Day 147- Free Box

Day 147- Free Box

Sometimes, the best thing to do in order to keep your life clean and hygienic is to just get rid of stuff. Stuff has a tendency to pile up and get in the way. Kicking it to the curb is sometimes all you really need to do get our lives in order.

I first discovered the glory that is the Free Box while at Earlham. They had a giant box in the student center where people would put in their old closed, used books, funky CD's or chipped dinner plates. They were free for the taking. I would go there daily to see what I could find. I gave myself one rule, add an item for every one I took away. I would also give up an item of equal coolness to what I found.

This made sure the equilibrium of the freebox would stay fairly constant. There is nothing like finding that same lame book everyday for three weeks in a row. Or that ugly sweater. Or that too broken dish.

But now that I am not at Earlham, I sometimes wish I had a freebox to go to to get rid of stuff. There is always Freecycle, the national network of people who just like to trade each other's stuff. And that is all well and good, especially when it comes to things like furniture or nicer things like that. But what if your stuff is nice, but not "freecycle nice"?

That is when I start my own free box. I grab a large cardboard box and I fill it with my things. I then write "FREE" in big letters and I take it out to the curb.

I live on a busy enough street that most everything is gone by the end of the day. Anything left is usually sent down the the thrift store drop off site a few blocks over.

I have a few rules for the free box:
1. Only put things in there I would be happy to get free. If I don't think any one would want it, it might as well go into the trash.
2. Clothing has to be wearable. Jeans with crotch holes, work clothes coated in paint, ties that are fraying at the end--none of those are free box worthy.
3. Don't let it stay out for more than two nights. That just becomes an eyesore. Lets face it, sometimes people just don't want your stuff. That's OK. You don't want it either.