Portland is a treasure trove of free box goodies. And with an eagle eye, (and nonexistent germaphobia) a woman could easily outfit herself and her entire home. Just yesterday my husband and I were walking to the library to return a book when a large free box drew my attention.
I dove in head first and came up with a complete cheerleading uniform from the high school that educated and then spit me out thirty long years ago.
Is 47 too old to be a cheerleader?
I left it in the box, but regret that decision. After all, I probably could have sold it as a Halloween costume.
I guess I learned nothing in high school after all . . . .
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I bet it would have looked totally fab on you!
Yes! I cannot believe you just left it in the box! 😉 This outfit IS screaming $15 to me! #CollegeFund
FREE! FREE! FREEEEEEEEEEEE!! LOL Love it. 🙂
I LOVE the free piles. My kitchen tools were recently upgraded courtesy of a neighborhood free box (after a few trips through the dish washer). My neighbor snagged some brand-new books for my kids courtesy of another free box.
I already commented inappropriately on fb, so I will just say here that I am SO envious that you live in a walkable neighborhood, in a very cool city.
Cute! That outfit could come in handy for a Fantasy Night party with your hubs! Hahaha! ;-}
Wow, unless the school changed cheerleading uniforms, it’s such a shame the previous owner didn’t think to donate the uniform back to the school.
You’re a pretty good 47 year old cheerleader Katy. You just cheer for better stuff than boys’ football – the non consumer lifestyle!
Funny, I looked at the uniform and thought about how modest it is in comparison to what today’s cheerleaders wear. Cheer is big business, Marcy. You can bet that the uniform has “improved” dozens of times since then. If the school kept just one copy of each uniform from each squad every year, there’d be no place to hold practice.
Halloween costume, as Cheryl suggests below (without the negative Hillary comment, as Kim pointed out) just might be the highest and best use of this blast from the past.
Aww, how cute! Our neighborhood is scanty on the free piles unless you want used lumber (which we sometimes do) or mint-green 1953 water-hogging toilets (which we don’t). I did snag four wooden chairs when the house two doors down was being renovated. Cleaned them up, slapped a fresh coat of shellac on them, and took them to work to create a seating area for guests.
I was inspired by Katy’s post on using up leftovers to go through the freezer today and make sure all the leftovers were properly labeled. I also got out my big blue recipe folder and whipped up homemade versions of BBQ sauce, hot and sweet dipping sauce, and chocolate syrup to restock the fridge with those goodies.
Go back and get it!!
So funny! Are you going to wear that to a Halloween party? Or going to answer the door dressed for trick or treaters? Not saying you are scary, just a different costume. Pair it with a zombie (or Hillary) mask and it could be really scary.
I don’t think that your comment about Hillary was needed.
what’s a DEMO?
Wow, is that for a school team? Because speaking as the mother of a former middle and high school cheerleader, those things are expensive! New cheerleaders commonly looked for a “retiring” cheerleader in her size, to buy any uniforms that could be re-used the next year. Which leads me to a rant — look out!
Our school required that each girl have three complete uniforms, a wind suit, a monogrammed bag for their stuff, a one piece suit to go under the tops and skirts in cold weather, a set of work out clothes, two school-color hair bows, several pairs of logo socks, pom-poms and at least one pair of special tennis shoes, all bought ONLY through a school-chosen supplier. Each year end, one uniform was dropped and one new one bought, always keeping them with three complete uniforms. My daughter was able to snag the two repeat uniforms from an older friend when she made the squad, but we had to buy one new uniform that year and each year after. Two or three fundraisers during the year were allowed, to help with costs, but the biggest portion of the funding came from the parents. Starting out with the entire set of clothing as new, as an unlucky friend of ours had to do, cost over $1000 (10 years ago). Girls had to be verified as underprivileged by the state (on public assistance and the free lunch program) in order to get the school to help pay for their cheer clothes. The rest of the girls just had to pony up. And the girls had to pay to rent buses to ride to the game while the teams rode for free, and buy their own practice mats to use at the school as well as their mascot’s uniform. Why? Cheering was not considered an official school “sport,” never mind those broken limbs, cuts, bruises, heavy lifting, the requirement to be at practices and games, academic requirements, and behavioral rules that made a convent look lax. The school would not contribute to the girls’ costs for cheering, but provided uniforms for the “real” sport players — football, basketball and baseball– along with free bus rides and free practice equipment. That situation, thank heavens, finally is changing for the cheerleaders today at our town’s school. Believe me, I complained! But if my daughter hadn’t been such a good student while holding down a part time job and cheering, and earning a 100% Bright Futures scholarship while she was at it, I’d have said no to cheering. However she loved to cheer, kept her grades up and was willing to use her own money as much as she could, so I let her cheer.
It would make a great Halloween costume! I haven’t found a lot of curbside free stuff, but I do go to neighborhood garage sales and always check out the free box at the sales. Recently, I posted a free item of my own — my entertainment center which held our old TV — on Craigslist. (It was grabbed up pretty quickly, thank goodness). When I did the posting, I looked at all of the other free stuff being given away. I found it kind of fascinating.
Was notified that our once yearly kerbside pickup of large items had been put off until early next year instead of this month. After reading you was looking forward to a bit free thrifting! Always put things out but can only remember scoring a long plastic planter! Reason given for delay didn’t want to make the town untidy for visitors to an important event!