwill till the next day because I am tired to. My husband had some big things to get rid of as well, a sink, a bathroom vanity mirror, some light fixtures, some hard hats, tool boxes, garage door opener with all the parts and other things. I so did not want to load them up right then. Yuck. I just want to shower and melt on the couch in front of a silly movie and take a nap. I don't want to deal with the stuff but I don't want to procrastinate either. I then had this whisper in my ear, " just put them on the lawn and give them away."

What! Give it away?!? Then I have no tax deduction or extra $$ in my pocket!

I listened to the whisper though. I had Aimee make some signs saying "FREE~GRATIS" and we all took stuff out to the lawn. We filled the front with my husband's things and our household items. We had clothes, toys, books, cookware, serving ware, shoes, frames, posters all kinds of things we put out there. The kids thought that I was crazy, I think my husband did too. When I let the spirit guide my next lesson to them. We were actually blessing ourselves. We were so blessed to be able to have all of these wonderful things when we needed them. They made us happy. Now when life is so hard for so many, it is not always easy for others to be able to afford things that we take for granted. The extra backpack that we had just sitting around, maybe a little girl needs one to take to school that she would not have had otherwise. The brand new boots that I never wear, maybe another mommy would never splurg on something like that for herself when she can barely put food on the table for her children. Can you imagine the gift that would be? We have so much. We are so blessed. Lets share that with others who might not have that.

So we put everything out.

We put our free signs out too.

We went inside and watched.

We saw many people stop and take a few items from our "free sale". Not one had a fancy car. They all took just a little but it looked like they all took just what they needed. A little girl came and took Becca's old lunch box and looked so happy about it. Another took our old serving trays and looked shocked that they were free. Most of our stuff just disappeared quietly. People were more respectful of the stuff than when we were selling them at yard sales.

My munchkins asked how do you know they really needed that stuff? That they weren't just going to go and sell it themselves? Good point. I don't know. I know that this stuff was placed in good faith and for the right reason out in our yard to help others. That is all that matters. God knows who needs what and in what way. If they did take stuff to sell it then maybe they need the money to pay their bills. I don't know. What I do know is that I saw a few people who were blessed today by what we had to offer. They touched my heart. They made my soul smile.

My munchkins watched the stuff disappear and took joy themselves in seeing who was taking their things. That was so special in itself.

I am so going to do this again.

It was incredible.

Have a blessed weekend everyone~

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