If there’s one things that unites all income levels, it’s getting something for nothing. Whether it’s garbage picking a perfectly good mop, (guilty as charged) or getting a swag bag while attend the Oscar ceremonies, it’s hard to turn down a freebie.
But in a society where one in every ten Americans has overflowed their belongings into a self storage unit, should we be looking for more, more, more belongings?
I live in a pretty big home, it’s four large bedrooms plus a full basement and a large unfinished room at the back of the house. There should be enough room for all of our stuff and still allow for a bit of an echo.
Such is not the case.
My husband used to have his own commercial photography studio which he closed down eight years ago, this meant a whole lotta stuff entered our house. He was pretty good about selling off the majority of the furniture, but there’s still a large amount of photography equipment gathering dust in that back bedroom. He’s also the equipment manager for our local soccer club, which has over 1000 players, which means that goals, nets, T-shirts, first aid kits and other flotsam spill forth from our basement.
Our great big house is filled to the brim.
So what does this have to do with free stuff being too expensive?
Our backyard neighbors moved out of their rental house due to the landlord not paying her mortgage, and left a lot of stuff, (okay — crap) behind. The landlord unceremoniously dumped all of it onto the parking strip in front of the house, and propped a “free” sign against it all.
I knew it was there but really felt like:
- These lovely tenants got a raw deal, and I shouldn’t look to benefit from their misfortune.
- I have enough stuff in my house, and shouldn’t be looking to accumulate even one. More. Thing.
My steely resolve lasted until around 3:00 P.M. when I strolled over to check it out. I daintily picked through the stuff and found:
- A snap-on lid for a Pyrex bowl.
- A sprinkler.
- A vintage wire basket, meant for flowers that is currently holding vegetables.
- A vintage pressed glass creamer.
- A dish towel.
- A couple of Country Home magazines, which I secretly really like.
- A plastic deck chair, which I will use in the backyard while we have house guests this week and then give away when they’re gone.
This may seem like I exercised little restraint, but I actually did. There was a decent couch, which would have been a nice addition to my 13-year-old’s band practice space in the basement, as well as countless other tempting tidbits.
As I browsed the piles, at least four people stopped their cars to have a look. I felt that most of the usable items would go home with those lucky enough to have chosen this route.
I could easily have found much, much more to bring home, because hey — it’s free! But what would be the actual cost of adding that much more crap into my life? A house that requires too much work to keep clean and tidy, that’s what!
I have worked very hard to declutter my home, and I am not going to let all that effort go to waste just because there’s an enormous free pile a few steps from my house.
That, my fellow Non-Consumers is a price I am unwilling to pay.
Make sure to watch Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff as a reminder as to why the buy more, more, more mentality has got to change. It’s twenty minutes long, but worth every minute.
Do you have a hard time turning down stuff when it’s free? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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Dreyer’s/ Edy’s Red, White and No More Blues flavor ice cream. With a medallion that reads, “Recovery never tasted so good!”
J.D. Roth over at 
